You are the Creative Source

Nia on Monday eve's at Open Flight Studio is back after a two-week interruption!

The focus of tonight's class is stage 4 of FreeDance (principle 4): The Creative Source - The Real You.

In essence, we are invited to work with our most powerful resource, our internal energy, to initiate and cultivate our movement.

The intent is to recognize that you are your greatest source of movement creativity. This stage asks us to be real with our feelings and simply allow our emotions to guide our movements. We are invited to allow every emotion we are experiencing to fill our form and design our gestures. These gestures become our dance.

Join me tonight at 5:30pm at Open Flight Studio in the University District.

Jazz'n it up on Friday the 13th

The focus of tonight's class is infusing the dance of upper extremities with the energy of Jazz. The intent is connect with our inner showman/showgirl. Liven up your arm, hand and finger moves with a little snap, crackle and pop!

Class from 5:30pm - 6:30pm at Open Flight Studio in the University District. 

Dancing to Velvet

Last Thursday we explored using our hands as sensory messengers.

The focus of tonight’s class is to continue this exploration and to begin using the hands to direct energy. We'll do this through engaging in movement of:

• the fingers through finger extensions, finger flicks, creepy crawlers, and catching flies,
• the hands through palm directions, webbed spaces, chops and touch, and
• the arms through blocks and strikes.

The intent is to teach you to use your hands to connect your upper body with your lower body, conditioning your upper body, protecting your joints, engaging your core and increasing awareness of using your hands in choreography.

We'll use imagery, sound, and the sensation of touch to dance with our hands.

We will be exploring movement with the Nia routine Velvet. The music from this routine is melodic, rhythmic, stimulating, playful and sensuous.

Listen to the music of Velvet.

Join me in bringing movement to life through your hands.

Class is from 6:30pm – 7:30pm at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford.

Directing Energy from Upper Extremities

The focus of tonight’s class is directing energy from the upper extremities. The intent is to keep our arms and hands alive and thoroughly engaged as we move.

An example is to direct your energy and movement from your elbow. Sense your elbow, initiate movement from your elbow and feel the energy movement out from the elbow.

We will use our arms and hands to direct energy away from the body, into the body, down to the earth, up to the sky and to explore the space around us. We will keep our movement steady and flowing by using intention, emotion and imagery.

I am currently working with various songs from the routine Velvet and have included songs from other routines that engage the arms, hands, fingers, wrists and shoulders.

Join me tonight for a meaningful and energetic dance of your upper extremities. Class is from 5:30pm – 6:30pm at Open Flight Studio in the University District.

The Sensation of our Upper Extremities

The focus of tonight’s class is the sensation of all of our upper extremities. The intent is to explore how we express ourselves with our fingers, hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, upper arms, shoulder joints, collarbones, and shoulder blade.

The Voice of The Arms, Hands and Fingers

"To the physical part of you I offer a way to touch, hug, and love. I am to you, like the branches of a tree. When you desire, I reach out to fulfill your wishes and wantings. When you are scared, I hold you tenderly. When you need love, I openly touch and caress you.

To the mental part of you I offer a way to outwardly express what you are thinking and imagining. When your thoughts are free, I am open and relaxed, available to sensations of life. When your thoughts are rigid and fearful I become tight and bound, locked into a solid form. When your thoughts are free to move, to expand, and to dream, I am agile, strong, and powerfully available to help you create.

To the emotional part of you I offer visual aids for expressing what you feel. As you open to what is moving inside of you, I will respond without needing any thought. I act as you feel. I respond as you feel. I gesture and speak without words as you feel. I follow your feelings and create by design symbols of body gesture.

My energy is magic and fills you either with the power of lightning to become strong, or liquid to become full and soft. My divine essence allows you to hold space for yourself and for others through the magic of touch.

Use me and I will support you in bringing more joy and clarity into your life. Use me and discover the joy of play. Awaken to my endless possibilities."

Adapted from Nia Technique Book.

In tonight’s class we will broadly explore our unique sensation of our upper extremities. Over the next four weeks we will explore each of the upper extremities and associated Nia movements in more depth. Tonight we will play with a variety of songs from different routines and I will be introducing three new songs from the routine, Velvet.

Join me tonight from 5:30pm – 6:30pm at Open Flight Studio in the University District.

All that Jazz

The focus of tonight’s class is dancing with the energy of jazz or the dance of showmanship.

The intent is to allow your self to sparkle and shine!

The energy of jazz is expressive, theatrical, sassy, soulful, and sexy.

We use our whole body, including hands and face, to create theatrical expression and electrify our audience (real or imaginary).

I love the energy of jazz because it’s full of attitude!

Join me tonight for some snap, crackle and pop! Class starts at 5:30pm at Open Flight Studio in the University District.

Finding Your Center of Gravity

The focus of tonight’s class is finding your center of gravity. 

