Is there a big market for Alexander Technique comedy? I have not found lessons to be the ideal situation for the full monty of my range. And then there’s that awkward thing whereby when you make fun of the way you earn your living, other people don’t tend to take your work so seriously.
“If you can make it as a comic, go for it! You’ll do the rest of us a favor. Think of Farah Fawcett; what mattered is that everyone knew who she was, not how good her work was or wasn’t.”
I always knew I had a lot in common with Farrah, aside from our swimsuit calendars.
When I graduated from my training, all I wanted to do for a few months was to mock everything I had learned. Good thing I am largely over that now.
How does Alexander Technique affect one’s writing? I think it makes it more calm and measured. Similarly, I’m not sure Alexander would be good for stand-up comics because they seem to need to come from a dark place. A calm comic doesn’t sound very funny.
I find that the more emotionally concerned I get about a student, the less likely they are to come back. One of my Alexander teachers warned me about getting too nurturing. Another one of my Alexander teachers shared that whenever she told a student, “You really need Alexander Technique”, they never come back. I’ll never forget this young woman, about 25, who came to me with her boyfriend. She worked long hours at a desk job and her back was like concrete and her arms were going numb, etc. She loved to carry big heavy purses and wanted to learn how to do that with Alexander Technique. I showed her, but I also said, in effect, that given the state of her back and her job, she was headed for trouble. She replied, “You sound like the voice of doom.” She came for four lessons.
