Aldo Ruiz-Alonso
Resonating with Our Violin & Viola
PANEL: Teaching AT in Different Languages / Cultural Differences
Aldo is a violist, music teacher, and an Alexander Technique teacher based in Tijuana, Mexico.
As a violist, they’ve toured extensively around Mexico and California with prominent professional ensembles, including the Orquesta de Baja California. Aldo has shared the stage with world-class artists such as Andrea Bocelli, and taken two chamber music masterclasses with members of the Kronos quartet.
Aldo holds two degrees in viola performance, a Bachelor of Music from the Autonomous University of Baja California (2015), and a Master of Music from San Diego State University (2018). Aldo also underwent the Alexander Technique - Performing Artists Teacher Training at the Balance Arts Center (2025).
Aldo feels fortunate to play a 2021 viola built for them by Claudia Reynoso, one of Mexico's most prominent luthiers.
Allie Kronick
Fundamentals in Flow, Balance & Stability
Allie Kronick (she/her) is an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique Teacher and dance educator based out of Brooklyn, NY. She graduated magna cum laude from the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University. In addition to her 10+ years of professional performance experience, Allie has taught for and created on numerous young artists across the US and abroad and was a founding faculty member teaching contemporary dance for the Professional Training Programs at the Martha Graham School. Allie enjoys working with a wide range of communities and teaches private lessons and group AT classes at the Balance Arts Center and Movement Research. Her teaching is informed by her continued pursuit of a more sustainable and joyful movement practice and life.
Ann Rodiger
Making Better Choices Through the Alexander Technique
PANEL: AT and Cerebral Palsy
PANEL: Teaching AT in Different Languages / Cultural Differences
Happy Hour Wrap Up
Ann Rodiger is the Founder and Director of the Balance Arts Center and the BAC Teacher Training Program. She has been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 40 years, Rodiger teaches internationally in Germany, Belgium, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey. She has also adapted the Alexander principles to work for those with hypermobility and Ehlers Danlos Syndromes. As a former dancer, Ann enjoys working with performing artists in all disciplines.
Eiko Kanamoto
PANEL: Teaching AT in Different Languages / Cultural Differences
Eiko Kanamoto has studied the Alexander Technique since 2000 and graduated from the Balance Arts Center in 2006. Based in Tokyo and regularly teaching in Hiroshima, she primarily teaches vocalists and musicians. Between 2014 and 2018, Eiko worked with higher brain dysfunctions, improving their balance, standing, and jogging. She is also a certified health and exercise instructor and practice instructor in Japan and plans to offer group lessons for people over 60 years old.
Eli Sibley
Intention not Tension: Discovering the Line Between Character and Actor
Eli Sibley is an independent artist and educator with 30 years of training and experience in movement and theatre. An actor for over twenty years, with credits from the California Shakespeare Festival to the Shanghai Experimental Theatre, she transitioned into education when she earned her AmSAT Alexander Technique and Laban Movement Certifications. As a Twin Cities native, Eli brings movement and acting instruction to local and national theatre companies and curriculum, including The Children’s Theatre Company, the Guthrie Theatre, the University of Minnesota, Dramatic Adventure Theatre, and New World School of the Arts. Most recently she added Corporate Training to her resume, instructing at 3M and Deloitte. Additional theatrical credits include production, playwriting, and direction. Most recently she created a community piece based on motherhood and gun violence, Mama Don’t Lose It. She was a member of the National Women’s Theatre Festival cohort where she directed the U.S. Premiere of The Grandmother’s Grimm. She has produced her one- woman piece, Born of a Fairytale, in the Twin Cities, DC, and New York. She is a founding member of Vacant Lot Theatre in New York, an Artistic Associate With Classical Actors Ensemble, and proud Mama of two. Her MFA is from the Catholic University of America.
Elizabeth Miller
AT and the Violin
Elizabeth Miller is a professional violinist in the New York City area for over 30 years.
She has played on Broadway, currently plays with the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s and New York Scandia Symphony but actively freelanced at Lincoln Center and all over the Metropolitan area. She also runs the Hudson Heights String Academy for Young string players.