The intent is to sense and move with joy and ease from your center.

Our center of gravity is that point or concentrated area in the body where all parts balance each other. It may also be referred to as the core of the body, hara, belly, the one point, or solar plexus.

The body is designed to arrange itself around your center of gravity. When everything is aligned, your body and movements work well together. When they are not aligned, your body reflexes kick in to keep you from falling over. In fact, every time we move, our center of gravity shifts.

On an energetic level, our center of gravity can also be a power center. It may be where we feel strong, willful, powerful and perhaps unshakeable.

Join me tonight for a journey to your center. Class from 6:30pm – 7:30pm at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford.

Base of the Body

The focus of this morning’s class and afternoon playshop is the base of the body.

The base of the body includes our feet, ankles, shinbones, knees, thighbones and hip joints.

All movement begins in the base of the body. Balance and the flow of energy initiate in your foot and ankle, which rely on the cooperation of the moving muscles and balancing mate muscles. Because most leg, knee, ankle, foot and hip problems are mechanical, you can often reclaim stability and proper functioning simply by consciously guiding your movements. Understanding how your feet and legs are designed to support you and using them in accord with this design – in accord with The Body’s Way – allows you to self-heal and return to comfort and ease. When all your base structures function appropriately, the result is balance, power, coordination and grace in your whole body

In Nia, we achieve proper functioning in the base through focused and continued practice of all the base moves, with the intent to establish a firm, sturdy and flexible foundation that supports the whole body in moving up and down from the ground, and maintaining a dynamic upright posture in both motion and in stillness. The base moves include (among others) the heel lead, cross behind, cross front, traveling in directions, lateral traveling, cha-cha-cha, kicks, stances and turns.

Here is an educational handout on working with the feet as the foundation of the body:
The Feet - Your Foundation (PDF)

Join me today in exploring the base and the body. Nia class at 11am at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford and Nia 5 Stages 120-minute Playshop at 1:30pm at the Civetta Dance Space in Greenwood.

Dance of Grace

The focus of tonight’s class is grace. The intent is to infuse our movements with kindness and compassion. Grace has many definitions but the one that resonates with me most is “elegance and beauty of movement or expression.” Tonight we will be working with circles, spirals and freeform movement.

Below is an excerpt on living a day in grace from the website the DailyOm:

“Grace is always with us. It flows like a river through our lives, artfully reminding us that there is magic and power beyond what our eyes can see."

"Imagine how it would feel to live an entire day in grace, to fully appreciate that your day is unfolding in absolute perfection. Whereas usually you might miss the magic in ordinary events and interactions, on this day you would recognize them all as little miracles. Perhaps you could begin with your first deep breaths in the morning, becoming aware that there is an abundant supply of air for you to breathe. Your lungs know just how to carry oxygen to your blood, and your blood knows where to carry it from there. This is grace at work. You might appreciate the brilliant sunshine, the warm summertime rain, or the possibilities for learning that greet you at every turn. You might notice the ease with which you do your job or laugh with a close friend. These things are also grace. Even laying your head down at the end of this day and resting in the stillness of night is grace." 

"With each opportunity you give yourself to enjoy this current of benevolence, you may discover a deeper peace. Your faith may strengthen and your heart may open. You might begin to wonder if struggle is really all that necessary after all. By living this one day in grace, you might open the door to many more."

Read the complete entry on grace from the DailyOM here.

Join me tonight for an elegant and beautiful movement journey. Class is from 5:30pm – 6:30pm at Open Flight Studio in the University District.

Strengthening Your Core

"All we actually have is our body and its muscles that allow us to be under our own power."

- Allegra Kent

The focus of this morning’s class is working with the core muscles of our body. The intent is to develop strength in our core.

In Nia, the core of the body is referred to as the pelvis, chest and head, also called the three body weights. We will not be focusing on these body weights. Instead, we will just focus on our midsection; the area of the body that includes the torso, belly, abdominal muscles, the mid back and lower back.

Strength in the core provides support and alignment for the spine and bones, affects our posture, and assists us in infusing movement with dynamic energy and power. It also helps us to resist force as it comes at us but we won’t have to deal with that dynamic in our Nia class!

Join me this morning in developing this powerful part of the body. A strong core strengthens not only our entire body but also our will!

Class is from 11am-12pm at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford.

A Kickin' Class

The focus of tonight’s class is Nia Kicks: front, side, back and knee sweep kicks. The intent is to strengthen the whole body while having fun.

Kicks build strength by toning the legs, buttocks and abdominal muscles.

Kicks teach you to develop a connection to your base, your feet (connection to the Earth) and to center, prepare and deliver powerful bursts of energy using your entire body.

Tonight we’ll learn to plant and root our feet before delivering a kick. We’ll learn how to use our whole body to support the kick rather than just our leg or back. And we will learn how to protect our joints and spine by using our breath, imagery and proper form.

