Alexander Technique for Argentine Tango dancers …
and anyone else!
Workshop details at a glance
(Or, click here for Table of Contents with detailed info.)
Alexander Technique for Argentine Tango – and living
at Dance International Studio, 2417 Buell Ave, Austin TX 78757
on Friday-Sunday July 24-26, 2015
Register online thru July 22 for only $110 for five lessons.
For more info call: David Phillips 512-917-6488To register:click here.
Benefits
1. Right use of your body
The natural, easy movement we had as toddlers learning to get around in the world becomes distorted by desk sitting, TV watching, injuries, sports adaptations, and more. What could you achieve with the greater ease and elegance that comes from natural, functional movement?
2. Mindfulness
That gap between thought and action, the instant between lead and follow — how many different ways can you benefit when rather than respond automatically, you instead respond with heightened awareness?
3. Focus on process
Reaching for the end result – that sacada, that volcada, that X. How would an increased capacity for focus on process, not the steps alone but even the components of a step that lead up to a goal, help you in realizing goals?
To register:click here.
This is the most important teaching:
not two, and not one.
Our body and mind are not two and not one.
If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong.
If you think they are one, that is also wrong.
Our body and mind are both two and one.
We usually think that if something is not one,
it is more than one,
if it is not singular, it is plural,
but in actual experience, our life is not only plural,
but also singular.
Each one of us is both dependent and independent.
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
A workshop by Janet Lott of San Francisco
in Austin Texas on July 24-26, 2015
Brought to you by TangoTribe.com
Registration NOW OPEN!
Three AmSAT-certified teachers of Alexander Technique, three days, ten hours of learning and dancing.
Why Alexander Technique for Argentine Tango—or Anything Else?
Dancing With Gravity
We align our bodies through habits that we usually form unconsciously throughout our lives. These habits can cause us to struggle against ourselves. Re-find the buoyant, effortless relationship to gravity that you had as a child. It’s your birthright. Alexander Technique is not another system of exercises, but a profound method for identifying limiting movement and balance habits and changing them into a free, efficient and delightful relationship to the earth.
The Alexander Technique is an educational process. You are learning a tool set to carry you through the rest of your life. Like playing the cello, the more you practice, the better you’ll be. Refresher lessons are always a good idea, but, one is not creating a dependency on the teacher. It’s up to you.Increase awareness of yourself/ make friends with yourself, that is, your body/mind.
Authentic presence.
Identifying and releasing unhelpful tension patterns.
Improve balance.
Take responsibility for yourself while being available to your partner.
Become more aware of the space within which we move.
When we dance Tango, or move through our lives, we are relating to the world around us.
Communicate with your partner.
Take responsibility for yourself while being available to your partner.
Allow connection to them.
Move around your axis without strain.
It’s all about balance.
Dance, walk run, sit, stand, breathe without pain.
Argentine Tango requires subtle effort and steady, but soft, dedication. The Alexander Technique has given me numerous and priceless tools to cultivate this approach to dancing and teaching others to dance.
—Tomás Howlin, Tango MaestroThe Alexander Technique helped me figure out where my hips, shoulders, and legs actually are. It’s a totally logical, hugely powerful education system that tweaks your understanding of your self in addictingly subtle and long lasting ways. Especially when you explore it in a committed way, over the long-term with a sensitive and skilled teacher. The word transformation is mostly overused, but Alexander Technique really brought transformations to my Tango dancing and to my life-habits.
—Mitra Martin, Oxygen TangoIn my experience, the Alexander Technique is very effective for cultivating body/self-awareness and release of tension, both essential for Tango. Janet Lott knows what she is doing.
—Felipe Martinez felipetango.com
There will be individual, group, and partner exercises and activities, including dance partner practice opportunities. A dance partner is not required.Notice: We will do some work on the floor, so we recommend that everyone wear comfortable pants that you can move in. Bring a comfortable mat (there are some at the studio), a large towel, three paperback books (as a head rest), and water. (Refreshments will be available at the breaks.)
Friday, July 24, 2015. Class #1 7:00-9:00pm
Introduction to the Alexander Technique
Who was Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869-1955)?
What was his performance problem, and what did he discover?
The importance of balancing the head. Experiential anatomy.
Upright response, tensegrity, primary control, the power of doing nothing.
Some foundation information: experiential anatomy, location of joints, points of balance.
“OK, I know I have some bad habits. You’re telling me not to do anything. How do I change?”
Awareness – Inhibition – Direction.
Janet Lott will be feeding information about the directions through all the classes. She will also incorporate the needs of the students as she discovers them.
Saturday, July 25. Class #2 3:00-4:30pm
Break/Practice 4:30-5:00pm
A brief review of Friday for folks who weren’t there, and for those who were. “I like to dance with you because you breathe.”
Saturday, July 25. Class #3 5:00-6:30pm, Practice 6:30-7:00pm
Making friends with gravity. Floor work, taking that into contact with each other.
Sunday, July 26. Class #4 3:00-4:30pm
Break/Practice 4:30-5:00pm
Vision and space awareness. Awareness of self 30% and other 70%.
Sunday, July 26. Class #5 5:00-6:30pm, Practice 6:30-7:00pm
“I have time.” Dancing Tango by doing ‘nothing’. Inhibition. Non-doing.
