NiaDivas

As a Nia student, you will often hear Jill or I advise you to "Let your feet kiss the ground" or "We'd like to hear the silence of your feet connecting with the floor" or "Use soft strength when placing your feet."  You will never hear us say, "We'd like to hear the pounding of your feet on the floor!" The reason is that pounding our feet, especially when dancing barefoot, can result in injury.  "Kissing" our feet to the ground inspires conscious, aware, and safe foot placement. 

"Barefoot, we could feel the exact impact of all our movements, and it forced us to stop pounding our feet into the floor as if our skeletons were made of steel." write Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas in The Nia Technique book.

Each of our feet has 33 joints, 26 bones, more than a 100 ligaments, 19 large muscles, several small muscles, and 7,000 nerve endings!  Most at risk are the metarsal bones along the ball of the foot, which is a primary reason why stepping forward in Nia is guided by the heel lead and why we encourage soft sure-footed movement.

As our whole-body conditioning and awareness build, we can add jumping in Nia.  At this stage, we are highly conditioned, know our bodies, and are able to jump and land with our entire being in safety. Until that point, it's best to let our feet kiss the floor. Let awareness be your witness to grow and enjoy Nia injury-free.