Guest Teacher Workshops!
Canadian International Speaker & Presenter and Dance Educator,
Mariah-Jane Thies is visiting Auckland!
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Easeful Upper Body Placement and Freedom in Ports de Bras
Wednesday March 6
10:30-12 pm
Understanding the Dual Nature of Your Feet: Foundation and Propulsion
Thursday March 7
10:30-12:30 pm
The Brain Dance:Â Developmental Movement Patterns
Friday March 8
9:30-2 pm
Mariah-Jane Thies
Mariah-Jane Thies is a registered RAD ballet teacher and supervisor with a dance teacher degree, certification in Evans Laban Modern technique, licensed Brain Gym consultant and Rhythmic Movement Training consultant.  She is a presenter and speaker at numerous conferences including IADMS, NDEO, RAD, Body-Mind Centering, Educational Kinesiology International Conference, Breatkthroughs International Conference, Healthy Dancer Canada Conference, International Somatics Conference, Dance Science and Somatics Conference, CANASK International Conference and World Congress of Dance. Â
Under the name, The Radiant Dance Teacher, she has a private Facebook group and Youtube channel, with teaching tips for dancer teachers. She is also a content provider on The Library Aesthetic Dance Media.
Mariah-Jane is a speaker and presented on the TEDx stage with her talk “Your Movement Habits Create your Life.”. She is a published author contributing to the Woman of Worth, “Power of Collaboration” book which became a best seller on Amazon.
Upper Body Placement and Free Ports de Bras
The artist is most fully observed through the use of ports de bras. The exquisite nature of subtle and expressive use of the arms is a sight to behold. However, the ease and fluidity that is desired can only happen if the upper body is aligned and open to allow for full function.  So, often the cuing to try and open up the shoulder girdle has unintended consequences of strain, pinching of the shoulder blades and holding of the breath, thereby limiting the freedom of the entire upper body.
This workshop will introduce you to some strategies and insights that will forever change how you teach ports de bras by allowing for ideal alignment and placement in the upper body with the resultant ease of creating harmonious coordination and fluidity while moving. The connection of the individual fingers to the function of the shoulder girdle will be explored as will the concepts of 3D movement, rotation and trace form.
Understand the Dual Nature of your Feet: Foundation and PropulsionÂ
Leonardo da Vinci is quoted as saying:
“The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.”
As dance teachers, I’m sure we can all agree that there is little that compares to a gorgeously pointed foot on the end of a stretched leg, and the focus on the art element of a well trained foot is something that our dancers easily buy into and strive for themselves.
But what of the engineering? The design of the foot allows it to both serve as a place of support and foundation for us, as well as a strong lever to be used for propulsion, whether to releve high or leap with elevation.
Do you truly understand how this magic transformation happens in a mere millisecond; between foundation and propulsion? Is it really just pointing your foot or it is more complex than that? Are the toes pointing or being used as part of the propulsion?
Are you allowing your dancers to pronate the foot in order to utilize the power of supination?
This 2 hour workshop will help dance teachers to work with students to develop full mobility of the foot so that the amazing spiral action that transforms the foot from foundation to propulsion gets to take place fully and naturally. The miracle that is the foot only functions well if the arch is developed fully. So, with that in mind, this workshop will also address the neurological triggering of the development of the arch of the foot, to transform both flat feet and high arches.
The Brain Dance: Connectivity, Coordination and Confidence
Underlying all of our movement skills, is the coordination necessary to most fundamentally organize the body.  This coordination develops during our first few years of life as we go through the developmental movement patterns culminating in the neurologically advanced cross lateral pattern.  By returning to the sequence of these patterns of total body organization, we can fill in any gaps that occurred, strengthen the current wiring and allow the body to easily and seamlessly rely on these patterns for all higher level skills. Any gaps will result in the mover having a shaky foundation for the next layer and there is therefore the needs for compensations which are stressful.  The ease and fluidity of movement relies on these patterns and when thoroughly explored and integrated, allow the mover to enjoy and address the personal artistry that is so satisfying.
The Brain Dance is the 6 developmental patterns including Breath, Core-Distal, Head-Tail, Upper-Lower, Body-Half and Cross-Lateral, along with the addition of Tactile experiences and Vestibular development.
Variations of going through these patterns will include a pre-school children’s version, teen and adult versions and even a seated version for older adults.
