Biography > Later generation teachers

Alan Rowlands (1930?–2012), pianist and teacher of the Technique.   Alan Rowlands learned the piano at the Royal College of Music, and later became a Professor of piano at the RCM. He had lessons with Marjory Barlow, and later trained as a teacher of the Technique with the Barlows in the early 1970s.[1]   Obituary […]

Andrea Beesley (1945–2020), teacher of the Alexander Technique and Head of Training.   Andrea Beesley was introduced to the Alexander Technique in 1971 or ’72 by her brother, Roderick Beesley, a teacher of the Technique.[1]   Andrea Beesley trained to be a teacher of the Technique in 1974 with Walter Carrington at the Constructive Teaching […]

Carol McCullough (1957-2003), US teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Life Carol McCullough taught violin at Illinois Wesleyan University before she trained in the Alexander Technique. She was a Doctor of Musical Arts and lived in Minneapolis.[1]   Writings She self-published her paper, ‘The Alexander Technique and the Pedagogy of Paul Rolland’ (1996).[2] It was […]

Christopher (‘Chris’) Stevens (1943-2003), British teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Life Chris Stevens was a yoga teacher, and was the British Wheel of Yoga’s first National Organiser in October 1971. He was instrumental in introducing other yoga teachers – such as Ken Thompson and Ray Evans – to the Alexander Technique.[1]   Stevens and […]

Dr David Garlick (1933–2002), Australian scientist and teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Dr David Garlick was a physiologist and medical research scientist at the University of New South Wales. He trained as a teacher of the Technique with Kri (Christine) Ackers and he later attended her course once a week. Garlick was instrumental in […]

Deborah Caplan (†2000), US physical therapist and teacher of the Alexander Technique who pioneered the Alexander Technique specifically for back problems.   Life Deborah Caplan was the daughter of the novelist and essayist Waldo Frank and of Alexander Technique teacher Alma Frank, who trained with F. M. Alexander. Around the age of 9 or 10 […]

Dilys M. G. Carrington (1915–2009), British teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Dilys Carrington was the Co-Director of the Constructive Teaching Centre and made important contributions to the development of the teacher training programme.   Life Dilys Jones was born in 1915 in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, she was educated at Kings’ High School for Girls, Warwick, […]

Don Burton (1943–1996), UK teacher of the Alexander Technique and HoT.   Life Don Burton trained as physiotherapist and then as a teacher of the Technique around 1970–73 at the Constructive Teaching Centre (CTC).   Don Burton and other teachers started a group for pupils who wanted intensive work in the Alexander Technique without joining […]

Elizabeth (‘Liz’, ‘Lizzie’) Atkinson (†2011), British teacher of the Alexander Technique and Head of Training.   Life Elizabeth Atkinson trained as an actor and had lessons with Elisabeth and Dick Walker at the New College of Speech and Drama. She went on to train at the Constructive Teaching Centre with the Carringtons, 1972–75. She lived […]

Elizabeth (‘Betty’) Langford (1929–2009), UK teacher of the Alexander Technique, author of several books on the Technique, and Head of Training.   Life Elizabeth Langford was born in London. In 1952 she married the Hungarian musician Tamas Rajna. She studied violin with Max Rostal. She became the second concertmaster of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. […]

Fran Robinson (†2010), UK teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Fran Robinson obtained a BA degree from the University of Manchester in 1971. She qualified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique with Peter Scott in London in 1975.   In 1984 she received a certificate in Basic Training from the Centre for Transpersonal Psychology. […]

Frank Ottiwell (1929–2015), prominent US teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Life Frank Ottiwell studied acting at the Canadian Art Theatre School and at the Vera Soloviova Acting School in New York City. He started taking lessons with Judy Leibowitz in September 1954, and started on her teachers training course in September 1956. He graduated […]

Goddard Binkley (1920-1987), US teacher of the Technique, who is known for his diary of his lessons with F. M. Alexander, published as The Expanding Self.   Life Goddard Binkley was born in 1920 in Chicago. During his studies towards a Ph.D. in Sociology at the New School for Social Research, New York, he started […]

Grethe Laub (1911–1996), Danish teacher of the Alexander Technique whose special interest was working with children.   Life Grethe Laub trained as a nursery school teacher at the Froebel Institute in Copenhagen between 1933-35. In 1949 she travelled to London and had a number of lessons with F. M. Alexander as well as some with […]

Jan Pullman (1951–2012), German teacher of the Alexander Technique and Head of Training in Hamburg.   Life Jan Pullman studied classical saxophone and piano in Cologne and continued his studies at Trinity College of Music, London, 1978–81. Here he started having lessons in the Technique. Greatly helped by the Technique he trained as a teacher […]

Jeanne Day, British teacher of the Alexander Technique and Head of Training.   Life Jeanne Day was born in 1918. She trained for the certificate of Horse Exam, was a nanny, and during WWII joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service, worked as a farm worker, worked in the Royal Women’s Voluntary Service. After the war […]

