I want to talk a little more about Girls Night Out  and how it relates to confidence-building. 

The music for this dance is really great and no matter who dances the routine, there is a playful and connected response to it. This is truly a routine in which you get a workout without even realizing it. The hour is over really quickly.

Another unique feature of this routine is that it starts and ends with the same song, and that calls for Freedance both at the top and bottom ends.  This is an unusual way to start a routine since Nia Technique usually takes you through seven cycles: Setting the Focus and Intent, Stepping In, Warming Up, Getting Moving, Cooling Down, FloorPlay, and Stepping Out.  

Freedance, although it can belong to any of the movement segments, is not usually the domain of the Warm Up.  In GNO, the music starts right in to get the dancers stoked up.  The song is actually called Girl’s Night Out, and it is supposed to create that buzz that happens when the girls are together pajama party-style and getting ready to go out together. 

Dancing it again at the end of the routine gives us an opportunity to feel the same groove but with a totally different body, a different movement vocabulary, a different familiarity with the music, and a different relationship to the others in the room.

One of my aims with teaching Nia Technique is to give my students more confidence with their bodies. The assurance that they can move the way they want without worry, pain, self-consciousness, or concern regarding ability. 

I want (and Nia wants) students to move from spirit impulse, in response to music, so that they feel good.  Even though there is attention to technique in every class and every routine involves stated principles to make movement safe for EveryBody, Nia class is also about doing movement Your body’s way.  

Nia is crafted in the Body’s way for each person to take, adapt, and use for their own Joy in Movement. When you feel Joy in your body, you will find yourself moving with confidence. In the same way that you need a map to get somewhere new and you might travel to the new place with care and consideration of every street, landmark, and instruction, Nia Technique beginners move at first with care and consideration of every movement sequence, music change, and lead from the teacher.  After a few minutes, or sometimes a few classes, students recognize the calls, the steps, and the concepts and can move with a new, strong confidence.