2020 ATI Virtual Annual Conference and General Meeting 2020 WorkshopsTABLE OF CONTENTS - Please click on each session to read the descriptions and the presenter biographies. Note that exact session times are not listed here. Please click into the 2020 ACGM Schedule to find the sessions in your time zone. Andrew Suseno - Day 3 - Plenary Session: I am not here to fix this. DAY 1Tommy Thompson - Alexander Technique & Entrainment DAY 2Dr. Aniko Ball - Translating AT for Health Pro DAY 3Shin Ohashi - Hands-on Skill with Tai Chi Principles
DAY 4Delia Rosenboom - 'He who sees things from the very beginning has the finest view of them all’
DAY 5Sabine Grosser - Resilient People Have Better Strategies
Andrew Suseno - Day 3 - Plenary Session: I am not here to fix this.
Please join us for this important conversation with Parcon Resilience, an anti-racist BIPOC centered somatic practice. Protests for Black Lives Matter rise up throughout the world as global capitalism reels from COVID-19, and authoritarian states backlash to protect white supremacy. ATI and many white centered/ dominated institutions find themselves at a crossroads where they cannot hide behind the guise of being non-racist anymore. As Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to be an Anti-racist, writes, “One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of “not racist.” The claim of “not racist” neutrality is a mask for racism.” In this presentation/workshop, Andrew Suseno, will share his questions in developing a BIPOC centered somatics and what that space might look like for ATI to shift to an anti-racist organization and culture. DAY 1Workshop: Entraining to the Heart of Compassion Entrainment is basically an ongoing universal process by which powerful rhythmic vibrations in one object are projected upon the other with a similar frequency. This holds true in the living tissue in the comprised systems of the human organism. Nervous, respiratory, and circulatory are meant to operate to a set rhythm and are projected upon the other with a similar frequency. Our hearts and pulses beat to a constant tattoo of poetic iambic pentameter and are projected upon the other with a similar frequency, thereby causing all systems to vibrate in resonance with the other. Mitchell Gaynor, M.D. has described the natural occurring harmonic in human physiology in the beat of the heart “...two individual muscle cells from the heart seen through a microscope. Each is pulsing with its own separate rhythm. Then they move closer together. Even before they touch, there is a sudden shift in the rhythm, they are pulsing together, perfectly synchronized.” The same principles of harmony and entrainment are operating when you give a lesson to a given individual whether it be the spoken voice, through touch or the mere presence of your quiet being. You cause the other to resonate to a vibration more deeply aligned with their being underneath, within and apart from any frequency aligned with who they feel they need to be in a given moment to be who they might possibly be, or move in a manner they might possibly move, or recall who they actually are. Let’s explore this online. Tommy Thompson Tommy, a former professor in theater and professional actor and director turned Alexander Teacher, has been teaching the Alexander work for forty-three years including private teaching, teacher training, and including teaching the work for twelve years at Harvard University. Tommy was a founding member of ATI, and served as ATI’s first Chair. Since ATI was founded, Tommy has served on numerous committees, and still does so. He has also served in various positions on the Executive Board for sixteen years. He loves giving workshops and since 1975, he has given close to 900 workshops in fifteen countries. Workshop: Connecting in Times of COVID-19: Supporting Professional Growth Through Teaching Each Other In this workshop we will share the ways in which we explored teaching and learning the Alexander Technique using different teaching models over Zoom. We conducted regular meetings in which we tackled different aspects of teaching each other and learning from each other. We developed a language to speak about different approaches to teaching and the challenges we face in our teaching practices. We will share insights from our recorded sessions and analyze how we learned to work together to bridge gaps in training background and teaching experience. We address the challenges we faced as we started our exchanges, and then highlight the potential for fruitful exchanges among colleagues as a tool to overcome isolation, and to enrich our repertoire of teaching ideas. Following our pre-recorded video, we encourage a live discussion about teachers’ professional development through exchange. Gabriella Minnes Brandes, Ph.D. has been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 30 years. She trained teachers for eighteen years at the Vancouver School of the Alexander Technique. Gaby works extensively in collaboration with musicians, voice, movement and acting instructors. She also teaches high level equestrians. Gaby’s lessons are experiential, encouraging students to explore, experiment with, and reflect on their habitual patterns, and seek efficient ways of using themselves in activity. Much of Gaby's current work and research focuses on exploration of Alexander Technique and creativity. Informed by her Ph.D. in education, she cultivates connections between educational research, Alexander teacher training and teachers’ professional development. Joseph Kaplan is a musician and educator whose creative work focuses on interdisciplinary collaborations. From music and sound design for film, to live accompaniment for dance performances, to interactive software design, to leading movement improvisations, his skillset focuses on spontaneity and flexibility in the midst of multidimensional projects. Joe holds a master’s degree in Music Composition from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music and his research in the Alexander Technique focuses on connecting Alexander’s ideas to the philosophical work of Susanne Langer, especially how the thought structures cultivated by the Technique can be expressed in terms of modern Symbolic Logic. DAY 2Workshop: Translating Alexander Technique for Health Professionals: AT & Dentistry Anikó suffered frequent pain and discomfort in her neck, back and shoulder for over thirty years. Doctors and physical therapists offered short-term symptom relief without identifying her symptoms as work related. Anikó was forced to contemplate early retirement as her condition worsened. She was considered a “hopeless case;” risky surgery and long-term anti-inflammatory medications seemed her only options. Fortunately she encountered the Inner Ergonomic Principles of the Alexander Technique. Once she learned about biomechanical design, she recognized her harmful postural habits, applied the Inner Ergonomic Principles in all activities, especially in the dental surgery, and got her life back. These days retirement is the furthest thing on her mind. With the intention of contributing the Inner Ergonomic Principles of the Alexander Technique to the dental profession, Anikó gained an Advanced Diploma of the Alexander Studies after completing a 1600 hour training course at the Melbourne Alexander School. She is a Certified Alexander Teacher and a member of the Australian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. Anikó founded Optimum Dental Posture to save her colleagues from suffering occupational chronic pain. She has been a presenter at ADA Congresses, Conferences, CPD courses and group meetings. Trained in mind-body calming techniques and Inner Ergonomics, Anikó trains dentists and their teams around Australia and NZ how to reduce occupational chronic pain and stress. Anikó has been involved in a research project conducted at Melbourne University Dental School, ‘Improving oral health students' physical and mental wellbeing’, to show the benefits of "Fundamental Inner Ergonomics" training. Anikó's vision