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Events & Forthcoming
Meetings
London AT
Friends
Tuesday
20th April
6:30-8:30pm, Friends Meeting House, 8
Hop Gardens,
St Martins Lane, WC2N 4EH.
Entrance fee: £5 (concessions £3)
Guest Speaker: Glenna Batson
If you would like to come to this event
then please contact Friends administrator Janey Goodearl in the STAT
office on 0207 482 5135 or email
janey@atfriends.org
For map click
here.
Tuesday 15th June
6:30-8:30pm, Friends Meeting House, 8
Hop Gardens,
St Martins Lane, WC2N 4EH.
Entrance fee: £5 (concessions £3)
Guest Speaker: Peter Ribeaux
Everything you wanted to know about the
Alexander Technique but were afraid to ask:
an evening with Peter Ribeaux
Please bring lots of questions and Peter will
work with people as well as responding to questions.
If you would like to come to this event
then please contact Friends administrator Janey Goodearl in the STAT
office on 0207 482 5135 or email
janey@atfriends.org
For map click
here.
Notices
We are sad to report that Dilys Carrington (1915 -
2009) passed away on 22nd September 2009, and Elizabeth Langford
(1929 – 2009)
passed away on
Tuesday 11th August 2009.
The obituaries which were published in the last
issue of STATNews are available on request.
Articles (on-line:
click the link)
The Performing Self
The Alexander Technique has for many
years been firmly established in colleges of music, drama and, more
recently, dance. We have within our community many experienced
teachers working in those fields and there have been several special
events with an opportunity for teachers interested in working with
performing artists to exchange with others and develop their
knowledge: the International Congresses and the Conferences for
Alexander Teachers in Music Institutions particularly come to mind.
However, these events are very
‘in-house’ and give little scope for sharing our knowledge and
experience with people outside the profession. AT Friends is keen to
play a part in raising awareness of what the Technique has to offer
to performing artists and also to provide a forum in which we can
exchange with and learn from others working in that field: voice
coaches, speech trainers and therapists, performance psychologists,
movement teachers, etc.
We plan therefore to host an event
entitled The Performing Self, offering themed workshops for
performing artists and a forum for exchange with people who practise
and teach other disciplines. To explore ideas around this theme, we
are bringing together people experienced in this field to form an ad
hoc steering committee: John Hunter, Dorothea Magonet, Peter
Buckoke, Judith Kleinman and Penny O’Connor. We would be pleased to
hear from anyone wishing to get involved with this exciting project:
as an organiser, a presenter, with a good idea, or suggesting a good
contact who might be interested to join us.
© Friends of the Alexander
Technique 2010
Widening
access to the Alexander Technique
report by Sue Fleming
The Trustees of AT
Friends had no hesitation in supporting the project in the following report
by Sue Fleming. We hope it might become a template for other similar
projects which can
take advantage of our status as an educational charity. If you would like
to propose something in your area, please contact us.
As
part of the Friends, three Manchester-based teachers – June Gill, Pauline Leng
and myself, Sue Fleming – have worked to widen access to the ideas, principles
and learning of the Technique. We were concerned that the Technique was known to
a relatively small section of society and generally available only to those who
could afford lessons. We wanted to open the Technique to more disadvantaged
communities, to those without financial means, and those too fearful to take a
first step into private lessons. To make this happen we needed to reduce our
costs, by subsidising the teaching by giving our time at very low or no cost,
and finding cheap or rent-free premises. As the aims were charitable, not
profit-making, it was accepted for sponsorship by the Friends.
With
the Friends as sponsor, it was possible to establish working relations with
other charitable groups and to access resources available for community and
civil society groups. As we aimed to work in one of the most disadvantaged
neighbourhoods in the Borough of Trafford, we were also able to obtain free
workshop space through the Neighbourhood Management Partnership, set up to
narrow the gap between disadvantaged and more affluent neighbourhoods. It also
makes workshop and meeting space available for community and other NGO and
not-for-profit organisations working for the community.
The
two introductory workshops we ran were timed to increase accessibility: one was
during the week, and another on Saturday morning. The workshops were for women
so as to open them up to women who would not feel comfortable in a mixed group,
including minority and ethnic women in the area. The workshop space was a known
and safe space within the community. The resulting workshops were enjoyed by
all, and we had time for a mix of activities to illustrate and describe the
Alexander Technique, and for some hands-on work. The range of women that came
was very encouraging. Many had not heard of the Technique before, and would not
have come if the workshop had not been close to where they lived, and at a price
that was affordable to them. Several have committed to longer-term classes, and
others asked for similar half-day workshops in the future. Plans for future work
in the area include discussions with the local community centre and library, and
links with the black and minority ethnic communities who are already interested
in follow-up.