A recent graduate of The Balance Arts Center she holds certification from AmSat and has taken Workshops with Robyn Avalon in Santa Fe like Living in a Body and Professional Enrichment. She is currently teaching in upper Manhattan and is on Facebook and Instagram
Eric Liu
PANEL: Teaching AT in Different Languages / Cultural Differences
A certified Pilates instructor, classical ballet dancer, and current trainee in the Alexander Technique at the Balance Arts Center, Eric Liu offers a highly attuned, integrative approach to movement. Originally from a vineyard in Taiwan and fluent in Mandarin Chinese, he brings a grounded sensitivity to his teaching that reflects both his cultural roots and extensive artistic training.
Eric has trained and performed in Iceland, Israel, and the United States, cultivating a diverse somatic and choreographic perspective. In 2016, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to deepen his exploration of dance and interdisciplinary performance. His work integrates anatomical precision with musicality and curiosity, creating an experience that supports both embodied awareness and technical clarity.
Clients value his thoughtful presence, movement insight, and ability to meet individuals where they are—whether in injury recovery, performance training, or daily life.
Gabrielle Scott
Listening & Presence
Gabrielle Scott is a Trinidadian theater-maker: director, actor/singer and playwright who incorporates Alexander Technique in everything she does. Specializing in physical theater, classical work and her original work, she aims to create safe spaces that encourage true freedom of expression. She works with both performing artists and non-performing artists. Her calling is to use art as a means of activism, healing and empowerment while shedding light on Truth.
Hailey McAvoy
PANEL: AT and Cerebral Palsy
Hailey McAvoy is a versatile performer of opera, song, and concert. McAvoy’s recent operatic performances include appearing as Mem in Paola Prestini’s Sensorium Ex (Opera Omaha) and as Julia Child in Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appetit (Opera Praktikos). Additional roles in her repertoire include Third Lady (The Magic Flute; MassOpera), Third Woodsprite (Dvorak, Rusalka; Opera Ithaca), the Page of Herodias (Strauss, Salome; Fisher Center of Performing Arts), The Taller Daughter (Mazzoli, Proving Up; Aspen Music Festival), Zosha (Heggie, Out of Darkness; Eastman Opera Theater), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro; Aquilon Music Festival), and in select performances as a Young Artist with Cedar Rapids Opera and Opera Ithaca.
In 2024, McAvoy was an artist in residence at Hogfish Regenerative Arts Portland, Maine, where, in addition to singing the role of Newspaper Vendor in Poulenc’s Breasts of Tiresias, she began developing Wholly Unwinding, a concert of original music which explores themes of disability, accessibility, and what it means to feel at home in one’s body.
As a performer with the neurological condition Cerebral Palsy, McAvoy is committed to amplifying the discussion around disability in the arts in order to make the performing arts more inclusive for all. She recently published essays on accessibility in the arts in AGMAzine and Our Singing Bodies and has appeared as a panelist with such organizations as the National Endowment For the Arts, National Sawdust, Opera Ithaca and Opera NexGen.
Jay Winston
The Art of the Whistle: Finding Ease and Joy Through Sound
Jay Winston, a World Champion Whistler, has achieved international acclaim by winning the 2023 Masters of Music Whistling competition in Hollywood, California. His accomplishments include first place in the classical division and second place in the popular division. In 2024, he further solidified his status by placing second in the International Whistler’s Guild virtual competition.
Winston was chosen to participate in America’s Got Talent Season 20, where he garnered support with three “yeses” from renowned celebrity judges Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, and Mel B. Notably, his whistling jingle was selected by audience vote to headline the International Whistler’s Guild website. Additionally, Winston is in demand as a studio whistler.
A documentary on competitive whistling, titled “Whistle,” was produced by Songbird Studios in Australia and featured Winston as one of its prominent whistlers. The documentary, recently submitted to international film festivals, provides a comprehensive overview of the competitive whistling landscape, having filmed the 2023 Masters of Musical Whistling competition and interviewed its contestants.
