Licensed Teacher Content | October 2006
Nia Community
Two weeks ago Los Angeles hosted a Nia Jam, Trunk show and Potluck. This event was orchestrated by our own Randy Miller. Randy co-created the event with instructors and intensive graduates. The following is a co-created account of our experience:
Over 50 people came to dance and celebrate at a Community Nia Jam in southern Los Angeles. Students & teachers came from LA and OC counties (an area spanning more than 60 miles) a huge commitment to individuals and Nia on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The Jam continued into the evening with a potluck and Niawear Trunk show. It was a true community event.
Our Focus was White Belt Principle 1 — The Joy of Movement. The music reflected recent Nia selections, well-worn classics, and non-routine music. The movement was a vertical blend of styles from Debbie, Carlos, and individual creations, crafted by Randy who took time ahead to receive and compile music. Nine instructors from White, Blue, and Brown Belt levels weaved, spiraled, punched, Freedanced, and Floorplayed for two hours. Everything began and ended on time!
All sparkled, shined, “wowed” and “ahhed” everyone! Randy had a student say how nice it was to see how people personalized a movement, letting one move be many, and watching teachers moving the same movement and yet doing it with different intensity levels, while sensing and transmitting the Joy. Randy received so many “thank you’s” and compliments for the event and for the instructors, from students and teachers alike, along with requests for more frequent Jams.
Here are a few quotes and feedback from our community:
“So much joy and pleasure was shared among teachers and students.” — Sun
“What a joy it was to see so many people in a room loving what they were doing—including the instructors.” — Vicki
“I feel like a princess dancing in class.” — Kim
“Through Nia you have brought a new joy to my life, more than you’ll ever know.” — Jennifer
“Heart Felt …thanks.” — White Belt, Maribeth
“Nia gives me new Life and happy day.” — Nancy
“Thank you for the opportunity to continue expanding my Nia instruction and growth! Humanity set in for me today and I’m grateful! Stay in The Light.” — White Belt, Melinda
“Nia has changed my life; thank you for the introduction!” — Haden
“Aaaah ! Ooooh ! teacher, friend , mentor thanks for it all!” — White Belt, Jo Anna
What an honor to have a wide variety and range of Instructors/guides/teachers in our community! Come visit to dance and play in Los Angeles! We be jammin’!
Leora Cooper
Nia Blue Belt
Wow! If this is the future of Nia routines, then I’m completely happy having fewer routines to choose from now.
First, I was completely wowed by the packaging of Sanjana — concise, compact, environmentally conscious — AND OH the CONTENT! Focus, Intent, Routine Description, Alternative Foci and complete descriptions of the 7 stages and movements for each song — ALL in writing!
Then, I watched the DVD and didn’t know where to start — Special Features (Learn the Move, Move the Move, Energize the Move), Music only, Play All. Yeah! Debbie is back talking about each song and movement separate from doing the routine!
There has always been more than enough in a Nia routine for me to spend 3 months learning its nuances. Thank you to everyone who just made it more simple and clear to do so. You just keep getting better and better.
As for the routine itself, it is another Debbie hit out of the park! Thanks for helping me breathe again, dynamically and easily. I felt the healing all the way through. The focus, the steps and stances, the language and cues — it’s all there, beautifully packaged and ready for you to learn inside and out.
Thank you, thank you!
Rhonda L. Pietrowski
Blue-Belt, Bend, Oregon
Today I had the possibility to audit the Blue Belt here in Hamburg. It was just great! Even if I took those sessions for the third time I had a lot of “Aha!” moments and it was amazing to experience the principles with “brown” eyes! As Debbie said, “It’s great to discover something new and it’s even greater to experience something again!”
Whenever you have the possibility to audit a belt–GO THERE! It is such a great thing for us Nias to be able to revisit belts without paying, I can hardly understand why one would not go for it!
I am deeply grateful and looking forward to another session I will audit.
Nici
Brown Belt, Lueneburg (Germany)
Note: You can audit up to four sessions of any belt intensive you have successfully completed, at the discretion of the trainer, as space allows, as many times as you want. To sign-up, contact the coordinator for the intensive you are interested in.
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