Performance Coaching
"Teaching performers is about applying this work to highly skilled excitation in the service of the extra-ordinary."
--from Cathy's Keynote Address to the Alexander Technique and Performing Arts Conference, Melbourne, Australia, September 2012
From Cathy:
Many performers initially seek out the Alexander Technique either because something they are doing is causing harm to their systems--they are in some sort of discomfort or pain --or because they find themselves "stuck" technically in the craft of their art. The Alexander Technique is a great tool for addressing these issues.
Once these issues are addressed, the Alexander Technique opens up a world that A.R. Alexander alluded to in one of my favorite quotes about the Alexander Technique--"The hallmarks of the Alexander Technique are creativity, spontaneity, and adaptability to change." In a lesson with Marjorie Barstow, a lesson I consider pivotal in my decision to learn this work more deeply, I experienced this integration for the first time:
In graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis, I had my first experience of its multi-faceted usefulness. I had the opportunity to play Cordelia with Morris Carnovsky as King Lear. (Carnovsky was one of the original members of the Group Theatre, had played Lear all over the world, and was an alumnus of Washington University.) Given this amazing opportunity, I worked diligently to prepare myself for the role. Performing with Carnovsky was as powerful an experience as I had imagined, and I was proud of my work and grateful to have played the role.
A few months after the show closed, Marjorie Barstow, my Alexander Technique teacher, came to Washington University to do a workshop. I decided to ask her to help me with one of Cordelia’s monologues. When I began the monologue in the play, I moved my hand towards Carnovsky who, as Lear, was sleeping in front of me. I had always wanted my hand to move towards his face in a way that carried all of Cordelia’s love with it. I could never quite get my hand to do what I wanted—no matter what I said to myself, my hand looked stiff. As Marjorie Barstow helped me to use the Alexander Technique, my hand did what I had wanted it to do!
Then I began to speak, and suddenly my voice was responding to my ideas about the text and its expression. I had done OK with this in performing the role, but now my voice was working for me more than OK.
I suddenly realized that some of the words meant something more, something different from what I had thought. I understood the text better. (This is an instance of “the meeting place between mind and body.”) At that point I was so overwhelmed that I could not continue the monologue. I had had strong acting moments before, but how they happened was always a bit of a mystery. This was no mystery—I had consciously used the Alexander Technique and all of the work I had done on the role was not only working, I was getting new ideas and expanding my expressive range.
As I began teaching the Alexander Technique, it was natural for me to include performance values in my assessment of what each artist needed from the work. Once underlying coordination issues were addressed, the reasons that a performer might tighten overall while doing a particular element of their art was often related to an aspect of creating an active performer/audience relationship. The observation skills required for teaching the Alexander Technique helped me identify a relationship between performance/acting skills and coordination.
My exploration has led to performance coaching
(for performing artists, professional speakers, and teachers)
that brings
The Alexander Technique Deep in the Heart of Performance.
--from Cathy's Keynote Address to the Alexander Technique and Performing Arts Conference, Melbourne, Australia, September 2012
From Cathy:
Many performers initially seek out the Alexander Technique either because something they are doing is causing harm to their systems--they are in some sort of discomfort or pain --or because they find themselves "stuck" technically in the craft of their art. The Alexander Technique is a great tool for addressing these issues.
Once these issues are addressed, the Alexander Technique opens up a world that A.R. Alexander alluded to in one of my favorite quotes about the Alexander Technique--"The hallmarks of the Alexander Technique are creativity, spontaneity, and adaptability to change." In a lesson with Marjorie Barstow, a lesson I consider pivotal in my decision to learn this work more deeply, I experienced this integration for the first time:
In graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis, I had my first experience of its multi-faceted usefulness. I had the opportunity to play Cordelia with Morris Carnovsky as King Lear. (Carnovsky was one of the original members of the Group Theatre, had played Lear all over the world, and was an alumnus of Washington University.) Given this amazing opportunity, I worked diligently to prepare myself for the role. Performing with Carnovsky was as powerful an experience as I had imagined, and I was proud of my work and grateful to have played the role.
A few months after the show closed, Marjorie Barstow, my Alexander Technique teacher, came to Washington University to do a workshop. I decided to ask her to help me with one of Cordelia’s monologues. When I began the monologue in the play, I moved my hand towards Carnovsky who, as Lear, was sleeping in front of me. I had always wanted my hand to move towards his face in a way that carried all of Cordelia’s love with it. I could never quite get my hand to do what I wanted—no matter what I said to myself, my hand looked stiff. As Marjorie Barstow helped me to use the Alexander Technique, my hand did what I had wanted it to do!
Then I began to speak, and suddenly my voice was responding to my ideas about the text and its expression. I had done OK with this in performing the role, but now my voice was working for me more than OK.
I suddenly realized that some of the words meant something more, something different from what I had thought. I understood the text better. (This is an instance of “the meeting place between mind and body.”) At that point I was so overwhelmed that I could not continue the monologue. I had had strong acting moments before, but how they happened was always a bit of a mystery. This was no mystery—I had consciously used the Alexander Technique and all of the work I had done on the role was not only working, I was getting new ideas and expanding my expressive range.
As I began teaching the Alexander Technique, it was natural for me to include performance values in my assessment of what each artist needed from the work. Once underlying coordination issues were addressed, the reasons that a performer might tighten overall while doing a particular element of their art was often related to an aspect of creating an active performer/audience relationship. The observation skills required for teaching the Alexander Technique helped me identify a relationship between performance/acting skills and coordination.
My exploration has led to performance coaching
(for performing artists, professional speakers, and teachers)
that brings
The Alexander Technique Deep in the Heart of Performance.