Alexander Technique and acting
Out walking on this unusually warm night in San Francisco, thinking about the Alexander Technique in relation to acting.
Although the Alexander Technique can give you a marvelous sense of calm and harmony, the point is not calm. The point is to allow who you are to show up without the protective mask of habitual tension. Calm might not be in the equation. Courage certainly is, since it’s quite vulnerable to unmask, even if unmasked you are actually stronger. And then, in character you are putting a whole new mask on, but one that is not limited by your person’s habits of self-protection.
Or so it all seems to me on this warm evening in Noe Valley, with city lights and the whisper of breeze.
