Blue Heron Ranch, a peaceful place for Nia, art and horses

Randee Fox with one of her
horses, Caanie.

Laura Hubbard rests on the soft grassy blanket outside of 
Blue Heron Studio during a break at our July 2012 White Belt Training.

The dance studio

The Blue Heron Ranch Studio is a 1500-square foot art and dance studio with Brazilian cherry sprung wood floors, is set on a 9-acre horse ranch and is surrounded by nature. Its high ceilings and 11 windows which allow natural light to pour in, give the space a peaceful and 'expansive' feel inspiring creativity, expression, leaving all worries behind and personal introspection. Blue Heron Ranch Studio is the perfect place to explore the practice of Nia! You can read more about Randee Fox's Nia Education programs here.

Students during a Nia class at Blue Heron Studio

Students dancing with Manimou Camara, African dance and
drum teacher at Blue Heron Studio.

Nia students with Nia Trainer Helen Terry during a
special Nia PlayShop.

The art studio
The studio is also the art studio of Randee Fox, artist and arts educator. With rolling work tables, the 1500 square foot space transforms itself easily from a dance studio into a great space to make and learn about art - or both!

The horse ranch and facility

Blue Heron Ranch is a private 9-acre ranch that offers classes, trainings and workshops teaching a progressive approach to learning about horses. The barns house four horses with large outside paddocks. And the land has acres and acres of rolling grassy pastures surrounded in white fencing. It's a perfect place for horses to live and grow. The 60 X 112 foot all weather sand arena is lighted with fantastic footing. Randee Fox's four horses have been carefully trained to help people learn how to communicate and literally 'dance' with them. You can read more about the equestrian program here.

25025 NE 8th Street  
Sammamish, Washington 98074 / 206-427-7010

BLUE HERON RANCH LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT (a work in progress)

I would like to acknowledge that Blue Heron Ranch is situated on the traditional land of the Sammamish people, indigenously, who were a Coast Salish Native American tribe in the Sammamish River Valley in central King County, Washington. Sammamish is a Snoqualmie name. According to members of the Snoqualmie Tribe, the name is a corruption of two words: "Sqawx," the Snoqualmie name for Lake Sammamish, and "abs," a suffix which refers to people of a certain area. Their name is variously translated as ssts'p-abc, s-tah-PAHBSH or as Samena, which was corrupted into Sammamish. The name is derived from samma, meaning "the sound of the blue crane" and mish, meaning "river." They were also known to early European-American settlers as "Squak", "Simump", and "Squowh.", Squak is a corruption of sqwa'ux, meaning Issaquah Creek, which was a village site on Sammamish Lake. They were closely related to the Duwamish, and have often been considered a Duwamish sub-group as part of the Xacuabš who lived near Lake Washington.

Therefore I would like to acknowledge that Blue Heron Ranch is situated on the traditional land of the first indigenous people of Seattle, including the Duwamish, Snoqualmie, Sammamish, Suquamish, and Tulalip People past and present and honor with gratitude the land itself.

--Randee Fox