John Nicholls
Primary Control: what, why, how.
FM described the primary control as "a certain use of the head in relation to the neck, and of the head and neck in relation to the torso and the other parts of the organism" (UCL). In this workshop we will explore how the use of the limbs for movement, the back for support, and
the thorax for breathing all have a reciprocal relationship with freeing the neck to let the head go forward and up.
This will illuminate the relevance of such practices as chair work,
monkey, hands on the back of the chair, and whispered Ah. It will also
illustrate why an understanding of widening is essential to avoid any
subtle "doing" of the lengthening, and to make the connection with
breathing which goes back to the origins of the Technique.
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John Nicholls trained as an Alexander teacher from 1973 to 1976 with Walter and Dilys Carrington, and at their invitation stayed for a further eleven years, assisting the Carringtons daily on their teacher training course and building up a large private practice. He has subsequently directed Alexander teacher training programs for nearly twenty years, first in Melbourne, Australia, and then in Brighton, England, and now in New York. His book, The Alexander Technique: In Conversation with John Nicholls and Sean Carey, was published in 1991. During the last seventeen years John has also run postgraduate classes for teachers and seminars for the public in many different countries, as well as continuing to give private lessons.
At the beginning of 2003 John moved to New York where he now offers private lessons, “hands-on” supervision groups for teachers and trainees, a teacher certification program (ATNYC), and structured postgraduate courses for teachers.
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