The Performing Artist

Do you experience fear and anxiety while performing? Do you feel disconnected from your body onstage? Or, do you experience chronic pain and tension while performing your craft? If you are trying to improve your performance skills but are stuck and can't get to the next level, the Alexander Technique can help.

Whether an actor, singer, dancer, or instrumentalist, your body is your instrument. Your ability to express your art is directly proportional to how well you use your instrument. Because we are often unaware of our habits, we tend to bring them to everything we do. Becoming conscious of harmful habits is imperative to the performer, because the habits you practice are the habits you will perform. If you practice your craft by over-rehearsing, pushing through pain, and trying too hard to "get it right", you will train yourself to ingrain these habits even more deeply.

Learning to be "in the moment" is at the core of a performer's training, but when faced with the emotional demands of performing in front of an audience, fear and performance anxiety can get the best of anyone. Fear triggers the body's "startle reflex", creating a condition of generalized tension throughout all the muscles of the body from head to toe and throws the skeletal system out of balance. Breathing constricts, muscles tighten, and movement becomes inappropriately effortful, sabotaging the performer's ability to be fully open to the moment.

By improving the quality of the physical movements involved in performing, the Alexander Technique also helps improve the quality of the performance itself. A violinist's stiff shoulders and arms will get in the way of a pleasing sound; a singer's tight neck or jaw will cause the voice to become less resonant; an actor's body is so constricted with excess tension that the honesty and spontaneity of being true to the moment is distorted and disrupted; a dancer who applies conscious effort to fix their alignment by "pulling up" to look more upright appears rigid and lacks the flow and lightness, extension and ease of coordinated movement.

The Alexander Technique provides you with the skills needed to reduce performance anxiety, lessen the likelihood of injury and enhance stage presence. The technique will deepen the performer's attunement to each moment as it unfolds. Through the Alexander Technique principles, Michael will provide you with a highly refined sensory awareness to help you recognize your harmful habits that interfere with efficient use of energy. Michael will help you restore excellent balance and coordination, release undue tension in your body, allowing for movement that is more effortless and graceful, and a performance that is more fluid and lively.

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