Alexander Technique Lessons in Seattle, WA

Training

I studied for three and a half years with Joan and Alex Murray at the Urbana Center for the Alexander Technique. During that time I acquired more than 1600 hours of training in the Alexander Technique, the Dart Procedures, and general anatomy and movement. I received my teaching certificate in the fall of 2008, and officially joined the American Society for the Alexander Technique as an actively teaching member in August 2009.

During the time of my training I spent three years working as a teacher/teaching assistant in the Alexander Technique class offered by the Department of Dance at the University of Illinois. I also spent one year assisting in 'Alexander Technique for Dancers,' a course specifically designed to help dancers integrate the principles of the Technique into their movement and performance.

Dance

I practice and (occasionally) teach improvisation, primarily Contact Improvisation. I have been actively studying these forms since January of 2003, and regard it more as a community and a lifestyle than as a full-time hobby. This practice has greatly informed my understanding of movement as well as community, and influences everything from the way I teach to the way I cook.

While I take dancing seriously, I do not have plans to pursue it professionally. I enjoy watching dance, and while I have performed from time to time, I do not find myself drawn to performing. I personally regard it more in the way that many people approach pursuits like Yoga or Martial Arts: as a regular practice for ongoing self refinement. However, I have tremendous respect for those who seek to earn a living performing and teaching dance, and have always greatly enjoyed working with them.

Teachers: I have studied with a number of superb teachers. The most prominent has been Kirstie Simson, who I worked with intensively for a period of nearly three years. I have also studied (often briefly) with the following: Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, Nancy Stark Smith, Karen Nelson, Susan Schell, Andrew Harwood, Martin Keogh, Ray Chung, Gretchen Spiro, Alicia Grayson, Benoit Lachambre, Nita Little, and others.

History

I grew up in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Virginia. When I went to college (at the University of Illnois) I started out in the engineering field. While I enjoyed the work, I wound up deciding that I wouldn't enjoy the lifestyle that the working environment offered, and began studying several different subjects in the liberal arts. I was unsatisfied with my direction (or lack thereof) but didn't know what else to do until I took a class in Contact Improvisation with Chris Aiken from January to May of 2003.

During this class I found a new passion for movement, in improvisation and the combined physical/emotional exploration that comes through studying it. I decided to suspend my unsatisfying studies and motorcycled to Massachusetts to live and work as a volunteer at Earthdance, a dance improvisation community and retreat center. I spent the next two years traveling to, from, and around the North East dancing and working. During this time I lived mostly in Illinois, Manhattan, Boston, and Western Massachusetts.

While traveling I met a great number of people, and there were several who particularly caught my attention: they all had a certain ease and confidence that I found intriguing, and all were very self-aware dancers. I came to find the common thread between them was that they were all teachers of the Alexander Technique. At the time I knew nothing about it, so when I returned to Illinois to spend some time with family, I started taking lessons.

I quickly realized that I wanted to study the technique intensively, and to teach. I seriously considered returning to Massachusetts to be with friends and in the center of a lot of dancing, but based on the reputation of Joan and Alex Murray, I decided instead to return to Urbana for three years. It was during this time (which became four years) that I began to work intensively with Kirstie Simson, as well as the Dance Department at the U of I.

I moved to Seattle in May of 2009, to teach and dance.

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