Jennifer Mizenko
The Developmental Process and the Alexander Technique
While I was finishing my Alexander training I was also completing my certification in Laban Movement Analysis (LMA). Part of the training in LMA inludes working with Irmgard Bartenieff's Fundamentals and Developmental Movement. In working with Developmental Movement, the moment of coming Upright is always striking. One's experience of the world, mind - body - spirit, is completely different. I believe this moment of coming Upright is distinctly connected to the work of Alexander. This moment illustrates how thinking effects the whole self, and how thinking changed (in the evolutionary sense) our use.
The workshop will take the participants through the Developmental Process - into the movement of Uprightness. In re-experiencing the transition from a quadraped to a biped, the particiant will have a renewed sense of being in the world, and how thinking is integrated into moving.
Jennifer Mizenko is an Associate Professor of Movement for the Actor and Dance at the University of Mississippi, where she has run the Theater Department's dance program since 1989. Jennifer's duties include teaching jazz and modern technique classes, plus dance composition, dance appreciation, movement for the actor and directing the University dance company, Mississippi: The Dance Company. Throughout her tenure at Ole Miss, Ms. Mizenko has continually enhanced her skills as a movement instructor. Graduating with a B.A. in Psychology from Kenyon College, and an M.A. in dance from The Ohio State University, Jennifer has gone on to combine these to areas of interest and bring them to her teaching and choreography. Her expanded studies have included period dance with Wendy Hilton and Richard Powers, plus the study of T'ai Chi with Maggie Newman. In 2001 Jennifer achieved certification as a teacher in the Alexander Technique at the Alexander Alliance in Philadelphia, PA and is a teaching member of Alexander Technique International. She was also certified as a Laban Movement Analyst at The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York City in the same year. Her dance technique studies have been with Erick Hawkins, Susan Van Pelt, Heywood “Woody” Magriff, Chet Walker, and Ralph Lemon. Jennifer has taught Master Classes in Italy, England and throughout the United States. Her choreography has been recognized twice by the American College Dance Festival Association, for outstanding choreography and performance. Ms Mizenko has presented internationally at Laban and Alexander conferences and is recognized by the International Somatic Movement Educators and Therapists Association as a Registered Movement Educator. She is currently combining her knowledge of The Alexander Technique and Laban Movement Analysis, developing an exciting new approach for the training of dancers and actors.
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