Moulin Rouge

Red stains my lips and silver glittery eye-liner bejewels my eyes.  My muscles hold the excited ache of exertion and pleasure.  Hair, pulled back in a bun, is still damp from dancing - the electric blue wig I wore returned to the friend who lent it to me because it matched my top.

I have danced Nia for a while now, and even trained for my white belt this past fall.  Slowly but surely I continue to train to teach Nia myself.  Tonight was a reminder of why I want to pursue Nia as a life practice.  I am blessed to have found a home for myself at the Center for Nia and Yoga in Albany, NY.  In this building magic is carefully crafted by Casey Bernstein - tonight's class being especially magical for me.

I love the movie and music from "Moulin Rouge" - it was love at first sight - or at least love-at-first-note-sung-by-Ewan-McGregor!  I probably watched it every night of RA duty my junior year in College.  There are many elements of dancing Nia which I am bound to explore through the outlet of this blog, but tonight I want to focus on theatricality and the gift of expression.  I have been theatrical since - well - always.  It took me a while to fully foster this part of my personality and let it shine but the more I foster it the more in touch I feel with myself.  Dancing tonight I felt fully alive and fully me.

There are many Nia routines, each with a unique focus, and what I love most is that I get to explore sensation and different parts of myself in a variety of ways.  Each time I dance I get to know myself better.  Some days I dance and it allows me to go very deep and explore old pain and find healing.  Other days I explore power and precision in my movements.  Tonight I played.  Truly played like I did as a child - costumes, swirling, drama and all.