Tomsterdam - a touch of technique

The current issue of OK! magazine has another article about Alexander Technique, this one focused on the A-list celebraties who use it. Madonna, Hilary Swank, Hugh Jackman, Richard Gere, Joanna Lumley, Sir Paul McCartney, William Hurt, Pierce Brosnan, Sting, Julia Sawalha, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jennifer Saunders, Ruby Wax, John Cleese, Robin Williams… the list goes on and on.

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It turns out that at least one James Bond is a devoted fan of Alexander Technique. Which one? Why, the most suave and sophisticated one, of course! The one who oozed poise even as the bullets were flying. James Bond star Pierce Brosnan is a fan of the Alexander Technique, but I was a fan of his before I knew that.

Elizabeth Huebner teaches the Alexander Technique to Luke Daniels, a drama student in the master of fine arts program.
Photo by Peter Morenus

The University of Connecticut’s Advance web site has a full-page article about Elizabeth Huebner’s work in the master of fine arts program teaching Alexander Technique to actors. It quotes one of her students regarding the effect of the Technique on emotional expression, an effect that we teachers perhaps don’t talk about very much.

An actor wants to be able to play the body of any character, says acting student Chris Hirsh.

“To do that,” he says, “you have to get rid of your habits. If you habitually bend forward at the top of your shoulders and protrude your head and neck forward, you have to understand how to correct that. The Alexander Technique helps accomplish that.”

Hirsh says the technique also “opens you emotionally.

When your body is aligned properly, you become a more open channel to the emotions that may or may not flow out of you. You have fuller freedom of emotional expression.”