What is Movement Lab?
Movement Lab is currently a work in progress. It stems from a desire to move with my community. To learn from one another, and inspire and support one another. The lab is a space for movement, health and art. To me, these things are integral to life and inseparable from one another.
I offer group and private classes in movement for life, function, expression and art: Dance Technique, Pilates, Functional Movement, and Stretch. Classes are offered at prices that consider many financial access points.
One day, the space will be an actual stand alone physical space that is connected to the vibrance of our beautiful town - Sharon. For now, movement lab happens wherever we make it happen. It can happen as a class in a local studio, in the schools, in our homes, and or on a screen.
This is the first part to making something bigger - a community connected through movement, health, generosity and art. This is a space where we grow strength, trust, optimism and community movements that remind us of our humanity in this world.
When we move better, we feel better and do better in this world!
Class Schedule
About Class Offerings
Philosophy:
I teach classes rooted in attention to detail and deep curiosity of our moving bodies. The forms utilize body and mind connection, ritual and repetition. I believe starting with attention to the details and nuance provides a path to the most consistent performance of the body and creates a practice rooted in integrity that will age with you. The classes also provide the tools for you to be your best teacher in any environment.
The Physicality and the Physical Product:
You make your goal and I will be part of the journey!
I love to FEEL work - sweat dripping sore muscles. However, as I get older, I realize there are many ways to feel the work. I need sustenance and support. I need to feel like I can get through really long and emotional days with a functioning and responsive body and balanced consistent energy. This world is busy and I think everyone, no matter the age, needs sustenance and support. When the work (exercise) becomes deep and balanced, the feeling is strong, expansive, and rejuvenating. That is my goal in providing these forms.
These classes do, ABSOLUTELY, make you stronger and can make you exquisitely strong with commitment - mentally and physically - but this is not simply exercise! This is a way of life and a way to live a full and dynamic life in your physical body. By taking yourself seriously, showing up to do the work you deserve, arriving as who you are and with what you have each day. Being flexible, kind and curious.
Commitment: All of these modalities are meant to practice in some form each day. I provide many options. You can add these to other movement forms you love. Work with me in the studio. Start to memorize some of the movement and do them at home or when you travel.
Why the Studio, Virtual, etc.?
I believe that movement should be done together. You can still find solitude in a group - in ballet class, pilates and yoga you work independently and often in silence or with music alone in the individual experience, but always within the combined breath and focus of the room and support of the group.
Who should Attend these Classes?
These classes are for any gender and most ages (currently the classes support age 13+ - please inquire for youth classes in the future).
Men/boys, these classes are for you too! Some of the best athletes know that dance, Pilates, and functional movement forms make you better at your form! I have worked with Division 1 athletes across a breadth of sports from Ice Hockey to Soccer and Cross Country - everyone wants to have a body that moves with ease and longevity . . . and without pain!
Pilates
Pilates, originally Contrology, is a low-impact, mind-body exercise system focused on core strength, flexibility, and controlled movement. It was created in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, whom the method is named after.
It is used by athletes, dancers, and general people to build coordination, flexibility, and deep core strength. It is used for regular conditioning and for rehabilitation.
Ballet
Ballet is a structured, highly technical form of performance dance characterized by grace, precision, and fluid movement. It originated in 15th-century Italian Renaissance courts and developed further in France and Russia.
For me ballet is a moving meditation. It is incredibly specific and intentional, it is a celebration of collaboration, community, and etiquette. It is about being alone in a group. About seeing, feeling, hearing and listening to the pulse in the room and contributing to an overarching grace and beauty - like birds. The incredibly hard work gets disguised by the beauty of the breath and synchronization. People remain beautiful individuals who together manifest into some epic and mesmerizing.
From a physical perspective, ballet is a technique that asks you to truly be a student of your own body. To find your own work n every single inch of your body - from your skull to your toes you are expressive and strong.
Today, ballet is constantly evolving. It remains an incredible and systemic training tool for strong flexible bodies; however the shape and form of ballet looks different across the many iterations from classical to contemporary, Vaganova to Balanchine, and as a product and exploration of many different inputs.