Join me for a kickin’ class from 6pm-7pm at Delilah’s Belly Dance Studio in Fremont.

Spring into Movement

“It's time to wake up and spring back into action. The world around us is coming to life again and now is the time to renew, recharge and freshen up the world around us.” - Unknown

One of my new Nia students had a great idea last week. Somehow we ended up talking about possibilities for class foci for the month of March and she exclaimed, “Spring into Motion!” In that spirit (thank you Jill!), I have decided that the focus for the month of March will be “Spring into Movement.”

Spring represents rebirth, renewal, growth and new life. Spring can be a time to clean out the old (spring cleaning), plant seeds for the future and recommit or commit to goals old and new. Most of all, it’s a time of renewed, fresh and vibrant energy.

The season of spring, the equinox, officially begins on Sunday, March 20th. For the next few weeks, we will prepare our bodies, mind and spirits by conjuring up the spirit of spring through the movement of our bodies. If you’ve been in a slump, have felt stuck or unmotivated, I invite you to recommit to moving and loving your body through the joy of movement.

Class tonight from 6:30pm – 7:30pm at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford. I’ve prepared a fun and lively routine that is filled with steps, stances, kicks and some balancing acts!

Dancing your Heart Chakra

“The power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into folklore, common sense, and everyday experience. Love moves the flesh, it pushes matter around.... Throughout history, ‘tender loving care’ has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing.” - Larry Dossey

The focus of tonight’s class is to access and dance with the energy center of our heart. The heart chakra (energy center) is located in the center of the chest at the breastbone. It is considered the emotional center and gateway of love, compassion and joy. We will sense the beat of our heart and the love that originates and spirals out of this energy center to fill our entire body and our world.

The Institute of Heart Math, a nonprofit research center that has been studying the electromagnetic energy generated by emotions and the human heart for over a decade, recently found that:
“Compared to the electromagnetic field produced by the brain, the electrical component of the heart’s field is about 60 times greater in amplitude, and permeates every cell of the body. The magnetic component is approximately 5,000 times stronger than the brain’s magnetic field and can be detected several feet away from the body with sensitive magentometers.”

Come dance your heart energy tonight from 5:30pm – 6:30pm at Open Flight Studio in the University District.

Triple P

"Dancers aren't made of their technique, but their passion." - Source Unknown

The focus of this morning’s Nia class is dancing your passion to the routine Passion using pleasure as your guide. Triple P!

There are two definitions of passion that I invite you to work with today:

- Passion as a powerful or compelling emotion or feeling. For Nia, I invite you to choose love.

- Passion as boundless enthusiasm.

Join me this morning in infusing our movements with pleasure, emotion, feeling and boundless enthusiasm for the dance. Class at 11am at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford.

Exploring Relationships

I had a profoundly moving experience at the Anna Halprin workshop this past weekend. The experience has inspired me to return to movement and dance with new levels of awareness and depth. I will write more extensively about my experience later on.

"Articulating the body as a fine instrument is just step one. When you motivate the use of a particular area of the body, it begins to stimulate feelings, which begin to stimulate images, which begin to connect with your own personal experiences within your life theme. In this way it becomes a total education. I call [what I teach] ‘integrative movement,’ by which I mean movement that integrates all the parts." – Anna Halprin

We did a lot of work with partners at the workshop, often working in pairs but sometimes in larger groups. We also spent a lot of time exploring polarities with movement and sensation such as front-back, left-right, up-down, gravity-levity, and tight-loose. I had a keen awareness of the relationship between my body parts, body sensations, my sense of self in the space, and interaction with my partners. I also received insight into the stories my body tells as I move.

I noticed, with wonder and awe, how initiating an upward movement from my hand created length in my waist whereas initiating the same upward movement with my elbow created length in my ribcage. I noticed how this sensation deepened my breath and brought with it feelings of love and expansion.

Don't worry, we won't be trying this move in class :)

It is still February and thus all of my classes will focus on an aspect of Love. Most people associate love with being in relationship whether that is to ones self or another.

Tonight, our class focus will be on exploring relationships with our bodies. This could be as simple as exploring how a movement in one body part affects another part or it could be as deep as how our movements affect our emotional lives.

I invite you to join me exploring the many levels of relationships tonight. Class is from 6:30pm – 7:30pm at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford.

Effortless Passion

Tonight I am debuting the routine “Passion.” The focus of this routine is dancing your body from a place of effortlessness and love.

There is a lot of repetition in this routine and an opportunity to ease into each movement.

Effortlessness is a conscious choice to take the path of least resistance. It’s the sensation of allowing, gliding and riding the energy of our movements.

Love is energy. When you infuse your dance with love, movement can become effortless.

I encourage you to find the effortlessness in moving your body with joy and love. After all, dancing, fun, joy and love should be and can be effortless when we consciously choose it.