Winston’s musical journey began with classical training, culminating in his degree in vocal performance from Northwestern University. He further enhanced his skills by obtaining his Balance Arts Center Alexander Technique teachers certification, A.AmSat, in 2007. Currently, Winston serves as a full-time vocal music instructor at The Pingry School in New Jersey, while also offering private voice lessons at the Paper Mill Playhouse Summer Conservatory.
Jessica Spira
AT Lie Down: Daily Mind-Body Reset in French
The Creative Table
Jessica lives in the Finistère (the land’s end) region of Brittany, France where she currently teaches voice and the Alexander Technique at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the Archipel in Fouesnant as well as Novomax and the Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Arts in Quimper. As a singer, Jessica has performed internationally in Europe and in America. Today, she co-organizes Live@La Rêverie: A Jazz and Classical Music Series together with her husband, Stéphane Spira. She also enjoys drawing, writing and exploring wide beaches and winding forest paths with her family and their dog Tempo.
Jill Usdan
Unlocking Presence Through Performance
Jill is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University as a theater major and recipient of the Kenneth Janes Theater Prize. As a 1,600 hour AmSat certified Alexander Technique teacher, Jill has taught workshops and privately for nine years. She specializes in working with actors, singers and public speakers and is passionate about exploring the Alexander Technique as it relates to mental health. In addition to teaching, Jill is also a singer/songwriter and performer. You can listen to her EP, “Numbers” on Spotify. The first and last songs are jazz standards and the four in between are originals. Jill is also developing her one-woman musical called "The Haunted Trumpet", which is about facing what haunts you and healing your trauma through original songs, poems, spoken word and tap dancing.
Julie Frazier-Smith
AT Lie Down: Daily Mind-Body Reset
The Creative Table
Julie lives in Lugano, Switzerland where she teaches Dance and Musical Theater to children (K-12) at The American School in Switzerland. She directs and choreographs four main stage productions per year with these wonderful performing artists and is passionate about instilling the importance of imagination, creativity, live performance and community. Julie is an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher. She has received B.S. in Theater and Dance from Middle Tennessee State University and M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.
Kari Ostensen
Fundamentals in Flow, Balance & Stability
Kari Ostensen (they/them) is a trans mover and independent dance artist based in NYC and CT. They are an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique Teacher and use AT to further explore spatial thinking, autonomy, habits and holding patterns, and mind-body connection. Their work explores disability grief and the experience of being in an ever changing body.
They are a 2025 Emerge Fellow and have performed their own work and works in collaboration with Elena Demyaneko, Michiyaya Dance, LILLETH and more at Bennington College, Balance Arts Center, Center for Performance Research, Salvatore Larussa Dance Theater, and West Beth.
Kerry Ryer Parke
Sound Flow
AT Lie Down: Daily Mind-Body Reset
Kerry Ryer-Parke is an AmSAT-certified Alexander Technique teacher and a teacher, conductor, and performer of many musical styles, from oratorio, opera, early music, and new work to folk, jazz, and rock. Trained in classical voice performance, Kerry is also certified in LoVetri SomaticVoicework and the McClosky method for non-classical styles. She has been the Director of the Bennington Children's Chorus since 1994 and the Bennington Voice Workshop since 2002. She joined the Music Faculty at Bennington College in 2013 and was an Artist Associate in Voice at Williams College from 2000-2022. As a soprano soloist, she has appeared with many orchestras and choirs in the Vermont/New York/Massachusetts area. She is the lead singer and bass player of the rock band The Prescription. Kerry’s interest in music and peacebuilding has led to training with Musicians Without Borders and the School for International Training, and travels to Sardinia, Corsica, Bosnia, Greece, and Cyprus.
Kate Martel
Dancing the Visual Systems
Kate Martel is a dance artist and Alexander Technique teacher based in Western Massachusetts. She is adjunct faculty at Smith and Amherst Colleges, and also loves working with teens. Kate is currently collaborating on a dance project directed by Molly Fletcher Lynch-Clark to be performed this fall in Maine.
Lindy Rogers
The GAP
Lindy Rogers teaches the Alexander Technique in New York City; a graduate of the Balance Arts Center since September 2019. Currently on Faculty with the BAC Teacher Training Program. Her passion is offering Balance & Stability classes that include a One Pound Weight class and a Fall Prevention class; both classes explore the power of being able to get down to and up from the floor with confidence. Lindy also teaches privately and works locally as an Actor and Director.