Please contact Sue Fleming for more information.
©
Sue
Fleming
2009
Alexander Technique: its
application in education and acting
An evening
with Penny O’Connor: Friends Meeting House, London, 24th November
2010
By
Stella Weigel
Penny began the evening by
briefly introducing her Alexander Technique teaching of both
BA and MA student actors at ArtsEd, particularly the
challenges which working within such a qualification-driven
establishment presents, such as the marking system (it was
stated that most students obtain a good pass). She mentioned
that she had been observing students during performance that
afternoon, making brief notes about specific aspects of
their use which she would later be able to use in her
ongoing work with them.
Penny then asked us to jog
around the room, touching the floor, lifting an arm, jogging
backwards, and so on, and then asked us to stop and remain
in the position at that particular moment. Upon stopping, we
were then encouraged to think about the space around us,
above, below and behind, about releasing at our ankles and
freeing our hips and knees; we then commenced jogging around
the room again and again we were asked to stop as we were
and to give our directions. It was noted that whilst one was
standing in such an unusual position, one nevertheless was
freeing oneself at the same time and also the unspoken drama
which occurred as a result of adopting such a position and
taking on all the characteristics of this. It certainly
created a powerful atmosphere which remained in the room.
Penny then introduced some small
balls, with which we played around for quite some time, thus
demonstrating how this helps students to explore the
concepts of stimulus and response/inhibition and direction.
Lined up in two rows of six, we threw a ball between pairs,
without saying anything and then saying the words “stimulus”
as the ball was thrown and “response” upon catching the
ball. Direction and inhibition were then introduced by using
one’s choice as to how one threw the ball, did one throw it
immediately, under one’s leg or when the other person was
least expecting it?
This theme was continued when
Penny asked six of us to line up in pairs and throw a ball
to their partner upon asking a question, any question which
came into their mind, such as “Are you happy” or “Are you
hoping for Santa to come down your chimney this Christmas?”.
Upon catching the ball, the partner was asked to provide an
answer, and, importantly, Penny mentioned that this
choice/pause upon receiving a stimulus and the subsequent
reaction, is that very same choice which actors have at
their disposal whilst performing. The partner was then asked
to return the answer followed by another question and a
throw of the ball, thereby encouraging another
answer/question and so on. As the questions/answers
unfolded, so did each story and atmosphere, just as a story
unfolds within a play, just as a ball had been thrown to and
fro previously.
The final section of Penny’s
talk covered her work with students at ArtsEd in more
detail. She provided us with an “Alexander Quiz” given to
students which chiefly covers a basic knowledge of anatomy.
Penny also provided us with an overview of the assignments
which are expected of the BA and MA students during their
study of the Alexander Technique. The BA students study the
Technique for two terms, whereas the MA students study for
one year. Given the relatively short period of time
available, certainly all the main Principles of the
Technique are covered using a variety of learning tools:
·
a review of a
chapter from an Alexander-related book demonstrating the
student’s understanding of the Technique and how this
relates to their work in and out of class and their work as
an actor;
·
writing
observational notes about themselves in respect of their
habits during hands on sessions; this demonstrates that the
student recognises personal habits that might impede their
performance, that they have experienced themselves out of
habit through ‘inhibition’ when working with a teacher, with
good practice strategies being developed for themselves;
·
creating a
presentation in pairs or groups of three that will
demonstrate that the student has an accurate knowledge of
the vocabulary and a clear understanding of the Principles
(Primary Control, Use, Inhibition, Direction, Ends and
Means, the Unified Field of Attention and Faulty Sensory
Appreciation), differentiating between them and connecting
them;
·
Balanced Resting
State Report: students are expected to lie in semisupine
every day during a vacation period and write a report on
their experiences that will demonstrate that the student has
had good insights into the regular practice of the
semisupine position and the effects of this practice on
their general use during this time;
·
Regular Individual
hands-on work – two students to one teacher per half hour,
during which students become familiar with their own habits
and begin to come out of them. Students make notes on their
discoveries each lesson which are handed in for assessment
at the end of the first term.
·
Students meet in
large groups for body-mapping and group experiments.
· A week is
dedicated to Alexander Thinking and students write a report
on the results of this experiment.
Penny mentioned that she also
used video at the start and end of the course to show
students their habits, a medium which is used by other
teachers in other areas of use of the Technique and it came
as no surprise that it was also useful with acting students.
On completion of the Alexander
Technique component a student should be able to demonstrate:
-
An understanding
of Alexander’s Principles;
-
An accurate
body-map of the self with rudimentary knowledge of how the
nervous system and muscles work together to create our
natural balance and habits;
-
A recognition of
personal habits which impede the co-ordination of mind and
body;
-
he means to work
on these, thereby developing insights on how to apply the
Technique to their personal needs as an actor.