is the inclusion of ‘Ergonomics & Wellness in Dentistry’ training programs at the undergraduate level in all dental schools as a preventive measure to reduce the risk of occupational musculoskeletal disorders.Anikó is also conducting research into the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders in dentistry. Optimumdentalposture.com Workshop: Release, Energise, and Nourish: An Experiential Talk-Through in Prone An opportunity to work lying in prone (on your front) to both release and let go of whatever you do not need...be it physical tension, tiredness, emotions, an energetic state or mood and then to expand, re-nourish and re-energise your system. Delia Rosenboom: I trained as an Alexander teacher when I was seventeen years old, graduating from Don Burton’s Fellside Alexander school in 1989. Since then I have taught in private practice and on many AT training courses, including teaching anatomy, embryology and singing. I am the director of the South East Alexander School in Sussex, UK, and also offer post-graduate workshops and supervision to new teachers. I am also a sponsoring teacher for ATI. I have pioneered ways of using the AT to work with people in shock, states of trauma, bereavement, recovering from surgery. I am passionate about developing the quiet, deeply-listening qualities of one’s hands, about following intuition when working, about deepening the ‘humanness’ of one’s interactions with one’s pupils, and about honouring emotional and energetic releases alongside physical changes within an Alexander lesson. Workshop: Living Alliances/Alliances Vivantes, a workshop brought to you by the International Committee Description: In this workshop, we'll start by listening to what our membership has to suggest about creating more dynamic and supportive connections and collaborations within the whole ATI community. Using somatic explorations, we will lead the group into a process that clarifies how each of us can support one another’s growth and the growth of the profession in all countries. With these discoveries made as a group during the workshop, the International Committee wishes to establish stronger alliances within our community regardless of physical distance, tradition and language. This workshop will be an active self-exploration within the context of our needs as an international community, so that we truly experience being "all together, right where we are"! Corinne Cassini, a professionally trained cellist, teaches the Alexander Technique to Music Majors at the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University and privately in Boone, NC since 2012, guiding performing artists and many others both individually, in groups and workshop settings. Her first Alexander lessons were over 20 years ago and she has been practicing as a certified teacher in Boone, NYC, Boston, England, Holland and France for 10 years. In 2015 she started training Alexander teachers at her school, Light in Being-Alexander Teacher Training in Boone, NC. Manuelle Borgel is a Choreographer-Dancer and discovered AT in 1995 and was certified by ATI in 2015. She currently teaches the Alexander Technique in Paris to artists, seniors, children, ... individually and in groups. She teaches somatics to explore performances and the creative process, fields she trained in linked to the Life Art Process. She continues to develop her approach in Collective Intelligence, cooperation, conflict and stress management using the tools of Non-Violent Communication and Co-construction. Workshop: The Ethics of Touch What really happens when one person touches another? How does a hand on your client’s head or shoulder translate into better health? Human touch can completely change the way the body functions. Studies indicate that touch is essentially a positive experience for the person receiving it as long as the touch does not impose more intimacy than the person desires or communicate a negative message. Therein lies the challenge: How do you know if your touch is too intimate or sends a negative message for any specific person? In this workshop we will explore the dynamics of touch: appropriate ways to ask clients if and how they want to be touched; potential emotional reactions to touch and how to respond; techniques to attune to clients’ verbal and nonverbal feedback; creating and maintaining healthy boundaries. We will also address how to set up appropriate boundaries between practitioner and client, as well as within the ATI organization as teachers and students. Cherie Sohnen-Moe is an author, business coach and international workshop leader. She has been involved in the wellness field since 1978. Cherie was a faculty member at a massage school, natural health college, and acupuncture college. She has served on advisory boards for several schools, has been an advisor to the ATI ethics committee and facilitated workshops at an ATI conference. Cherie is a firm believer in education and as such serves on the exam development committee of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB). She is a founding member of the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education, served on their board for 9 years, and was President for 2 years.Cherie has written hundreds of articles, authored the books Business Mastery and Present Yourself Powerfully, and co-authored The Ethics of Touch and Retail Mastery. Among her honors she has received the Distinguished Service Award and the Professional Achievement Award from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the Outstanding Instructor Award at the Desert Institute of the Healing Arts, the MO AMTA President’s Award, the Outstanding Dedication and Service Award from the AFMTE, 2012 inductee into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame, and the MASSAGE Magazine 2020 Allstar. Workshop: Learning to Live with New Body Parts: Journey of a Hip, Journey of Knee Bob Lada and Robin Gilmore underwent total joint replacement in June 2020. They will share their experiences with rehabilitation and how they applied Alexander principles before and after surgery. Following individual presentations by "The Hip" and "The Knee," there will be time for Q & A with participants. Robin Gilmore (The Hip) is a dancer and mover with a decades long background in AT and other somatic practices. She was fortunate to study with Marjorie Barstow during the 1980s and '90s. She is a longtime member of ATI and currently serves as a Sponsor. Robin is the author of What Every Dancer Needs to Know About the Body (GIA Publications), a book used in numerous university performing arts departments. In the 1990s she directed the first AT teacher training program in Japan. Since 2004 she has directed CBAS, an Alexander teacher training program based in Greensboro, NC and teaches on several annual residential courses throughout the US. She presents workshops regularly at the International Congress of the Alexander Technique. Robin lives in Annapolis, MD near the Chesapeake Bay. Bob Lada (The Knee) is a Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique having received his certificates from Tommy Thompson and from Alexander Technique International. Bob is a professor at Berklee College of Music and a member of the Effortless Mastery Institute there. He teaches at the Boston Conservatory, the Alexander Technique Center of Cambridge, Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies as well as in private practice in Cambridge, MA. He has taught at , American Repertory Theater and Harvard Extension School, conducted workshops throughout the USA. Asia, and Europe and is a charter member of Alexander Technique International. Bob has also completed Actors Secret training with Betsy Polatin which he continues to study. Bob's primary background is in athletics and analytics and he looks at the Technique as a tremendous aid in getting out of one's way in performance situations so that creativity and skill can come through. His perspective on AT is one of transformation as the path to more fully participating in the present. Workshop: