Michael Huxley & Martin Leach
A model for teaching the Alexander Technique in undergraduate dance education
A presentation of research findings from De Montfort University’s Centre for Excellence in Performance Arts (CEPA). The Alexander Technique has been on the BA Dance curriculum at De Montfort University for twenty-five years. During the last three years, approaches to teaching and learning the Technique have been developed as part of a pedagogic research project under the auspices of CEPA. The researchers, drawing on their experience as Alexander teachers (PAAT) and on learning and teaching research, looked at the ways dance students learn the Technique in the studio. They have found that students’ understanding can be enhanced by consideration of the setting and by the use of technology: in particular, they have indentified the importance of how students work together in learning the Technique and how video capture and playback can be best used by them. The paper discusses how the Alexander Technique can help develop dance students’ understanding in technical work, choreography, history and creativity.
Martin Leach read English and Drama at the University of Hull. He qualified as a teacher of the AT (PAAT) 1989. His research focuses on the Alexander Technique as a tool for the rational enquiry into fundamental questions of performance. Martin also researches the Polish artist Tadeusz Kantor. Martin teaches on De Montfort University’s BA and MA Dance courses, including the anatomical and physiological basis of the Alexander Technique and its philosophical context. He has delivered papers on scientific and philosophical aspects of the Alexander Technique and on Kantor. Martin teaches on the PAAT Training Course for Alexander Teachers and has been Senior Assistant Training Course Director since 2004.
Michael Huxley gained his Masters at the University of Leeds. He has taught and researched dance, being published in eight books. He qualified as a teacher of the AT (PAAT) in 2004. He is Chair Editorial Board for the Congress on Research in Dance.
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