John Brown (1950–2008), UK teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Life John Brown was born in Bagor, Country Down, Northern Ireland. Following university he worked as a social worker and later as a youth worker in West Belfast. He had his first lesson in Belfast, and decided to train with Chris Stevens in Denmark in […]

John Gray, British teacher of the Alexander Technique, actor, and author of Your guide to the Alexander Technique.   Life John Gray joined the RAF in 1957 as his National Service. Afterwards he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and began acting professionally in the early 1960s. A car crash caused him […]

Joyce Roberts (1905–1996), South African teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Joyce Roberts assisted Irene Tasker for several years in a way which amounted to an apprenticeship training. As Irene Tasker had no authority from F. M. Alexander to train teachers she did not qualify her, and would not for many years acknowledge Robert’s training. […]

Judith Leibowitz (1920–1990), US teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Life Judith Leibowitz was 14 when she was paralysed from the waist down with polio. After many months of immobilization she undertook an intensive regime of physical therapy and could then walk again with braces and crutches. She graduated from Brooklyn College with a major […]

Lena Frederick (1944-1997), US teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Life Lena was born in Zurich, grew up in Switzerland, Lebanon and the US. She graduated with honours from Harvard University, followed by an MFA degree in theatre directing from the Yale School of Drama. She married Michael D. Frederick. They trained together at the […]

Misha Magidov (1929–2019) Israeli teacher and and Head of Training.   Life Misha Magidov was born in a small village in Palestine. At the age of 14 he joined a kibbutz (Gevah, in the Isreal Valley) and later joined the Israel Army where he rose to the rank of Captain. He started having lessons in […]

Paul Collins (1926-1995) was a violinist, runner, and Alexander Technique teacher, and Head of Training.   Life Paul Collins was born in London and raised in Canada. He was educated at Acadia University, but being a a violin prodigy from an early age, he attended the Julliard Graduate School, and Yale music school. He returned […]

Peggy Williams (1916-2003), British teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Peggy Williams, born Goldstone, in Manchester. In 1938 she married Louis Nixon and moved to London. She started having lessons with F. M. Alexander and started his teachers’ training course in September 1947. She graduated in February 1955, and she stayed on to assist on […]

Rachel Zahn (1943-2017), US teacher of the Alexander Technique who promoted Francisco Varela’s approach of how mental experience could be studied scientifically.   Education Rachel Zahn first received theatre training at the University of Maryland and Catholic University. She received a study grant from the American Conservatory Theatre and trained as a teacher of the […]

Ray Evans (1929-2005), British teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Life Ray Evans worked in the Royal Navy as an engineering officer. He went on to work for Vickers and the Atomic Energy Authority. While lecturing in engineering design at Aylesbury College he became a yoga teacher. Through contacts with other yoga teachers he got […]

Ron Murdoch (1941–2018), Canadian classical singer and teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Ron Murdoch grew up in Nova Scotia. He studied music at Mount Allison University and through a grant went on to study singing in Montreal. He came to Europe at the age of 27 to study with Frederick Husler in Switzerland. (He […]

Saura Bartner (†2003), US teacher of the Technique.   Life Saura Bartner received a master’s degree in Modern Dance Education from Columbia, and her B.A. in English from Rutgers University. In her early 20s she performed at the Louis Nickolais Dance Theater Lab. She started having lessons in 1971 and trained as a teacher of […]

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 […]

Shoshana Kaminitz, Israeli born teacher of the Alexander Technique, who assisted Patrick Macdonald and continued his teacher training course.   Life Shoshana Kaminitz was born in Israel. She trained with Patrick Macdonald 1960–63 and became de facto his Assistant Director on his teacher training course. When Macdonald stopped training around 1987 due to ill health, […]

Tasha Miller (1954–2015), Indian born British teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Life Tasha Miller was born in Sutna, India. The family moved in Swindon, England, in the late 1960s. She studied Fine Art at St. Martin’s in London before moving to study dance and drama at Dartington College of Arts in Devon. She started […]

Troup H. Mathews (1916-2002), US teacher of the Alexander Technique and Head of Training in New York.   Life Troup Mathews was born in Le Havre, France, and came to the US in 1935. He enlisted in the US Army in January 1941 and was stationed in North Africa. He was wounded in El Guettar, […]

Vera Cavling (1920–2011), Danish teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Life Vera Cavling, née Kjær, was very frail in her early youth, suffering from fatigue, insomnia and chronic headaches. She and her sister, Else Kjær, went to London in 1948 and had lessons from F. M. Alexander as well as several other teachers at Ashley […]

Yvonne Becker (1942?–2018), South African teacher of the Alexander Technique.   Yvonne Becker worked as a school teacher and librarian before training in the Alexander Technique. She trained as an Alexander Technique Teacher in Cape Town with Joyce Roberts and qualified in 1983. She then assisted Joyce Roberts in training teachers until 1987.   She […]