Whispered Ah Walking in Nature Walking in nature is a lovely activity, great exercise for our body-mind self. In my walks through the countryside in Uruguay I started exploring the Whispered Ah, especially when getting tired. I noticed wonderful changes in my stride, my energy and my connection with the surroundings. I started really seeing; not a generalized view, but noticing all the details. My senses were awaken and I felt being part of all that is. Let’s go for a walk with the Whispered Ah and explore how it can excite your senses! Clara Sandler is an ATI certified Alexander teacher and a classical singer and Voice teacher. She teaches both AT for Musicians and Voice at the New England Conservatory of Music and at Boston College. She has performed in opera, oratorio and recitals, and loves singing songs from Spain and Argentina, where she was born. Her CD “Alma Apasionada, Songs from Spain and Argentina” was released by Newport Classics. Clara is a passionate dancer, currently taking Modern Dance and Improvisational classes. She incorporates movement and AT into her Voice teaching. Clara spends the college winter break in the countryside in Uruguay, where she has been exploring the Whispered Ah during her daily walks on dirt, hilly roads. She presented the workshop “Voice and Movement, a Flowing Integration” at the Freedom to Make Music Conference in NY and at the AGM 2019 in Ennis, Ireland. You will need: Comfortable shoes to walk outside, warm clothes. We will start indoors, where we will use our laptops/computer/IPad. When we go outside you will need to use the Zoom link again on your phone (audio only. Make sure it is charged and use headphones/ear pods. We will finish again indoors.Workshop: Tending to Our Use During these stressful times, it is all too easy to forget to apply our wonderful Alexander Technique principles and how we can use them to quiet our nervous systems. This workshop will explore ways to deepen our Alexander Technique as apply the AT principles to the practice self care activities, apply hands on principles even when we are in isolation and look at ways to enliven our personal practice. Participants will need: A yoga block, Yoga mat, some snacks, skin cream and hair brushes. In 2018, Feindel received an honorary lifetime membership to the Pacific Voice and Speech Foundation for her "exemplary contributions to the care and pedagogy of the artistic voice." Her book, The Thought Propels the Sound, Plural Publishing (available at Mauritz Books) has been utilized at various programs including Stanford University, Central School of Speech and Drama (UK), York University and the Stratford Festival Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre, Canada. Feindel has presented at several ATI conferences and three International Congress on the Alexander Technique and published in the congress papers in 2005, 2009 and 2019. Also distinguished voice and dialect coach, she is constantly looking for ways to integrate the AT principles in organic ways with acting training. Her coaching credits include: Theatre for a New Audience, Royal Shakespeare Company Complete Works Festival (UK): Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, Canadian Stage (Canada) and the equity theatres in Pittsburgh. She is a Professor Emerita at Carnegie Mellon's School of Drama where she introduced the Alexander Technique and taught many outstanding actors including Josh Gad (FROZEN); Golden Globe Award recipient Matt Bomer; Tony Award recipients Patina Miller and Leslie Odom Jr. She served as Academy Award recipient F. Murray Abraham's Alexander Technique Coach. She currently resides in Quebec, teaching at John Abbott and Concordia University acting programs and consults for the Institute of the Arts, Barcelona. Workshop: Revealing Optimal Vocal Quality through Optimal Coordination in Speech and Singing Kate will be working with you to help you reveal optimal acoustical qualities through coordinated movement. Using the framework of extraordinary performance practice and the Alexander Technique, we will do experiments as a group, and then Kate will work with a few individuals on their specific requests. This workshop will give you firsthand experience with the process Kate uses to coach the best performers in the world. The flow of the workshop will be a short, participatory introduction, followed by group work, then individual coaching, and questions at the end. Please let Kate know if there are any specific questions or wonderings you would like her to address in the session! Kate Conklin is a vocalist, performer, and educator specializing in the field of extraordinary performance. Performing as soprano, and interpreter of the highly demanding vocal music of Bulgaria, for two years, Kate was the vocalist for Cirque du Soleil's "O," the resident aquatic show at Bellagio, Las Vegas, where she performed approximately nine hundred shows. Her performing includes singing for film and television, premiering original new works, and collaborating with composers and choreographers. Kate sings in seventeen languages and is known for her playful gravitas. She has performed with innovative and influential musicians such as Miroslav Tadić and John Bergamo and is the vocalist on several albums by electronic musician Deru. In collaboration with Machine Project, Kate has brought live Bulgarian Vocal Installations to the Hammer Museum and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, particularly designed to explore the resonant spaces within the museums. She has presented about her work in idiomatic improvisation, and the re-contextualization of folk melodies in film at The American Film Composers Forum Salon, and about her performing and coaching extraordinary performers in a TedX performance and talk.Kate is currently in development with a solo performance piece, Recreational Science, written for her by Javier Navarrette (Oscar-nominated composer for Pan's Labyrinth), and recording a duo album of Bulgarian music with her long-time partner and collaborator, banjoist/composer Bryan Landers. Kate is an educator and performance coach, specializing in working with high-level performers whose work demands both excellent technique and profound artistry. Her coaching synergizes voice, Alexander Technique and performance readiness practices, and has been called, "Simple and instantly adoptable, yet radical and groundbreaking." Kate works with artists from arenas of stage, film, and television, as well as members of the LA Philharmonic, LA Master Chorale, and Cirque du Soleil. Kate clients are comprised of singers, producers, actors, dancers, conductors, aerialists, mimes, clowns, and high-divers.In 2006, Kate joined the music faculty at California Institute of the Arts, where she founded and directed the highly acclaimed Bulgarian Vocal Ensembles and served on voice faculty for four years. She has taught Voice, Alexander Technique, and founded and directed Bulgarian choirs for CalArts, Community Arts Partnership, California State Summer School for the Arts, The Oakwood School and Bard College. She has been a visiting artist and lecturer at CalArts, Pomona College, Azusa Pacific University, Los Angeles College of Music, USC, UCLA, San Francisco Conservatory, Santa Monica College, and The Marlborough School.Education & ResearchKate was a Fulbright Scholar to Bulgaria in 2002, where she rehearsed and performed as a member of The Academic Folk Choir of the Plovdiv Academy of Music, developing her work in regional solo repertoire, choral literature, conducting and pedagogy. In 2003, she received the LifeWorks Foundation Research Grant for Early American Folk Music in Nashville, before joining Cirque du Soleil.Kate is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and holds BFA and MFA degrees in Vocal Performance with an emphasis in opera, contemporary, free improvisation, North Indian Classical and Balkan vocal music. She has additional study in peak performance practice, pedagogy, neurobiology, anatomy and physiology, physics, systems theory, anthropology, and philosophy.