Mike Maher
Rediscovering Breath with the Alexander Technique
Mike "Maz" Maher is a professional trumpeter, singer, and songwriter with 20 years of performance and touring experience, and a founding member of the multi-Grammy award winning band Snarky Puppy. He is also a graduate of the teacher training program at the Balance Arts Center and an AmSat certified teacher of Alexander Technique. He has taught at high schools and colleges around the world on the subjects of improvisation, ensemble playing, trumpet playing, songwriting, and Alexander Technique.
Takehiro Shimizu 清水勇博
Drumming / Seated Instruments Workshop
PANEL: Teaching AT in Different Languages / Cultural Differences
Takehiro is an Alexander Technique Teacher and teaches private lessons and group classes in NYC and Osaka (Japan). He has been involved as a teaching assistant in Balance Arts Center teacher training course since 2022.
He graduated from the Balance Arts Center and also holds a bachelor degree in Human Science from Konan University in Kobe Japan. Takehiro also has been working as a jazz drummer for more than 20 years.
アレクサンダーテクニック教師 (AmSAT）
2020年にAmSAT(米国アレクサンダーテクニーク教師協会)の認定を受け、アレクサンダーテクニークを日本とNYで教え始める。
2022年よりBalance Arts Centerで教師育成クラスにアシスタントとして関わる。
教師業の傍らジャズドラマーとしての活動も行なっている。
Taylor Belew
AT & Household Activities
Taylor is an Alexander Technique-certified theatre artist and performance coach with a passion for human potential. In addition to working as a professional actor and director, Taylor has over eight years of experience teaching theatre and public speaking in higher education. She leads extensive training in various actor training methods, such as the Meisner Technique and the methods of Jerzy Grotowski. Taylor has led workshops across the country on managing performance anxiety, cultivating emotional intelligence, improving deep listening, developing boundaries, and amplifying group creativity. She also serves as a public speaking and presentation coach for business executives in high-pressure performance environments and competitions. Her competitive gymnastics background and experience as a gymnastics coach invigorates her understanding of the human body. Originally drawn to Alexander work to assist in sports and performance situations, she discovered that the Alexander Technique addresses and improves how a person does anything. This qualifies Taylor to work on a variety of activities: from high-impact performance situations to issues of everyday life. Taylor holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Mississippi, an MFA in Acting from the University of Georgia, and a Post-MFA in Applied Performance from Virginia Tech.
Tom Baird
Ready to Begin: The Alexander Technique Applied to the Ballet or Center Barre
Baroque Dance specialist, Thomas Baird has choreographed Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac, (2005-06 & 2015) for the Metropolitan Opera, choreographed and performed with the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts for ten years and has been a period movement consultant for several Broadway productions. Along with Paige Whitley-Bauguess, his dance partner of twenty-five years, he has performed with leading early music groups all over the world. With his husband Hugh Murphy, he co- directed the East Coast Baroque Dance Workshop at Rutgers University from 1998-2008. Most recently he led the New France Dance Project in Montréal, Québec, an in-person Baroque Dance Intensive. Some of Mr. Baird’s writings on historical dance have been published by Oxford University Press. He currently teaches ten Baroque Dance and Ballet-based classes online weekly.
Thomas Baird is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, having graduated in 2009 from the Balance Arts Center, Ann Rodiger director. He has presented workshops at many AT conferences such as the Freedom to Move, Freedom to Play and Sing, and Freedom to Write, and at Franklyn & Marshall College, Ohio Northern University, The Westerhoff School of Music, University of Richmond, and in Tokyo, Japan. Since 2010, he has taught the Alexander Technique in the Dance and Music Conservatories at SUNY Purchase College, and he assisted AT teacher Jane Kosminsky in the Dance Division at The Juilliard School for 14 years. He is a long-time faculty member of the BAC’s Alexander Teacher Training program, and has private practices in NYC and Norwalk, CT. From 2014-2019, he taught the AT at Si Parla, Si Canta, an opera intensive held in Urbania and Arona, Italy.