Additional Information about the classes
All classes will begin with constructive rest and hands-on by Alexander Technique certified teachers.
This is a progressive series of classes.
You’ll get the most benefit by attending all of them.
Rate – after July 22nd – please pay at the event:
General public: 1 class: $30 or All 5 Classes: $135
For full-time students and low income,
use discount code helping hand for a 10% discount.
JANET LOTT of San Francisco, California
JanetLott.com
Janet Lott has taught Alexander Technique and Argentine Tango at many meditation retreat centers in France and California and Colorado.
She has devoted her career to developing a deep awareness of the body and movement from multiple perspectives. To her work as a teacher of Alexander Technique, she brings unique expertise and experience as a meditator and teacher of meditation, dance company founder and principal, Tango dancer and instructor, yoga practitioner and teacher.
Certifications
Alexander Training Institute of San Francisco Graduate (ATISF)
– Studied with Frank Ottiwell, Robert Britton, Rosemarie Earle
America Society for the Alexander Technique Member (AmSat)
California Institute of the Arts, MFA Dance/ Choreography
Shambhala International Meditation Certification
National Yoga Alliance 500 hour RYT
Additional Training
Argentine Tango – 17 years
Contact Improvisation – Began in 1973
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction – Completed Teacher Training
Anatomy with Irene Dowd
Private Teaching Experience
Alexander Technique Instructor ~ 12 years in private practice
Meditation Instructor ~ 27 years
Yoga Instructor ~ 15 years
Argentine Tango Instructor ~ 5 years
Janet has held faculty appointments at the following:
California Institute of the Arts
Naropa University
University of Colorado
Reed College
Shambhala Mountain Center
Dechen Choling Meditation Center, France
JANET LOTT
415.272.4811
janet@janetlott.com
AlexanderOfAustin.com
Anne Bogaev is certified by the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) and has been teaching the Alexander Technique to individuals and groups since 2002.
She has presented workshops for Houston Grand Opera Studio, Virtuosi of Houston Chamber Music Summer Program, The University of Texas – Austin Longhorn Music Camp, Baylor University School of Music and Austin Community College Drama Department.
A former clinical social worker, Anne was employed for over 25 years in health care settings and as a psychotherapist in private practice. She has a BA in English from Middlebury College and an MSSW from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
ANNE BOGAEV
Alexander Technique of Austin
1008 Mopac Circle, Suite 200
Austin, Texas 78746
512-626-0903
alexanderofaustin.com
AustinAlexanderProject.com
Donna Martin is a certified Alexander Technique instructor recognized by the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT), the largest professional organization of its kind in the United States.
Since completing the 3-year AmSAT training course in 2004, she has furthered her study of technique under the guidance of her mentor, Karen Wentworth — a world renowned pioneer of the Alexander Technique based in London, England.
Donna has taught informal Alexander Technique classes at The University of Texas at Austin and worked with musicians attending the university’s Butler School of Music. She’s also worked with music students at Baylor University and conducted workshops for musical theatre students at Texas State University.
A former dancer, Donna previously taught ballet and modern dance at Houston Community College, Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas.
After earning a B.F.A. in Ballet from Texas Christian University, Donna studied modern dance at the Merce Cunningham School in New York City and with members of the José Limón Dance Company.
Donna’s education and experience have allowed her to work with a variety of students in many settings. She established Mindful Movement in [insert year], a private practice based in Austin, Texas. The overall goal of the practice is to assist people in experiencing greater ease in their movement and posture and to help them find ways of reducing pain and preventing injury.
DONNA MARTIN
Central Austin/Northwest Hills
Austin, Texas 78731
512-426-1827
donna@mindfulmovementaustin.com
austinalexanderproject.com
amsatonline.org
AmSAT (American Society for the Alexander Technique) is the largest professional organization of teachers of the Alexander Technique in the United States. AmSAT-certified teachers have completed a comprehensive training over a minimum of three years at an AmSAT approved teacher training course, as specified in the AmSAT Bylaws. Continuing education is a requirement for ongoing AmSAT membership.
AmSAT is affiliated with seventeen international societies of teachers of the Alexander Technique committed to supporting the highest standards of teaching, professional training and conduct worldwide.
Body Learning: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique, Second Edition
by Michael J. Gelb
This is the go to book for an introduction to Alexander Technique. A short, highly readable book. It nicely answers the question, “What would working with the Alexander Technique do for me?”
The Body in Motion: Its Evolution and Design
by Theodore Dimon, Jr. Ed.D. (Author) and G. David Brown (Illustrator)
This gloriously illustrated book had me many times going, “Wow! That’s incredible.” Not about Alexander Technique per se, but a beautiful tour through the wonders of the human body and how we got that way. Also led me to the next book and others by Dimon on Alexander Technique.
The Elements of Skill: A Conscious Approach to Learning
by Theodore Dimon, Jr.
How to create an environment for learning, and how the student can and must become their own teacher.
The Alexander Technique: A Skill for Life
by Pedro De Alcantara
Pedro De Alcantara is a writer of surpassing beauty. All of his books are wonderful, despite being so slow to get through because I was all the time lost in a reverie of reflection and of making connections. If you are a musician (and as dancers are we not a form of musician?) his books hold a particular power.