DAY 3Workshop: Hands-on Skill with Tai Chi Principles Shin Ohashi lives in Kobe, Japan, and graduated from The Alexander Alliance 2012. He is a Physical Therapist / Labor Counselor / Tai-Chi educator, who got a bronze medal in International Competition of Martial Arts Tai-Chi. He will publish this October a book which is about the relationship between posture, movement and breathing. Workshop: AT & Soul Voice CANCELLED Workshop: Structuring Zoom Lessons Learn to teach in a playful, interactive and varied way on ZOOM; get a feeling for groups and their energies! Workshop: Chair Yoga and Meditation (Presence Practice) Take a break...the participant will be led through simple Chair Yoga for 30 minutes. The instruction will be such that the participant will not have to look at their screen and will be able to move and engage with the space around them. Following Chair Yoga, the participant will be led through 15 minutes of meditation. Workshop: Kinesthetic Drawing & Integrated Moving as a Personal Growth Journey In this event, participants will be introduced to the meaning of kinesthetic drawing and how it came to be thanks to the Alexander Technique. They will be given a chance to experience basic kinesthetic drawing and given an opportunity to share their experience. In the process, they will discover the interaction between kinesthetic drawing and body awareness, especially from an AT perspective of being present and nurturing their state of expansion while drawing.Movement interludes will be from mindful sitting (preferably on a chair) to dancing! You will need: A chair and desk to sit at, enough space to do some movements standing or even dancing. Also, some drawing paper, a pen, and a pencil.Cécile Raynor has been teaching the Alexander Technique for about 30 years. Like many teachers with experience, she has developed her own expression of the Alexander Technique which she sometimes refers to as the BIA Process™ or Body Intelligence Activation Process. Cécile has presented her work both on radio shows and TV. She has taught at Lesley University and presented in numerous institutions over the years. Although she has been working with students of all backgrounds, she also specialized in teaching yoga teacher trainees and yogis hence her published book "The Wise Way to Yoga". During the confinement months, she started teaching classes online on "Stress Relief & Immunity via Integrated Movements" and, as an artist, she recently launched a workshop series entitled "Kinesthetic Drawing & Painting as A Personal Growth Journey." Workshop: First Do No Harm We have all watched Alexander Technique teachers give lessons to students by imposing their “right” way onto the student. While the teacher may see a possibility for the student that they cannot yet see for themselves, I believe there is a danger in imposing our way on the student rather than inviting them into the exploration. In this workshop we will examine the ways in which we may unintentionally and unknowingly upset our students. We will explore ways of creating a safe space for learning—both in person and online. Special attention will be given to AT workshops given to AT teachers, where teachers can be accidentally re-traumatized by the way they are being asked to participate. We will also explore how teaching online and returning to in-person lessons may reveal new triggers for us and for our students. Debi Adams is an ATI Certified teacher having graduated from Tommy Thompson's training in 1992. She runs a teacher-training course at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and teaches AT courses at that school as well as assisting on Tommy's training. Debi has a private practice in AT and piano; she still performs occasionally. Debi has also trained in the Actor's Secret Training with Betsy Polatin. This training combines the AT with the breath work of Carl Stough and the Somatic Experiencing work of Peter Levine. Debi travels nearly annually to Japan to share her work and has also taught in Peru, South Korea and Germany. Debi is a founding member of ATI. She has been on the ATI board and served as chair/co-chair of the membership committee, communications committee and the ethics advisory committee. She is currently on the ATI board again as a director. Workshop: Applying the AT to Yoga Practice David Moore, the director at the School for F.M. Alexander Studies graduated from Australia's first Alexander technique training course in Sydney in 1985. In 1999 he set up an AUSTAT accredited training course in Melbourne offering an Advanced Diploma in Alexander Technique Teaching. He has been practicing yoga for many years and has been teaching it since 1986.He is the author of "Smart Yoga: Apply the Alexander Technique to Enhance Your Practice, Prevent Injury, and Increase Body Awareness." and is running a Smart Yoga Teacher Training Course in Melbourne. In response to the Covid shutdown he has moved the yoga training online and offers a one year course for Alexander and Yoga teachers in Smart Yoga. You’ll need: yoga mat, a chair, some blankets or bolsters,whatever props may be available. Workshop: Working with Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement Disorders This is a practical workshop, designed to give you tools to approach a student with Parkinson’s disease with greater understanding and efficacy. We will explore:
Photos and videos of actual PD students, as well as physical exploration and movement from participants, will be part of the presentation. Candace Cox (BFA, ATI, STAT) came to Alexander technique from the world of theatre. After completing her BFA in theatre performance at the University of Regina (Canada) and Warwick (England), Candace could not stop thinking or talking about “the Alexander work.” She moved to England as a newly-wed in 1994, where she completed the three-year training to become an Alexander technique teacher with the inimitable David Gorman at The Centre for Training in London. In 1999, Candace and her family returned to Canada, where she established Big Sky Studio in Edmonton. Besides a large private practice, she worked at performing arts institutions and faculties across Canada including the Stratford Festival, the University of Toronto, Queen’s University, the University of Regina, and Opera Nuova. She was a sessional instructor on the BFA Acting faculty at the University of Alberta for eight years, before relocating to Ontario in 2011. The performing arts are her background and lifelong passion, and she loves to coach and teach performers of all kinds, and at all levels. However, in 2003, life changed forever for Candace when her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Alexander technique was an unexpected source of strength for both women, and after her mother’s death, Candace became increasingly interested in the application of Alexander principles to managing chronic illness and pain. As well as helping people with arthritis, cancer, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, Candace has found great joy and success in working with people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Candace has developed her understanding of Parkinson’s over the past decade by attending and presenting her work at the last three World Parkinson’s Congresses: Montreal in 2013, Portland in 2016, and Kyoto in 2019. Candace has worked with hundreds of people with Parkinson's, and their families. She hopes that her book, Living Daily: Alexander Technique for Parkinson’s Disease, will not only provide support and hope for people impacted by Parkinson’s disease, but will also serve as a reference book and tool for Alexander technique teachers. Candace is a huge advocate for furthering research into the impact of Alexander technique on this terrible disease. Candace has adapted to teach and present on-line, as a response to our times. She makes her home with her husband, pianist Mitchell Cox, on a pastoral bit of land in Prince Edward County, outside of Toronto, Canada. Workshop: Creativity Circuit Training (website: https://www.integrativealexandertechnique.org)
Four sessions revolving in the "circuit training:"1. Resourcefulness and Resilience: Creativity in Practical Action with Cathy Madden. The integrated self, unveiled by and nourished by the Alexander Technique, is a creative self. This session introduces this real-world application, highlighting its contribution to resource-full responses with a sequence of practices designed to develop and/or enhance “such stuff that dreams are made on.” 2. Cup and Spoon Orchestra: Creativity and Musical Performance with Matt Goodrich: In this session, we explore a sequential creative process to thinking in musical performance—even if you’ve never played a note in your life! This opens a window into using Integrative Alexander Technique amid creative activity, inviting spontaneity and creativity during our group “music making. 3. Talking, Laughing, Sharing: The intrinsic roles of creativity and coordination in everyday conversations and storytelling with Lynne Compton In this session, let’s invite our whole selves to seed, sprout, and prune a tale or two. 4. Moving Is Thinking Is Moving with Crispin Spaeth: Simple choices can yield bountiful ideas, and stating the obvious is the on-ramp to communication. Leveraging tools from her choreographic process, Crispin offers movement prompts in which to explore Integrative Alexander Technique, then leads exercises in describing those experiences. All of this is a way to support information gathering for further understanding of yourself and others. Lynne Compton became a certified teaching member of Alexander Technique International in 1996 and has continued her studies by attending various professional development programs. Most recently, she attended the 2018 Washington State Teaching Artists Training Lab, a seven-month professional development program with a focus on supporting arts education. In addition to teaching Lynne wears several other career hats, including acting, providing audio descriptions for local theatres, and massage therapy. Matt Goodrich, Oregon: Ashland and Rogue Valley, Central Oregon Coast, Mid-Willamette ValleyMatt is an active piano soloist, collaborator, chamber musician, theatrical performer, and educator. He has performed with myriad ensembles throughout the Pacific Northwest. At the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, he has served as pianist/conductor for nine highly acclaimed productions. Matt holds an undergraduate degree in Piano Performance from Oberlin College Conservatory and a doctorate from the University of Washington. He is a teaching member of Alexander Technique International and serves as editor for the organization’s semiannual journal, ExChange. Cathy Madden, Seattle, Australia, Europe, Japan is Director, Integrative Alexander Technique Studio of Seattle. Principal Lecturer, University of Washington School of Drama. Author, Integrative Alexander Technique Practice for Performing Artists: Onstage Synergy; Teaching the Alexander Technique: Active Pathways to Integrative Practice. Founding Director and Former Chair of Alexander Technique International. Associate Director, BodyChance (Tokyo, Osaka); Director. Actor. Doula. Formal Consensus Facilitator. Speaker. Clown. Crispin Spaeth, Seattle has had overlapping careers as a choreographer, producer, and project manager. Her company, Crispin Spaeth Dance Group (1992 to 2007) was commissioned by On the Boards, Western Bridge, and Velocity Dance Center, among others. She has been an event producer and project manager for corporate and non-profit clients for over 20 years. Crispin received a degree in Studio Art from Oberlin College.