Join me for an effortless class tonight from 6:30pm – 7:30pm at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford.

Feb Schedule and Playshop Info

Hello everyone,

A reminder of my schedule over the next week:

Thursday, February 17, 2011 – I am debuting the routine “Passion” at 6:30pm at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford. The focus of this routine will be dancing your body from a place of effortlessness and love.

Elise Tissot-Storey is the lovely little lady in red.

Elise Tissot-Storey will be covering my classes on:
Friday, February 18, 2011 at 6pm at Delilah’s Belly Dance Studio in Fremont, and
Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 11am at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford.

Elise will be teaching the routine "Butterfly". I have not taught this routine yet but I can tell you that Elise teaches it so beautifully! She teaches with such grace and heart. I thoroughly enjoy dancing with Elise. She has inspired me to learn this routine. Come dance Butterfly with her while I am in San Francisco!

Classes are canceled on Sunday, February 20th and Monday, February 21st.

I return to Seattle next week and am looking forward to resuming my regular teaching schedule on Thursday, February 24th!

“Through art and dance we reclaim our primal heritage and move towards a more embodied future.”  - Anna Halprin

I have shared with many of you where I am going this weekend. I am headed to San Francisco to participate in a special weekend workshop with Anna Halprin. From what I understand, the workshop is on the powerful intelligence of the body and to create personal and collective dances that have meaning and includes movement rituals and other somatic experiences beneath the beautiful redwood trees in Marin. I have been looking forward to this weekend for months and hope it will make me a better person, teacher and student of movement as a healing art.

One last thing. There has been a slight change to the start and end time for the three Nia 5 Stages Playshops I am working on. Take note of the new times:

3 Saturdays:
March 12, 2011: The Base of the Body
April 16, 2011: The Core of the Body
May 14, 2011: The Upper Extremities

Time: 1:30pm-3:30pm
Where: Civetta Dance Space in Greenwood
Cost: $17 per class or $45 for all 3

For more about the playshops: http://everybodyloveyourbody.blogspot.com/p/events.html

To register for any or all of the playshops email me directly at jennifer@everybodyloveyourbody.com.

With love in my heart and gratitude for being your friend, teacher and student,

Jennifer

Valentine's Day Dance

"Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt. Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth." 

- Mark Twain

The focus of tonight's class is the celebration of love through dance. What better way to love your body than to move it joyfully?

Guided by the sensation of pleasure and joy, we'll be dancing to some songs from the Nia routine Passion and a few other goodies!

Join me from 5:30pm - 6:30pm at Open Flight Studio in the University District.

Dancing Love Through the Chest

Kristin Gasser, Nia Brown Belt, Austria

The focus for all of my February classes, starting this week, is Love.

For tonight's class, I lovingly selected songs from a number of different routines (Sexi, Velvet, Butterfly, Passion and Dreamwalker) that have to do with love and provide a varied movement experience that focuses on opening the chest.

Join me tonight in dancing Love through movement from your chest with the intent of opening the heart.

Class is from 5:30pm – 6:30pm at Open Flight Studio in the University District.

The Voice of the Chest

I am the voice of your chest – the birdcage of your heartbeat. 

I include your ribs, thoracic cavity, sternum or your breastbone, cartilage and twelve thoracic vertebrae. 

I govern the space where love and heart power grow. 

By design, I am open to the light, yet, like a birdcage, I protect something sacred and precious, your heart and lungs, the internal organs that make you human. 

I also support your shoulder girdle, giving freedom to your winged arms and hands. 

You keep me healthy by breathing, moving your lungs inside me. 

Through my openings, pulses the sound of life heard as a beat, the eternal rhythm of life.

I provide a path to your heart, a home for feelings of love, sadness, grief and joy, and an awakening of your most expressive self.

When Dancing Through Life sense life inside your chest. 

Inhale and smell the moment, sensing movement from the inside, out. 

On the hour, every hour, pause and sense the movement of breath expanding your lungs and gently encouraging movement of the birdcage of your chest.

Adapted from Nia Technique Book and Nia 5 Stages module on the Chest.

Steps and Stances

I am debuting the Nia routine Opal tonight. The class focus is on steps and stances.

We use steps as non-stop movement to develop mobility. In stepping one foot is always leaving the ground.

We use stances to develop stability. We stop after stepping, find stillness and stay in place.

This routine is wonderful for the nervous system as moving and stopping are vital to its conditioning.

This particular routine also gives me a sense of empowerment and it's not just because opal is my birth stone. I always feel strong and grounded after I dance to it. In fact, I feel like a ninja! I think you are going to love it.

Class is from 6:30pm – 7:30pm at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford. The studio is located directly behind Kabul restaurant on Corliss Ave N. off the corner of N. 45th St.

See you tonight!