Shmuel Nelken (1930–2015), first Israeli teacher of the Alexander Technique and Head of Training.
Life
Shmuel Nelken was born in Berlin in 1930 and in 1933 came with his parents to Palestine. In his teens he studied piano and cello. He then studied agriculture, and became a founder member of a kibbutz. Realising agricultural life was not for him, he moved to Paris in the mid-1950s to study with the cellist Paul Tortelier. On a recommendation he went to London and had lessons with F. M. Alexander in 1954. As Alexander died soon afterwards Shmuel Nelken went on to train with Patrick Macdonald. Upon graduating in 1960 he returned to Israel where he had a busy and successful practice. In 1974 he established the first Israeli teacher training course in Jerusalem. In 1996 he, his wife Ora, and Rivka Cohen, ran the 5th International Congress of the F. M. Alexander Technique in Jerusalem.[1] [2] He subsequently self-published the Congress Papers.[3]
Writings
The article, ‘Finding meaning in one’s work’ by Shmuel Nelken, is a plea for simplicity and for not adding any ‘extras’ to the Technique.[4]
Obituraries and remembrances
‘Shmuel Nelken’ by Giora Pinkas.[5]
‘The soul of simplicity’ by Anthony Kingsley.[6]
‘Remembering Shmuel Nelken’ by Phyllis G. Richmond.[7]
‘Remembering Shmuel Nelken’ by Anne Shivas.[8]
Shmuel Nelken *30 July 1930 – †2 January 2015.