Ballet is an art and a technique. Used by dancers in the creation of ballet, it has also been leveraged by football, soccer, and other athletic forms for training quick and responsive bodies and minds.
Ballet is for everyone!
Functional Movement
Functional Movement, for me, is training the body across the different planes of motion, across the midline of the body, and in support of easy, consistent, reliable and efficient movement throughout the day. It is about coordination, awareness, and fine tuning. First, understanding where you are at and, then, finding gentle ways to approach and get to where you want to be.
For example, have you ever been driving and realized that just turning your head to look for cars behind you feels overly complicated. Or, sitting in a chair, you hear someone call your name - you turn and feel like your spine is a single fused chunk of vertebrae. Or, your knee or ankle is always hurting and you never know why. Or one muscle is so intensely tight, why?
Functional movement is trying to get back to the freedom of movement we see when look at babies and small children move. When the body and brain new what to do - the child falls the body and brain respond - the child is safe and mobile.
Functional movement refers to multi-joint, multi-planar exercises that mimic real-world daily activities like squatting, pushing, and lifting. It builds core strength, stability, and coordination across the entire body rather than isolating single muscles
As a Dancer I have had the pleasure of studying and being exposed to many somatic forms. I bring a taste of some of these practices to functional movement classes and I hope to expose more people to these somatic forms for health and healing. There are many practitioners in the area who specialize in these individual forms below. If the functional movement classes spark your interest, I am happy to connect you to a local teacher.
Meet Kat
Kat Nasti has been a dance and Pilates educator for more than 20 years. She was the former director of the Muhlenberg College Pilates Center, A trainer at Sheri Pilates, Executive Director of Green Street Studios, Head of Adult and Children's Programming at Ballet RI and has been on the dance faculty at Muhlenberg College, Dean College, Providence College, Roger Williams College, Dickinson College, and Temple University. As a dancer she performed across the US and abroad; and as a choreographer she has been produced across the East Coast. She is a mom of two kids and lives in Sharon with her family.
Statement on Movement
I need to move! I started dance class at the age of three and it has been a part of each day, since. I think we are all dancers. Our dances look different. However, I think we all recognize those moments when our body is working, with coordination, congruence of the mind, breath, and ease - we are dancing. We produce a sense of grace, calm, and beauty. Things unfold and we can sense a rare moment of connection to something larger than ourselves. "Like electricity" - in the words of Billy Elliot! We are in the dance and we recognize the miracle of our physical body.
The world today makes it incredibly challenging to be in our bodies. And therefore those moments of being in sync are rare. However, the promise of having more of those moments makes us work for them. We want to understand how we can find more of those moments and turn them into hours, days, and lifetimes.
This pursuit is what drives me. I want as many of those moments of connection, bliss, focus, coordination and realization that we are incredible instruments able to accomplish incredible feats.
I just love moving. Dance, running, jumping, skipping, falling, rebounding, moving forward, moving backward . . .anything that is not frozen. Even when I am still, I want to breathe or feel the sensation of life on my skin. I want some reminder that I have many living parts available to me and ready for action and expression.
I like feeling strong, but more than just strong, I like feeling organized and responsive. I love when I can feel my body and mind available to support anything I want to do. I like feeling possibility, opportunity and openness. And I learn from the times when I don't have that . . .it makes me want to find it again. It is the gift I want to give to myself and my children - a responsive, available, and functional body and mind.
I have had a wonderful journey through movement over the years. I haven't found a movement that I don't like or doesn't challenge me - physically or mentally. I love to share what I have and to, hopefully, inspire people to move with me. And, in moving together, get to know more about each other and about our miraculous bodies.
Community Feedback
"Kat, your generosity just keeps on giving with all of this valuable data and analysis! Thank you so much for this and, again, for your vision and efforts to bring everyone together for a magical evening of dance. "
Chloe C.
"The sense of community and joy was palpable. We all felt so welcomed and appreciated due in large part to the spirit with which you curated and connected us all."
Rachel B.
DANCE is MOVEMENT
MOVEMENT is LIFE
Find your inner child again. Find joy through movement. Return to a life filled with movement and curiosity.
Living and moving fully is your best Exercise
Get in Touch
katnastidance@gmail.com
917-406-0227