Base Move
Rock Around The Clock
Say it: “wow”
 
Standing with your feet hip-width apart, rock around the outside edges of both feet, moving in a circular motion from the front to the side, to the back and to the opposite side. Reverse directions.
 
Move from the ground up using the strength of your feet and the mobility of your ankles to create small rolling actions that mimic a hula-hoop.

 
When practicing Rock Around the Clock, play with motions that support increased mobility of your ankles, knees, hip joints and spine. Use your core and upper extremities to support the dynamics of continuous fluid motion.
 
Move with the intent to touch all edges of your feet to the earth!
 
Benefits
Increases flexibility, agility, mobility, stability in the feet and legs
 
Builds strength in the foot, leg, thigh and buttock muscles
 
Enhances F.A.M.S.S. in foot, ankle, knee, and hip joints

Improves balance

Rock Around the Clock
Dance Through Life – Action Item
Reflexology is the ancient Chinese art of treating the body’s energy system through pressure-point massage of the feet.  Rock Around the Clock becomes self-directed reflexology when you partner with the floor.  Pressure to heel, to outer edges, and to ball and toes will restore energy flow up through your body, releasing blocks.  
 
The foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, 20 muscles to move these bones and 100 ligaments!   
 Invite stretch, range, tone, flow, & glow as you Rock Around the Clock today!

Chris Freedman | Studio 206 Charlottesville, VA

Danced Opal this morning with a focus on Abdominals. It was actually an Abs Class. Students looked terrified, but after looking at an image of the four distinct groups of ab muscles (transverse abdominal, the internal obliques, the external obliques, and the abdominus rectus) and a brief discussion about what each group does, both in terms of movement for movement sake (ex: “moves the spine laterally”) and in terms of functional movement (ex: standing up from sitting or shoveling snow”). The tension eased.  Then, the whole routine sort of fell into place with a pelvis, chest, head focus.  Opal wins the prize (nominated by me) for routine with the biggest aerobic bang for the buck. I forgot how intense Opal is.

Yesterday, dancing Global Unity in Nia FUNdamentals Class to work on movement in the sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes and then playing with the spine and body weights: flexion, extension, lateral bending and twisting got great responses from students. 

Focusing on student attraction and retention, I’ve been going to anatomy and kinesiology and it seems to be working to attract and keep students. It felt clinical at first and not very fun-Nia-dance-free-spirit-ish, but in actuality, I’ve found that it allows me to language the class to do something more permissible, like move rather than going straight for personal expression. DC culture is a hard nut to crack and I think this may be working better than other methods I’ve used before. Structure and function make space for emotion and spirit to come out. Hope that makes sense. It’s like giving my students a coloring book rather than a blank sheet of paper and crayons and saying, “draw.”

 STANCES
    1.    Closed Stance
    2.    Open Stance
    3.    “A” Stance
    4.    Riding (Sumo or Horse) Stance
    5.    Bow Stance
    6.    Cat (One-legged) Stance

FEET

    7.    Rock Around the Clock
    8.    Duck Walk
    9.    Squish Walk
    10.    Heel Lead
    11.    Whole Foot
    12.    Ball of the Foot
    13.    Relevé
    14.    Toes In, Out, Parallel

STEPS

    15.    Stepping Back onto the Ball of Your Foot
    16.    Sink and Pivot Table Wipe
    17.    Cross Front
    18.    Cross Behind
    19.    Traveling in Directions
    20.    Lateral Traveling
    21.    Cha-cha-cha
    22.    Slow Clock
    23.    Fast Clock

KICKS

    24.    Front Kick
    25.    Side Kick
    26.    Back Kick
    27.    Knee Sweep

PELVIS

    28.    Pelvic Circles
    29.    Hip Bumps

ARMS

    30.    Blocks: Upward, Outward, Inward, Downward
    31.    Punches: Upward, Outward, Across, Downward
    32.    Elbow Strikes: Down, Side, Back

CHEST

    33.    Chest Isolations
    34.    Shimmy
    35.    Undulation
    36.    Spinal Roll

HEAD

    37.    Head and Eye Movements

HANDS & FINGERS

    38.    Chop Cut
    39.    Strikes
    40.    Pumps
    41.    Finger Flicks
    42.    Creepy Crawlers
    43.    Catching Flies
    44.    Claw Hand
    45.    Spear Finger
    46.    Finger Extensions
    47.    Fist
    48.    Webbed Spaces
    49.    Palm Directions
    50.    Power Finger Crossover
    51.    Balance Finger
    52.    Touching

By: Debbie Rosas Stewart

When you watch a Nia class, it is clear every person is bringing something unique to the dance. Yes, the choreography is the same, yet each pelvis, chest and head seems to be dancing to a different drum. You see people expressing thoughts and feelings from a deep and empowering place – from the inside out. Everyone is dancing in their own way, in their body’s way.

When given the freedom to move and space to explore what feels pleasurable, a body will always move in The Body’s Way. As a teacher, knowing this gives me great confidence. If I ask my students to move and listen to their bodies – by always choosing pleasure and comfort – I can trust they will move safely and efficiently. I can trust they will increase the experience of joy and conditioning in their own bodies when I guide them to follow The Body’s Way.