DAY 4Workshop: "He who sees things from the very beginning has the finest view of them all." - Aristotle What is ‘Up’ energy, where does it originate & how can we re-discover it? Since you were three weeks old in the womb- the size of a pinhead - your core has been ‘growing upwards’ as a matter of great importance and priority! Your spine brilliantly develops with an inherent, upward lifeforce, and an opposing boney, grounding response, giving an ‘up and a down’. This experiential workshop will explore the embryological origins of our core; how AT work mirrors and sustains its original developmental patterns; how its opposing energetic flows manifest in us as adults; and how we can to allow these to further nourish, enliven and support us. Practical work, visualisations, work in semi-supine, rolling, standing and more. Workshop: Teaching the Pupil to Self-Organize Their Own New Head-Neck-Back Relationship If we see a pupil's tense neck, our sensitive hands long to reach out and touch. If we are working online (or hands off) the question becomes how we teach a pupil to free their own neck, and to know when it is free and well balanced. Then we need to know how to get them to make an unfamiliar bend into the chair, and again know they are on the right lines. This workshop gives reliable practical protocols for doing this that pupils can learn and immediately use for themselves. Cats or small children do not have to think about freeing their necks or directing the body to follow. Our nervous systems have an innate capacity to self-organise balanced and integrated use for us, if only we know how to direct it. I suggest that this capacity to self-organise was Alexander's core discovery. We will learn precise methods to teach the pupil to assess their own head/neck alignment, and to free the a/o (nodding) joint, axis (turning) joint and jaw. Then to make an unfamiliar bend into the chair, and out again, discovering their own good use. We will look at the functional anatomy behind this. Working online and hands off can be immensely empowering to teacher and pupil, as pupils quickly learn how to consciously direct their own process. I initially read zoology at Cambridge university. I took my first lessons in 1983 and qualified in 1989 from the North London Alexander School (Misha Magidov). After training, my use fell apart, as no-one had taught me to work on myself. This took me to Miss Goldie, who stripped away everything I had learnt, and rebuilt it as she saw the technique should be - a scary process! I worked with her for four years, and that began a thirty-year journey to understand the differences and power of Miss Goldie’s amazing work. It has taken me to many other teachers – including Erika Whittaker, John Hunter, and Jeando Masoero, and to many avenues of exploration and understanding – both scientific and alternative. From age seventeen, I also battled with another 30-year journey - with chronic fatigue syndrome. This is now sorted, but after it I needed to rebuild tone and strength, and increased calm and resilience, which this work has enabled. I have been teaching workshops on Miss Goldie’s work since the Oxford Congress in 2004,in UK, Ireland (including the Limerick Congress), Germany and America. My book: 'The Alexander technique:The twelve fundamentals of integrated movement' is in production with Handspring Publishing and should be out in December 2020. I live and work in County Clare in the West of Ireland with my husband, cat, two dogs, and a beautiful view. I am passionate to share this work that can bring us such renewed vigour, sense of youthful springiness and calm presence. Workshop: The Art of Thinking Exploring what it means to think a direction, and how quality of thinking affects quality of movement. Sean Redpath is both a certified BASI Comprehensive Pilates instructor and an ATI certified Alexander Technique teacher. His work is largely rehabilitative and re-educative, helping those who are recovering from surgery or injury, and building healthy habits as a preventative measure against future injuries. Sean comes from a rich background in the performing arts, having appeared in numerous theatrical, film and TV productions. Some of the teachers of the Alexander Technique lineage that Sean had the privilege of learning under include Sue Laurie, then resident teacher for the Royal Shakespeare Company and The Royal National Theatre (and trained by Marjory Barlow), Nannette Anderson (Chris Stevens), and Sharyn West and Lucia Walker (Dick and Elizabeth Walker) with whom he graduated as a teacher. Workshop: The Poise Project: Who Pays? New Economic Models for AT & AT Professionals In our global economy, we now see 1% of all people controlling 50% of the wealth, and 80% of all people sharing only 5.5% of the wealth. We are constantly being exposed to an economic model telling us it is not enough to make a living, and that we should instead aspire to make a "killing". I believe that the majority of AT teachers are interested in making a living, not a "killing". In society, we live in what can be called both a "cash" economy and a "gift" economy. We can find creative ways to be paid for our "gift" of teaching AT principles to the public by blending for profit, nonprofit, and pro bono economic models. "Nonprofit" structures are our most underutilized form. Partnering with nonprofits, or starting our own, can bring AT principles to completely new populations, cultures, and countries. This model can also help attract and train a more diverse body of professional AT teachers. This workshop will offer a variety of ways The Poise Project can suggest for us to find other sources to pay for or subsidize AT classes for our clients and trainings for our next generation of teachers. THE POISE PROJECT® A nonprofit launched in May 2016. Our mission is to help the public maintain poise and personal growth throughout all stages and challenges of life using the principles of Alexander technique (AT). We are motivated by the belief that every human being should have access to the AT principles by the age of 21; that the principles are a human right, not a privilege; and that they are a foundation for sustainable human dignity and agency. Although AT has been in existence for 130 years, the AT principles are still not an integrated part of mainstream practice. TPP is an infrastructure for targeted initiatives working in coordination with members of the public, AT professionals who have a variety of expertise, and professionals from other fields. TPP is the recipient of five Parkinson's Foundation community grants to develop, research, and deliver AT-based classes to people living with Parkinson's disease and their care partners, and a grant from the Alzheimer's Foundation of America for courses for care partners of people living with dementia. Marie-Laure Deplaix. Certified 1998: North London Teachers Training School (STAT). Member: French Association of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (APTA). Marie-Laure is The Poise Project Regional Team Coordinator for France. Workshop: Emotional Habits and Their Triggers In these months of self-quarantine, I have become more aware that habit plays a role in my emotional reactions. This workshop uses the framework of 'lifestyle priorities' (a concept from Adlerian psychology) to recognize our own particular priority and how this influences our responses. We'll start with an interesting group activity, break into small groups, and then come together again. In the process we'll get to know ourselves, and recognize how others might experience/see differently. The awareness of