Collaboration means to work (or play) together to produce something and that’s exactly what we did in Ulladulla. Together with the Canberra Nia community, our NSW South Coast Nia community came together to deliver a doozy of a Dance Jam on 6 August this year.

“When are we having another

Dance Jam?”

It all started with a request from a class-full of Nia students one morning in December 2015 . “When are we having another Dance Jam?” they asked.

Note the ‘we’? I did. As the (then) only Nia teacher for more than 200kms around, the notion of a Dance Jam with a variety of teachers to lead, needed the collaboration of teachers in Canberra and Sydney. It’s a big ask to travel over 200kms one way for a dance jam – and yet that’s what my Nia colleagues did – all 5 of them! At one point there was a potential 9 teachers coming to lead the merry dance! We ended up with an awesome seven, including new local teacher, Lyn, and I.

Our Nia community collaborated

by bringing food, friends, family 

and buckets of good will

The Nia community collaborated by bringing food, friends, family, donations, publicity, discounted venue, volunteer drummers, photographs – and buckets of good will. On the night, we had 50 people and raised $500 for the Butterfly Foundation (support for people with eating disorders and who have a distressingly negative body image).

In the middle of winter, collaborating towards a Nia Dance Jam was a great way to up-lift and come together. It’s a good way to go any season.

PS For next August 2017, we are planning to work together to produce a White Belt Training with Sophie Marsh. So you never know what that might lead to in 2018…. All from an innocent request one day in class – “When are we having a Dance Jam?”

Noël Boycott, Certified Nia Black Belt Practitioner, NSW South Coast