Nia Benefit Class

Nia Benefit Class on Thanksgiving Day  

 

 

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Time: 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Where: The Civetta Dance Space  

124 N 103rd St., Seattle, WA 98133 

Cost: $15

Please RSVP: gretchen.blissfulfitness@gmail.com

Join me and Gretchen Musgrove for a special Nia class on Thanksgiving Day to benefit Noel House, a shelter for homeless women in Seattle. Start your Thanksgiving day off with an hour of dance in the spirit of gratitude, service and sisterhood. Forward this announcement to friends who might appreciate a new twist on tradition!

FreeDance Stage 1: Anything Goes

For the month of July we will be exploring and playing with expanding our personal movement vocabulary through the 8 stages of FreeDance.

Each stage provides an opportunity to witness your movement, change or tweak habits, and release any limitations or fears. Allow yourself to go through the process of emptying your mind, connect with body sensation, be stimulated by the music, and move in new expressive ways.

The focus of tonight’s class is the first stage of FreeDance, which is “Anything Goes Movement Wise.”

Voices of FreeDance

To your physical body I am the freedom vessel that allows you to do exactly what is most spontaneous and organic to you. Use me to free up any constraints so that your movement includes all gestures – mime, emotional expression, dance, walking, sitting, singing, playing and exploring.

To your mental body I offer a way into the creative void of consciousness. The place where everything is possible, where unlimited potential resides. My unbound, open, and playful way of thinking gives you free reign to explore and create with absolute mindfulness.

To your emotional body I offer the ability to be real, to be authentic in ways that help you express yourself organically. In my dance, all desires, feelings, and emotions, your light and dark sides, are welcome and encouraged. Dance my dance and discover how freeing it is to let your emotions run freely.

To your spiritual body I offer the permission to sit back and be taken into the unknown as a way to explore new heights of freedom and expression. Play and exploration is my way. I love to take you to the playground of all playgrounds – the unexplored moment.

Adapted from Nia Technique online resources

Embrace this invitation tonight to be spontaneous, theatrical, and expand beyond your movement habits. Listen deeply to the your body. Allow your movements to evolve organically. Quiet your mind and move freely, following your own whims. FreeDance is the art of interacting with the music to express what you deeply sense. It’s truly about movement your way and your body’s way!

I will be using a shorter version of the special 80-minute indepenDance day routine. I wish we had 80 minutes to dance tonight but we’ll have to make the best of 55 minutes of bliss ☺

Join me tonight for a journey to a playground of unexplored moments! Allow me to be your movement co-pilot. Class at 6:30pm at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford.

You Can Dance

My favorite moment after class last night was when a woman who had never tried Nia before came up to me and exclaimed "I never knew I could move like that! I can dance!" She was beaming and her joy was infectious. I blurted out "Yes, girlfriend, you CAN!" And then we giggled.

This newly discovered dancing diva inspired tonight's class focus which is simply: to dance and have the time of your life doing it.

Here is a little cheesy musical inspiration:



Join me for tonight to discover or reconnect with your inner dancing diva. Class at 6:30pm at Fresh Fitness and Dance in Wallingford.

Dancing Between Heaven and Earth

The focus of tonight’s class is the energy of dancing between heaven and earth.

We dance between heaven and earth by holding our center while dancing our upper extremities and base of the body. A way to emphasize this energy is by using our hands and palm directions. Palms pointed down into the earth are grounding. Palms pointed up to heaven raise our energy.

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

Appreciation as an Act of Love

“When you look at love, you're looking into the face of appreciation.” - Unknown

One of the last things Anna Halprin said to us this weekend was something like “do one thing to honor and show reverence for your body every single day. Your body is all you have.” This reminded me of a quote I saw yesterday on the IDEA Facebook page: “Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live. - Jim Rohn.”

I show reverence for my body through conscious and loving movement. I dance with pleasure and joy as my faithful guides. I spend at least five minutes per day practicing the Nia 5 Stages. It is my morning ritual. With this practice, I lovingly allow for my body to return to alignment every morning. How do you show your body appreciation?

The focus of tonight’s class is appreciating our bodies as an act of love. Tonight we will show appreciation through movement the Nia way - with love, pleasure and Joy.

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

Christmas Eve and New Years Eve Morning Nia with Jennifer and Jena

Jena and Jennifer at the Fall Nia Jam 2010

Join me and Jena Hennessey on Christmas eve and/or New Years Eve morning to celebrate the season and dance into the New Year with Nia! All ages are welcome to both classes. What a great way to get your holiday moving!

Friday, December 24, 2010 
9:30am - 10:30am

Friday, December 31, 2010 
9:30am - 10:30am

Fee: $13.00 drop-in for each.

Both classes held at the Civetta Dance Space in Greenwood,124 N. 103rd Street, Seattle 98133.

Questions? Contact me or Jena.  

Cultivating Infinite Movement with 200/700

The focus of tonight’s routine is 200/700. That's 200 bones and just about 700 muscles. The intent is to cultivate infinite movement variety. We are going to play with every bone and muscle. The invitation of this routine is to notice your movement habits and break them by “tweaking” each movement until you feel new sensations. Get ready to get creative!

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


As a teaser, this is my absolute favorite song from the routine I am working with tonight, Canta. I can resist getting up to dance when I hear it. We won’t be spinning but wouldn’t it be fun if we did?