Dancing

Dancers suffer a high incidence of injury which affects their ability to perform and shortens their careers. Instead of having to regularly employ osteopaths, physiotherapists and masseurs, dancers have used the Alexander Technique to get a new look at the ways in which they use themselves, both in their everyday lives and in their dancing technique.

Dancers have found the Alexander Technique to be a powerful way to enhance performance. Aficionados say it is "the technique under all techniques," because it is a process of embodied thinking, sensing, and acting. Through studying the Alexander Technique, dancers can move with greater ease, poise, and accomplishment, regardless of movement style.

Good dancers don't make it look easy - they make it easy; ease in movement and postural alignment is an underlying factor in the development of good dance practice, and a long lived practical enjoyment of dancing. The Alexander Technique has much to offer dancers, both in improving their performance and helping them with the prevention of injuries.

Through working individually with the Alexander Technique teacher, you gain a much more subtle and reliable understanding of movement. A teacher helps the dancer understand where unconscious patterns of poor body use are stopping effective use of their dance technique, and learn how to maintain expansiveness and ease throughout performing.

The Alexander Technique encourages the dancer to monitor how they are using their body in between performances and practice, to prevent unnecessary effort. They will be encouraged to take better care of themselves throughout their daily lives, which in turn aids them in to looking after them selves during dancing.