our triggers can give us more room for conscious choice when we or our students are triggered. Antoinette Kranenburg discovered the Alexander Technique in 1978, started teaching in 1988 and has been learning ever since. She offers group and individual classes through Kensington Alexander, is part of the annual Sevenoaks Alexander retreat and teaches at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She is experienced with injury prevention and recovery, physical challenges, handling stress and aging well, and works toward making Alexander Technique widely known. She is ATI certified and active on the Professional Development Committee. Antoinette values Alfred Adler’s approach to psychology and is a certified parenting educator. She has a passion for Argentine Tango and enjoys community singing, Tai Chi, yoga, and the outdoors. Workshop: Self-Agency and Charging Up This session will be chock full of exploration and exercises that you can do on your own at home to teach yourself improved self-use and presence. We will focus on things you can explore for yourself to strengthen your body’s response to a central organizing mechanism that is always there in your movement and balance systems. We will review the thinking that can be integrated into all of our daily activities and then explore physical activities that help your body be more available to respond to those directive thoughts. Focus will be on three elements: spatial awareness including depth perception and grid cell activities, stimulating proprioception in your spine through massage and movement, and activating muscular activity in the intrinsic support system of the pelvis, ilio-psoas muscles and shoulder girdle. You’ll need: A little bit of room for moving around. A place to lie down. A stool or firm chair to sit on. Sarah has studied more than forty somatic systems for unlocking the freedom and ability that comes with a mind/body unity. In 1974 she became a Theatre Movement Specialist and she has directed two graduate programs for actors and developed a system of psycho-physical approaches to acting and other performing arts. Now Sarah integrates all of her expertise in teaching the Alexander Technique and has created tools that help people to live and work easily with more confidence and intention to accomplish their dreams. Workshop: Teaching/Training/Evaluating During Times of Covid-19
DAY 5Workshop: Resilient People Have Better Strategies Resilience - strengthening the mental and physical resistance. Resilient people have it easier, because they are better able to cope with setbacks. This online course teaches techniques and strategies to strengthen their own resistance. When is the right time for this course? You are currently on short-time work, feel uncertain about how to shape your professional future, but have more time than usual to develop yourself personally. You are in your home office more than usual and notice that communication with colleagues and superiors is changing. For example, information passes you by. During the lockdown you had more complexity and challenges from family, organization and your own insecurities. You want to understand your stress factors and drivers in order to be able to act differently. You simply want to become more relaxed with everyday situations. Discover your own resilience profile and expand your resources. A PDF with some exercises will be uploaded for you. So please make sure you have a tablet or printer, so that you can fill in a short test. Sabine Grosser, Germany Master of Business Administration, Alexander-Technique Teacher (ATI), Health and Job Coach. Before starting to learn the Alexander-Technique in 2009, Sabine Grosser worked 16 years – lately as a Marketing Leader – in IT-companies. Now she works self-employed as trainer and coach in the workplace health management. Her main areas in working with the Alexander-Technique are Stress Management and ergonomics in offices. She also coaches jobless people how to present better in interviews and how to find their own way of self presentation. Workshop: Introducing a New Discipline into an Old Country In this presentation, I aim to share the issues that have arisen in the past fifteen years in my efforts to introduce and establish the Alexander Technique in Greece: These will include cultural characteristics, educational standards, social and financial status of students and potential teachers. It may, therefore, be of interest to Alexander Technique teachers of nationalities that have only recently introduced the work into their countries. Although some will identify anything “Greek” as related to Ancient Greece or/and to the paradise known as “the Greek islands”, I will attempt to shed light upon the realities of modern day Greece, the structure of Greek society and the socio-economic frame that shapes the difficulties as well as the advantages of introducing a new discipline to an old country. I will also cover the results of my personal research into the introduction of the Alexander Technique to the formal national educational and vocational framework. This part will include information that will be of interest to colleagues who wish to know more about the various levels of the European Qualifications Framework and the European Vocational Training where, if applicable, the Alexander Technique can be placed as a taught discipline and a formal profession. Christos Noulis is a pianist, professor of piano and teacher of the Alexander Technique. He holds First Class Bachelor and Master degrees in piano performance from the Royal College of Music and a PhD from BCU, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where he compared the effects of the Alexander Technique, Yoga Therapy and Rehabilitation Pilates on Piano Performance. He is certified in the Rehabilitation Pilates Method® and in Yoga Therapy (P.E.I.). His first exposure to the Alexander Technique was at the Royal College of Music. He “re-discovered” the work with Penny O’Connor in 2004 and has followed her teachings ever since, assisting her from 2015 onwards in her summer workshops in Greece. His teaching approach of the Alexander Technique is the result of a four year intensive study of the Interactive Teaching Method under Doctor Donald Weed. He is an ITM Alexander Technique certified teacher and a Certified Teaching Member of ATI. He has recently completed the TTO Alexander Technique Course by Penelope Easten. He is currently a professor of piano and the Alexander Technique at the Macedonian Conservatoire of Thessaloniki and an adjunct professor of the Alexander Technique, Somatic Education and Educational Psychology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Music Department. Workshop: The Breadth of Breath Devote some time to breathing and being breathed in this experiential presence practice! We will touch on some key anatomical points about breathing and explore movement and reflexes related to breath. We will notice the power of breath to support a well-functioning nervous system. This guided breathing experience will leave you calm and refreshed and ready to re-engage in your day or evening. Sara Goldstein’s career as a classical singer informs her teaching of the Alexander Technique. Sara created and teaches the course, “Alexander Technique and Voice Performance” at Boston Conservatory where she is associate professor of voice. She has taught and performed in Europe and the U.S.A. Sara has given Alexander Technique workshops to groups ranging from high school choristers, to professional voice teachers and instrumentalists. Sara trained with Tommy Thompson