Helen Terry (Co-owner of Soma Ranch) shares about her latest creative movement project, using a process from Original, through Adapted, now using “Sandwich” to reach a new creative movement experience.
I’ve been teaching Nia for 30 years. In the beginning, clueless with regards choreography, I appreciated the resources that helped me prepare for teaching Nia Movement Classes (old VHS tapes of Debbie and Carlos Rosas teaching Nia Classes, accompanied by the dubbed TKD 90 cassettes, with hand written notes from Carlos of the tracks etc.) Oh how we have progressed since then.
After a while, teaching these first Nia routines over and over again, I knew the choreography well enough to begin dropping in new music and exploring how to ADAPT the choreography. Adapting a few class experiences (New music to Original Music) provided the skill and experience to take the next step: to Create my own class experience, i.e. select some music and choreograph moves from nothing.
Original
During this past year a fabulous Nia Experience called Bloom has captured my interest and fascination. The movements are familiar yet novel, intimately in relationship with the music, with beautiful architecture, where each song’s choreography stands alone, yet also compliments the other songs, one song after the next builds into a beautifully orchestrated experience.
Adapted
From the ORIGINAL theme of “Bloom” - the life of a seed, I was inspired to ADAPT this choreography to one of the playlists created for our “Hero’s Journey Retreat”, based upon the return to Innocence, where all the songs have something to do with the theme innocence. This was the birth of a movement experience fondly named “Inno”
Created
Recently, listening to the latest Lauren Daigle Album (Self titled), I was inspired to take the ADAPTED routine Inno and CREATE something new with the new music. This is currently a work in progress and I wondered if you might enjoy being part of/witness the process, i.e. the “work in progress”…
Sandwich
Tomorrow (Saturday 10am) I will be sharing this “sandwich” experience where the new Lauren Daigle songs are weaved in between the known, cultivated moves of the “Inno.” Experience. This is the process I use to get to creative, where the end product is so vaguely like the original it truly has taken on a life of it’s own.
In this creative “work in progress” process, I pour my heart and soul into creating a movement class that transcends a mere fitness routine, to hopefully collectively elevate our understanding of movement into a transformative and empowering experience. Ideally something that empowers individuals to explore their true potential, express themselves authentically, and cultivate a deep sense of joy through the transformative power of movement. Join us in this explorative movement class experience and unlock the power within!