NIINA FILI
Niina Fili is a dance educator interested in holistic human growth and the possibilities of embodied practice.
She has worked for several years with dance and movement as a teacher and also as a performer, focusing especially on contemporary dance and somatic practice. Niina has trained as a Master of Education, a dance teacher (UAS) and a Somatic Pilates instructor. Niina has worked as a part-time teacher in, for example, basic education in the arts, vocational dance studies and university-level actor training. At West Finland College, Niina works not only as a teacher but also in education planning duties.
As a teacher of dance and movement, Niina guides people to build an honest connection with themselves, with other people and with their environment. Important values in her teaching are respect for every participant, experiential learning and an inquisitive mind, as well as sharing experiences and the joy of doing things together. As a teacher, Niina is enthusiastic about her subject, precise and gentle.
In Niina’s view, what is particularly fascinating about teaching dance is the chance to become at ease with oneself through embodied practice, the chance for bodily encounter and interaction with others, and the chance to experience different ”worlds” through varying music and dance cultures.
In Niina’s classes students study jazz dance and contemporary dance as well as basic ballet technique, work on movement material through improvisation and choreographic tools, and develop body awareness and body control especially through the Pilates method.Body awareness and the body-mind connection are central to the teaching. Movement is approached gently and in a body-accepting way.
In the partner dance programme, Niina’s teaching focuses on body maintenance. During the course, students have the opportunity to make ever more precise observations about their body and thereby about themselves, to sharpen their ability to sense changes taking place in the body, to find more ergonomic ways of being and moving, and to free their bodily expression.