Increasing comfort and joy in my body is a priority. The way my body looks is secondary. Nia has taught me that the “look” of health and well-being comes naturally, and is the inevitable by-product of fully engaging and expressing myself in my dance. A big part of my expression comes from my pelvis, chest and head, which we refer to in Nia as the “core” of the body or “the three body weights.” In a healthy body, the pelvis, chest and head can move both systemically (collectively as one unit) and separately (one at a time). While each of the three body weights has its own unique character traits, the core as a whole is the home of our feelings, emotions and chakra centers.

Shake your tailbone and you will sense a rush of energy flowing up from your sacrum out the crown of your head. Shimmy your shoulders and say, “Ahhh” and you will sense energizing vibrations in your lungs and throughout your rib cage. Shake your head yes or no, and you will feel a rush of tension in your neck undoing itself. These sensations are the Voice of Your Body speaking, telling you that moving your three body weights is good medicine.

To develop a healing, moving conversation with the core of your body, incorporate these simple tips from The Body’s Way Education into your daily life:

IMAGINE…

1. Your pelvis as a bowl for your abdominal viscera – and the birthplace of your life-force energy.
2. Your chest as a birdcage for your heart and lungs – the place from which energy is circulated and distributed throughout your whole body.
3. Your head as a crystal vase for your thoughts and dreams, into which you can direct your conscious and intuitive energy (thoughts and feelings).

MOVE…
Make every movement an act of self-expression! This week, practice one of the below core moves each day to condition, heal and find new ways to express yourself through your core. Or, begin your day with one move (such as pelvic circles) to say, “Good morning, body!” and then integrate the remaining seven moves into your day whenever you need a movement break. For example, when you feel stiff from sitting at your computer, stand up and practice spinal rolls.

Throughout your day, allow yourself to move in your own unique rhythms and body languages. Use the emotions that arise to inspire your three body weights to be jazzy, luscious, lyrical, snappy or sensual. Even as you isolate your pelvis, chest and head, stay connected to your entire body, so you can move as a whole. If your body does not feel comfort, adjust what you are doing – or how you are doing it – until the sensation of comfort returns. Think of your body as your spirit’s ballroom dance partner and discover the pleasure, comfort and joy available in every move you make!

Move 1: Pelvic Circles
Stand in a comfortable position with your feet a little wider than hip-width apart and circle your hips in a fluid motion, as if you are hula-hooping. Sense the fluid rotation in your hip joint, the movement of the ball in its socket. Circle it in both directions to maintain relaxed mobility in your hips. Sound “Ahhh…” as you circle, to blend breath and body.

Move 2: Hip Bumps
Stand in a comfortable position with your feet a little wider than hip-width apart and bump your hips in varying directions – front to back and side to side – as if bumping someone out of the way. Sound, “Ooo!” as you hip-bump to create rhythmic precision.

Move 3: Chest Isolations
Stand in a comfortable position with your feet a little wider than hip-width apart and gently move your rib cage in all directions – to the front, back and to the sides. Open your chest, extend up, turn to each side, bend to each side, and circle your rib cage. Relax and sound “Ahhh….” to sense rhythmic and fluid movement in all directions.

Move 4: Shimmy
Stand in a comfortable position with your feet a little wider than hip-width apart, and begin to vibrate and shake your shoulders as if shivering from the cold. Release your lower jaw to relax your neck and shoulder muscles. Sound the vowels “A-E-I-O-U” as you shimmy, to keep your movements dynamic and sustainable for extended periods of time.

Move 5: Undulation
Stand in a comfortable position with your feet a little wider than hip-width apart and undulate (wave) your spine from top to bottom and bottom to top, sensing space between each of your 26 vertebrae. Sound the word “Yess,” elongating the sibilant sound to help make your movements smooth.

Move 6: Spinal Roll
Stand in a comfortable position with your feet a little wider than hip-width apart. Inhale deeply, look up, and sense the front of your body lengthening and opening. Begin to slide your hands down your legs, using them for support as you sit back and sink, until you reach a point where your body says, “Enough – I can’t go further.” Then, as if you are a rag doll, exhale and round your spine over your thighs as you look toward the earth. To come up, push down through your feet and round your spine up, sliding your hands back up your legs as you roll into a standing posture. Sound the word “Ohhh…” as you round down and up to coordinate your body and breath.

Move 7: Head and Eye Movements
Stand in any position and look around in all directions, using your eyes to engage and move your head. Use your eyes to “seduce” your head with curiosity. Press the tip of your tongue lightly into the roof of your mouth to relax your lower jaw. Throughout the day, nod and shake your head from time to time. Sound “Yes,” “No,” and “Maybe!” exuberantly, blending body gesture and sound to integrate your physical and emotional bodies.

SENSE…
1. Your three body weights balancing, one on top of the other
2. Each weight moving independently
3. All three weights moving as one unit around the spinal column
4. Healing and alignment occurring throughout your spine