Rivka Cohen

The Primary Control and the Principles applied
 
The following three sentences express my understanding of the use of the Primary Control which is at the heart of the Alexander Technique:
 
- The Primary Control and the Principles applied, all taken together.
- Aim up, stay back under all conditions of rest and movement.
- Forward is not back and down is not up.
 
They describe my understanding of the concept of the principles of the Alexander Technique, its practical use, its psychophysical understanding and the clarity of what we have to understand and apply to our life in any behavior on a physical or psychological level. It also gives us a clue about the concept of the person who applies or does not apply them.
 
I shall expose these ideas in the workshop by way of an explanation of what these sentences represent theoretically and practically in the use of the self. My purpose is to provide the experience of this approach, the understanding of why it is done in that way, and the technique that is needed on behalf of the teacher and pupil to have a dialogue on the subject. Each participant will receive a hands-on turn from me, and will have as well a one-on-one supervision from me.

 
Additional Note: During the Congress my Notebook and album of two DVDs that contain seven subjects of AT Procedures, which were made in New York with a group of AT teachers, will be on display and could be purchased.  
The subjects include procedures of table-work, walking, first lesson, work in pairs, hands on the back of the chair, skeleton squatting, chair work.


Rivka Cohen came to London in 1957 to study the Alexander Technique with Charles Neil, having studied with Moshe Feldenkreis for two years before that. When Mr. Neil passed away she joined the Carrington School for a year. Having met Patrick Macdonald she joined his training course in Ashley Place where she was qualified as a certified teacher in 1962. She also studied with Mr. Scott, Walter Carrington, the Barlows, Bill Williams, Margaret Goldie, Eric De-Payer and Irene Tasker and was accepted as a member of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) in 1963. At the same time she completed a three-year training course with Sigurd Leeder at his School for Modern Dance in London, graduating in 1961. In 1963 she returned to Israel and taught the Alexander Technique in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. From 1965 to 1968 she taught in Canada and the US. and was able to study with Frank Pierce-Jones in Boston. Since 1968 she has been teaching in Israel, and in 1980 opened there the Haifa School for the Alexander Technique, certifying dozens of teachers.
Rivka gives seminars to certified teachers in Israel, Europe, the US, Canada and Japan. She is a member of STAT, ISTAT and AMSAT.

go back >>>