Forward and Up

01/31/2025

Workshop is TONIGHT! 6:30 to 8:00, join us to explore a new way of moving!

SAVE THE DATE!

Alexander Technique Workshop with Ellen Stafford, M. AmSAT
Friday, January 31st 6:30-8pm

The Alexander Technique is a system of postural re-education that increases physical lightness and ease of movement by making the student aware of their habits and giving them the tools to change those habits for the better. Through hands-on physical exploration of everyday activities, the Technique shines light on inefficient habits of movement and patterns of accumulated tension. The teacher works with the student to determine what might have caused these inefficiencies and learn how to let go of them.

Equal parts philosophy and practice, the Alexander Technique allows the student to re-learn how to move through life. With insights into the body's natural tendencies and strategies for employing these tendencies to our advantage, the Alexander Technique challenges the student to begin to think critically about what once was subconscious habit.

The Technique is best known to those in the performing arts (dancers, actors, musicians, etc.), but it is applicable to everyone regardless of occupation. The philosophy it teaches and the skills it develops can be equally useful whether you apply them to dancing, running, sitting at a computer, solving math problems, public speaking, or swinging on a trapeze.

Join us for an exploration of Alexander's principles and how they can be applied to increase the efficiency and ease of your dancing. All skill levels and all disciplines are welcome!

https://zahiyaonline.punchpass.com/classes/16794637

01/18/2025

New Workshop alert! I'll be running a workshop for dancers at Art in Motion on January 31st. Come explore with us!

SAVE THE DATE!

Alexander Technique Workshop with Ellen Stafford, M. AmSAT
Friday, January 31st 6:30-8pm

The Alexander Technique is a system of postural re-education that increases physical lightness and ease of movement by making the student aware of their habits and giving them the tools to change those habits for the better. Through hands-on physical exploration of everyday activities, the Technique shines light on inefficient habits of movement and patterns of accumulated tension. The teacher works with the student to determine what might have caused these inefficiencies and learn how to let go of them.

Equal parts philosophy and practice, the Alexander Technique allows the student to re-learn how to move through life. With insights into the body's natural tendencies and strategies for employing these tendencies to our advantage, the Alexander Technique challenges the student to begin to think critically about what once was subconscious habit.

The Technique is best known to those in the performing arts (dancers, actors, musicians, etc.), but it is applicable to everyone regardless of occupation. The philosophy it teaches and the skills it develops can be equally useful whether you apply them to dancing, running, sitting at a computer, solving math problems, public speaking, or swinging on a trapeze.

Join us for an exploration of Alexander's principles and how they can be applied to increase the efficiency and ease of your dancing. All skill levels and all disciplines are welcome!

https://zahiyaonline.punchpass.com/classes/16794637

01/31/2020

After an embarrassingly-long hiatus, a new blog post is up over on the Forward and Up website! Check out my review of "How To Learn the Alexander Technique," by Barbara Conable! http://pghforwardandup.com/?page_id=43

For this month’s book review, we’re diving into How To Learn the Alexander Technique, by Barbara and William Conable. One of my students started with me in the midst of reading this book, and lent me his copy to read while we worked together. I enjoyed it enough that I’ve since bought my own c...

10/05/2017

New blog post is up! Baby Stafford shows us why a certain technique is called 'Baby Feet': http://pghforwardandup.com/?page_id=43

If you’ve had a lesson with me, you’ve probably had a table turn, and if you’ve had a table turn, you may have experienced a particular leg-moving technique that my teachers called ‘baby feet.’ This technique involves rotating the knee outward and sliding the foot along the table to extend the leg,…

09/12/2017

I'm finally back to writing blog posts again after my maternity leave! For this month's Quote of the Month, let's all be 'just good-enough': http://pghforwardandup.com/?page_id=43

“Evolution happens as each generation of living things interacts with its environment and reproduces. Lamarck got at least that part of it right. Those natural designs that survive to reproduce pass on their genes. Those that don’t successfully reproduce disappear; their genes disappear as well. It’...

02/22/2017

Beautiful shot of the fetal primary curve in action - in Ellen's own baby still developing! Note how the secondary curve hasn't developed yet, so we see a full-on primary fetal!

09/15/2016

New blog post is up! In today's Everyday Poise we take a look at spotting and how dancers might be training themselves out of dizziness! http://pghforwardandup.com/?page_id=43

Last week we discussed the vestibular apparatus, and how the structures of the inner ear help us to sense the motion of the head in relationship to the rest of the body and to gravity. Today we’re going to look at a highly-specialized use of the vestibular apparatus, in the form of the dance techniq...

07/28/2016

While you're out catching those Pokemon, make sure you keep thinking forward and up!

03/31/2016

03/03/2016

New Blog Post is up! March's Quote of the Month concerns some sage advice for this election season - without any value judgements or personal political views mentioned!

“[I would advise everybody in the world] to sit down and think over all the beliefs and ideas they have got and find out where they came from. You would not have many left. After a week’s thought, you would throw them overboard.”

03/02/2016

A really great animated demonstration of how our shoulder girdle works! Notice how much range of movement there is before the scapula gets involved, and notice just how the scapula swings outward while staying relatively flat against the rib cage! Great visuals!

02/29/2016

A new study finds that Alexander Technique alleviates neck pain! And better yet, that the reduction in pain persists after the lessons are over! Good to see AT in the news again!

A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows a significant reduction in chronic neck pain after lessons in the Alexander Technique. 517 patient with chronic neck pain were assigned to...