Judith Kleinman AGSM MSTAT
Having originally trained as a musician at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Judith was a member of English National Opera and CLS and performed with LSO, London Classical Players, the National Theatre and the London Jupiter Orchestra. The mind body connection involved in practising and performing music fascinated her. In order to explore this connection more deeply Judith trained to be an Alexander teacher with Mr Macdonald and Shoshanna Kaminitz qualifying in 1988 and went on to train to be a Tai Chi and Yoga teacher in London.
While the Alexander Technique can have many uses and applications, Judith’s career as an Alexander teacher has been focused on integrating the work into educational and performance practices. This stems from a belief that the technique works fundamentally on establishing the possibility of change, a crucial element in learning how to learn and igniting creativity. She is part of the Alexander team at the Royal College of Music and head of department at the Junior Royal Academy of Music. She is also an assistant head of training at LCATT The London Centre for Alexander Technique and Training. Recently she has been a visiting teacher at The London School of Musical Theatre.
For the last twenty years Judith has collaborated with Sue Merry to build connections between the worlds of Alexander and Education and create a thoughtful training for AT teachers interested in working in that world. This project, known as The Developing Self held it’s first conference at Regents Park College in 2000, presenting the STAT memorial Lecture that year. It has blossomed since and runs workshops throughout the world including Paris in 2018, and in 2019 courses in New York and San Diego. The Developing Self has become a platform for videos and discussions about Alexander in Education. These, including the talks of the first virtual Alexander conference 2020 can be found at www.thedevelopingself.net
Judith has also written several books including ‘The Alexander Technique for Musicians’ with Peter Buckoke, published by Bloomsbury 2014 and more recently The Alexander Technique for Young Musicians a reference book aimed at key stage 3 students. Further publications include Alexander in Secondary and Tertiary Education a book for teachers looking to integrate Alexander Principles in their teaching.
For many years, Judith worked with Barry Mason, a director of The Institute of Family Therapy. Barry’s ideas of “Safe Uncertainty” have been influential in developing Judith’s practice of identifying the connections between the body and emotions and understanding how the body can be the metaphor for the emotional state. Barry and Judith ran many workshops together for therapists and Alexander teachers.
Continuing in her work to create dialogues between disciplines, Judith programmmes the Interesting Talks series of lectures and workshops which brings other disciplines in dialogue with the Alexander Technique. These have included talks by Feldenkrais Practitioners, Mindfullness coaches and CBT therapists. Details can be found on the LCATT website. She has recently developed a course in collaboration with the JRAM, Healthy Young Musicians aimed at 15 and 16 year olds.
A regular teacher on residential courses across the world, Judith has helped lead courses aimed at AT teachers in Alonissos Greece with Penny O’Connor, for Flow in Tereglio Italy with Selma Gocken and courses for musicians at Dartington International Summer School, NCMC, National Youth Choirs, NYO courses and Benslow. In many of these courses she has combined movement work with AT work to give ways of connecting with themselves both in stillness and activity.
Judith has been an active part of the Society of Alexander Teachers. She sat on the STAT council and coordinated the STAT Education Special Interest group and gave the Memorial lecture for STAT in 2014. She collaborated to create the Education section of the STAT website and has produced five short films on different aspects of Alexander in Education. These films can be found in on the Videos page of this website.
Judith developed Finding Quiet Strength to unite the influences of the disciplines she works with. Under this title, she has presented work at The School of Life, for the organization As You Live and Breathe, and regularly at Symmetry Investments.
She regularly writes articles, gives workshops and talks on Alexander in Education in Europe, USA and the UK both to the wider public and the Education world.