in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She trained in The Actor’s Secret with Betsy Polatin, studying Somatic Experiencing and Carl Stough breath work. “Although I work a lot in the music realm, I also see students who are exploring choices in response to stress and struggle, discovering possibilities in all areas. Each person I work with is unique and endlessly interesting, and I like the uncharted learning that occurs in Alexander work.” Workshop: Journeys with the Vagus Nerve: The Rhythm of Regulation As Alexander teachers, we must navigate feelings of confidence, anxiousness, exhilaration, the sense of being judged, fear, excitement, and a full palette of emotions. Both we and our students are constantly balancing the need for safety and a longing to connect and express ourselves. We do this via our autonomic nervous system (ANS), whose job it is to have us survive and thrive. When functioning well it returns us to our center through a process called regulation which is primarily driven through our vagus nerve. In this workshop, participants will learn what the ANS is, how it functions, and experientially explore ways to influence how it reacts to a given situation, building resilience for themselves and their students, to attain the best conditions for their lessons. The explorations will be both moving and seated, but no special clothing is needed. Robert (Bob) Lada is a Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique having received his certificates from Tommy Thompson and from Alexander Technique International. Bob is a professor at Berklee College of Music and a member of the Effortless Mastery Institute there. He teaches at the Boston Conservatory, the Alexander Technique Center of Cambridge, Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies as well as in private practice in Cambridge, MA. He has taught at , American Repertory Theater and Harvard Extension School, conducted workshops throughout the USA. Asia, and Europe and is a charter member of Alexander Technique International. Bob has also completed Actors Secret training with Betsy Polatin which he continues to study. Bob's primary background is in athletics and analytics and he looks at the Technique as a tremendous aid in getting out of one's way in performance situations so that creativity and skill can come through. His perspective on AT is one of transformation as the path to more fully participating in the present. Workshop: Alexander Technique and Theatrical Intimacy Education This Presentation/Discussion will present the Best Practices Theatrical Intimacy Directing, and how The Alexander Technique is supportive of this process. We will discuss What are the crossovers between the two disciplines? What information can an Alexander Technique teacher bring to the process of Theatrical Intimacy Directing/Choreography? Jennifer Mizenko is a Professor Emeritus of Dance and Movement for the Actor at the University of Mississippi. She has a B.A. in Psychology from Kenyon College, and an M.A. in dance from The Ohio State University. Her expanded studies include period dance with Wendy Hilton and Richard Powers, the study of T'ai Chi with Maggie Newman, and the work of Jerzy Growtoski with the Teatr Piesn Kozla in Poland and Anna-Helena McLean founder and Artistic Director of the Moon Fool Company, and the Michael Chekhov acting technique with the international organization MICHA. Jennifer is a teaching member of Alexander Technique International, and served as Chair of the organization, 2007-2011. She is also a Laban Movement Analyst certified by LIMS, and recently became a certified yoga teacher from Yandara Yoga Institute in Baja Mexico. She has presented internationally at Laban and Alexander conferences and specializes in the teaching of Character Physicalization, integrating her knowledge of dance, LBMA, Chekhov and the Alexander Technique. Her choreography has been featured in the gala concert at the American College Dance Association on numerous occasions. Jennifer is one of the co-authors of the recently published The Laban Workbook for Actors, A Practical Guide with Video. Currently Jennifer is studying with Theatrical Intimacy Educators, with the goal of becoming a Theatrical Intimacy Director. Teresa Lee is a movement specialist and theatre artist-educator. She began her formal Alexander Technique studies in 1991 at the Alexander Alliance in Philadelphia and became an ATI certified teacher in 1995. She is a Professor of Theatre at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, where she teaches the Alexander Technique, Movement, Acting and Children’s Theatre. Teresa is also a professional stage director, movement coach, stage combat choreographer and actor. She has most recently engaged in training and practices of Theatrical Intimacy Education and Choreography through TIE. Teresa served two terms on the board of ATI and is a current Sponsor. She is on the faculty of Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies and Alexander Technique at Sevenoaks summer course. Her chapter on Alexander Technique and actor training is included in Movement for Actors, Allworth Press. She conducts Alexander Technique workshops and residencies for actors at professional theatres and conferences in the U.S. Teresa's teaching is inspired by rediscovering our sense of play through improvisation and enlivened presence in the moment. Workshop: Alexander Technique for Eyes Tired eyes due to increased screen time during COVID-19? Starting to see in 2D and losing kinaesthetic awareness after long spans on the computer? This workshop will apply some Alexander Technique tools to the use of the eyes, and offer practices to re-integrate your eye use in 3D space. Topics may include:
Holly Cinnamon is an actor, songwriter, yoga instructor and Alexander Technique teacher currently based between New York City, Toronto and Edmonton. Holly has taught workshops on Alexander Technique in Japan, Ireland, New York, Boston, Toronto and Edmonton. She is a proud teaching member of Alexander Technique International and she serves on the Professional Development Committee of that organization. Her article about the Alexander Technique and 3D Vision entitled "The Disappearance of the Third Dimension” was featured in the ExChange, ATI's professional journal. Acting credits include Julie Barnes in Season 3 of Marvel’s Daredevil, currently streaming on Netflix; Off-Broadway: Dear Jane; Edmonton: A Christmas Carol, Backwater, Perfect Pie; Regional: Anne Shirley in Anne and Gilbert (PEI). Holly has taught Alexander Technique to actors at the Barrow Group Theatre and the AT Motion Center for Actors in NYC with Belinda Mello. She currently offers private lessons and teaches group workshops for performers online. Workshop: The Wise Way to Yoga Cécile Raynor has been teaching the Alexander Technique for about 30 years. Like many teachers with experience, she has developed her own expression of the Alexander Technique which she sometimes refers to as the BIA Process™ or Body Intelligence Activation Process. Cécile has presented her work both on radio shows and TV. She has taught at Lesley University and presented in numerous institutions over the years. Although she has been working with students of all backgrounds, she also specialized in teaching yoga teacher trainees and yogis hence her published book "The Wise Way to Yoga". During the confinement months, she started teaching classes online on "Stress Relief & Immunity via Integrated Movements" and, as an artist, she recently launched a workshop series entitled "Kinesthetic Drawing & Painting as A Personal Growth Journey." |