Theatrically Informed
On a fairly regular basis, the “perfect explanation” (ha!) of the Alexander Technique will occur to someone (teachers and perhaps long time adherents). It is interesting because each attempt to explain it or encapsulate it succinctly, to get it across to the person you wish to communicate it to, carries with it a seed of whatever you happen to be thinking or feeling or working through at the moment; it’s a bit like a diary entry, a time capsule. Anyhow, here’s my latest. Perhaps some or all of it will come to replace some of the existing descriptions on the main pages of the website. Some of the language here occurred to me after attending an excellent production of The Glass Menagerie at Theater Latte Da in Minneapolis, considering the requirements placed upon the stage performer to function at a high level over a sustained period of time, not unlike an athlete, but using their voice and body and attentional awareness, sometimes for a very long and demanding piece, and sometimes twice a day!
The Alexander Technique is a theatrically informed method of movement and poise, originally derived from the demands on the stage performer (vocally and physically) for the twin needs of stamina and ease while in performance.
Too much “strength” and the body braces and stiffens; too much “relaxation” and the body softens, losing necessary tone. The Alexander Technique offers a unique and decidedly non-exercise specific way to find the sweet spot where, similar to Tai chi, surprisingly little effort is summoned to produce sustained and sufficient energy.
F. M. Alexander devised and refined his namesake method in the late 1800’s in Australia based on his own needs and challenges as a solo performer of theatrical recitations, before bringing his work to a wider audience in London in 1904. He continued to teach until his passing in 1955, by which time several of his long term assistants and students had become capable of teaching and passing on the Technique themselves.
People from all walks of life have benefited from taking a course of individual lessons from certified teachers, applying the Technique’s beguilingly simple yet initially elusive principles and methods to enhance and improve the way they move, sit, stand, speak, breathe, and engage with anything unique in their lives, from playing a musical instrument, playing a sport, working at a desk, using their bodies for dancing, gardening, hiking, and so on.
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