©
Stella Weigel
2009
"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action."
(Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2)
An evening
with Anne Battye: Friends Meeting House, London, 13th
October 2010
By Hiranya Jayasinghe
My first
encounter with the Alexander Technique was attending the
weekend City Lit course, led by Brita Forsstrom, in January
2009. I had no specific motivation for attending, just a
realisation that the technique is not something that can be
book-learnt, it has to be experienced. Watching the “use”
of other attendees – walking, sitting and standing – I
became aware of the different “masks” they had on; the
defence mechanisms that the technique could unveil, in order
to reveal their “authentic selves”. By contrast, the
teachers leading the weekend had a presence, a sense of
poise and physical confidence which looked a lot like
freedom.
Intrigued by the invisible iceberg beyond the surface, I
embarked on an Alexander journey. Since then, after around
50 lessons, I have witnessed an increase in confidence, a
“freeing” of my voice and have “grown” a full inch! This
has given me a desire to train as an Alexander teacher, and
it was with this mindset that I attended that AT Friends
event on Tuesday 13th October.
The
guest speaker, Anne Battye, had trained with Marjory Barlow,
qualifying in 1964, and, unsurprisingly, possessed a wealth
of experience and thinking which she generously poured out
upon us. The evening was structured as a talk, followed by
“hands-on” work, concluding with summing up discussion.
In her
talk, Anne addressed the meaning of the phrases “to order”
and “to give directions”. For her, “orders” are perceived
as a command, an intention arising from a chaotic state and
a choice to inhibit old habits. The “directions”, on the
other hand, are like a recipe, a process towards an ordered
state and a kind of centre-ing. She explained how, when she
first started training, she had to give herself the “orders”
without any expectation that anything would happen.
Gradually, however, the words began to link up with her
physical experience.
This
reminds me of the three stages we go through when learning
to ride a bicycle. First, our parent (the teacher) says the
instructions “keep peddling” etc as we wobble along without
stabilisers; later, we say the words to ourselves as
reminders; eventually, the words become so internalised that
our bodies respond to our intention to ride. We need, no
longer, say the words out loud; the thought and the
experience are one.
Following a “hands on” experimentation with these ideas,
Anne led an interesting discussion on the “mean-ends”
paradox. She explained that, “we must have ends, without
ends we have no stimulus.” Nonetheless, our focus is on the
“means”, those “directions” – to “free our necks”, “head to
go forward and up”, and “back to lengthen and widen” – as
steps, used almost like a mantra, which can bring us into a
meditative (or ordered) state.
It is
this philosophy which so fascinates me about the technique.
During the “hands on” work, Anne reiterated, over and over,
that we are always “going into the unknown”, rather than
harkening back to an old or habitual experience of what
those “directions” might bring about. A child-like state.
The idea of experimenting, indeed playing, within a safe
environment; of exploring the “infinite abyss” without fear
of “getting it wrong.” In my opinion, it is in maintaining
this “state of being” that the Alexander Technique truly has
a gift to offer the world.
©
Hiranya Jayasinghe
2009
Books
What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body
Melissa Malde, MaryJean
Allen, Kurt-Alexander Zeller, Plural Publishing Inc, 232pp, Ill. (B/W), pbk, 8.5
x 11", ISBN10: 1-59756-324-2, ISBN13: 978-1-59756-324-6, $49.95. (First
published in STATNews, January 2010)
Review by Patrick
Gundry-White
The
Thought Propels The Sound
Janet Madelle Feindel, Plural Publishing Inc, 288pp,
Ill. (B/W), pbk, 6 x 9", ISBN10: 1-59756-206-8, ISBN13:
978-1-59756-206-5, $45.00. (First published in STATNews,
January 2010)
Review by Penny O’Connor
New
Publications
The
Integrated Musician
Pedro De Alcantara, Publ.
Oxford University Press, UK, USA. June 2010.
The
Practice of Presence
Patty de Llosa, Publ.
Morning Light Press, USA, March 2006.
http://www.practiceofpresence.com.
Now available as a
downloadable audio and in Spanish.
Original version reviewed in
Statnews, June 2006.
Please
contact us
with any ideas or contributions relating to books.
Announcements
Workshops and lessons on the Greek Island of
Alonnisos with Penny O'Connor MSTAT
July 16th - 23rd teachers, trainees, advanced
June 18th -25th, July 2nd - 9th, Sept 3rd - 10th, all levels
€510 or £465
Walk down the mule track to the crystal clear sea every morning for Chi Kung and
swimming, lessons up in the hilltop village, boat trips to nearby islands,
glimpses of dolphins, wild flowers and herbs, singing under the stars,
snorkelling and lazing, doing nothing!
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Technique: Company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales No.
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