How the Alexander Technique can help Actors, Dancers and Other Performers

With the best of intentions, the job of acting can become a display of accumulated bad habits, trapped instincts and blocked energies. Working with the Alexander Technique to untangle the wires has given me sightings of another way; mind and body, work and life together. Real imaginative freedom. — Alan Rickman

For me, something that is the foundation of all the acting work I do is Alexander, and that’s the technique you see pop up in a lot of therapy, a lot of physical rehabilitation, music training, and it’s very much about your physical form. Finding a way to be balanced, to be centered. And it also lends itself well to creating a home base for your psyche within your own body. Coming back to a neutral stance. Coming back to an aligned, grounded, calm place. Your brain knows you’re acting. Your brain knows it’s not real. Your body doesn’t. It brings you home, ’cause sometimes when you’re playing these characters, you can get pretty far out there. — Lily Gladstone

The resources below provide information on how the Alexander Technique can help actors, dancers, and other performers:

(Information about ways in which the Alexander Technique can help musicians can be found here.)

Alexander Technique & Performance Audio Interviews

How the Alexander Technique can help dancers

Actors and the Alexander Technique, and the Technique’s role in Theater Training Programs:

Other audio interviews about the Alexander Technique and performers can be found at the Alexander Technique Podcast

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Alexander Technique & Performance Videos

How Actors can use the Alexander Technique:

How Dancers can use the Alexander Technique:

How the Alexander Technique can help injured dancers:

Short video about ways in which the Alexander Technique can help actors and other performers:

Other videos about the Alexander Technique and Acting can be found at Alexander Video.

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Alexander Technique and Performance Books

The Actor's Secret
Order The Actor’s Secret from:

Dance and the Alexander Tec hnique
Order Dance and the Alexander Technique from:

More Alexander Technique Books at the Alexander Technique Bookstore (USA, Canada and the UK).

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Alexander Technique and Performance Articles

Additional material about the Alexander Technique and performers can be found in the following articles:

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