Affiliates

offering classes in the area of their expertise.
offering their time as substitutes for regular faculty members and/or as volunteer teachers.
offering supervision to third-year trainees in their practice teaching.
offering private or small group lessons to trainees.

See also: RIAT Faculty

See also: RIAT Faculty

Melissa Brown

Diane Bruce

Kecia Chin

A smiling person holding a thimbleberry next to a bush

Rajal Cohen

Bill Connington

Allison Foley

Gayl Forman

Joan Frost

Stephen McLean

Kathryn Miranda

Kristin Mozeiko

Lindsay Newitter

Max Rosenak

Becky Sandler

Robin Schiff

Shelley Senter

Lena Vidulich

Sue Wong

Affiliate Bios

See also: RIAT Faculty

Melissa Brown

Melissa Brown is a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique. She worked as a civil rights attorney for many years; however, her experience studying the Alexander Technique was so meaningful that she changed careers and became an AT teacher.

Melissa enjoys teaching a wide range of students from actors to people dealing with stress, pain, or other physical issues. She teaches group classes and private lessons in her studio in NYC and conducts a weekly group class at the Manhattan JCC. She has also taught classes and presented workshops to actors at Seton Hall University, Iona State College, Jon Shear’s Studio, the Actors Connection, Marissa Lynn Studios, and Jaime Lozano’s international program that brings musical theatre students to NYC from Monterrey, Mexico. Before the pandemic, she taught residents at Haven House, a residential facility in East Harlem that provides assistance to HIV positive clients with substance use issues. Given her background as a civil rights attorney and commitment to advocacy work, it has been very important to her to be able to continue to work with people from underserved communities. See melissabrownnyc.com.

Diane Bruce

Diane Bruce m.AmSat, is a professional violinist and Alexander Teacher in Metuchen, NJ and Manhattan, and in Chautauqua, NY, during the summer. She trained at ACAT and RIAT, receiving certification in 2019.

Diane holds Bachelor and Master degrees from Juilliard and in her 40 year music career has toured Europe and Asia, played regularly at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City and on Broadway.
See dianebruce-alexandertechnique.com for more information.

Kecia Chin

Kecia Chin is a seasoned professional in posture and pain management, with over two decades of experience. She earned her qualification as a Teacher of the Alexander Technique in 1999 from the American Center for the Alexander Technique in New York City. Her expertise spans physical posture, pain management, conservative spine care, and scoliosis management. Kecia is also a certified Yoga Teacher, proficient in Hatha, Vinyasa, Iyengar, and Bikram yoga, seamlessly integrating yoga wisdom into her teachings. As a mother of three children she passionately advocates for scoliosis awareness and education, addressing both standard and non-standard postural issues including uncommon spinal curves. Kecia operates a private practice in Island Park, Long Island, and serves as a regular visiting guest teacher at the Alexander Technique Center, TTC (Teacher Training Center), Ireland.

Her ongoing interest in science and the Alexander Technique have led her through current theories in the science of consciousness, biological evolutionary theory, and the attentional differences between the two hemisphere of the brain.

She attributes her openness and curiosity in lifelong learning to the influence of one of teachers, Judy Leibowitz. To honor Judy, she edited a variety of original transcripts and recordings into the book Dare To Be Wrong.

Rajal Cohen

Rajal G. Cohen, Ph.D., M.AmSAT, is a Professor in the Department of Psychology & Communication Studies at the University of Idaho, iiliate faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences, and a member of the graduate faculty in the Human Factors graduate program. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed scientific articles and chapters on the role of cognitive factors in human movement and posture, which have collectively been cited over 3000 times in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Dr. Cohen’s research is dedicated to exploring the interconnectedness of thought, action, and posture. She trains M.S. and Ph.D. students in the Mind in Movement Lab.

Dr. Cohen completed her Alexander Technique training in 1997 at the Virginia School for Alexander Technique with Daria Okugawa. She received a B.A. in Psychology from Wesleyan University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology (with a minor in Kinesiology) from Penn State University. Her graduate work focused on motor learning and on ways that cognitive limitations cause us to move less optimally than popular theories of motor control propose. She completed a four-year postdoctoral fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University, where she collaborated with leading experts in neurology, physical therapy, and brain imaging on projects related to posture, gait initiation, inhibitory control, Parkinson’s disease, and the neural connections between brain areas associated with so-called “higher functions” and those associated with so-called “lower functions.” Her current research focuses on the costs and benefits of different types of postural training and biofeedback, in healthy adults as well as those with Parkinson’s disease or musculoskeletal pain. Since 2016, Dr. Cohen has been the Scientific Consultant for The Poise Project (thepoiseproject.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding innovative ways to bring Alexander Technique principles and tools to people who need it most. For more information on Dr. Cohen, including links to published articles, visit Dr. Cohen’s website.

Bill Connington

Bill Connington, m.AmSAT, is the former Chairman of the Board of the American Center for the Alexander Technique, and author of three books on the Alexander Technique, one co-authored with Judith Leibowitz. Bill is a Lecturer in Acting at Yale School of Drama, and has taught at the Juilliard School, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and the Actors Studio MFA Program. He is an actor and filmmaker; his next feature film is currently in editing. Bill is a graduate of ACAT and The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. See bloomsbury.com/author/bill-connington

Allison Foley

Allison Foley completed her AmSAT certified training in 1997 at the American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT) in NYC. Fortunate to have visited London in 1999, she had lessons with Walter Carrington, Marjorie Barlow, and Peggy Williams. In 2004, she returned to attend Carrington’s summer refresher course.

She was a faculty member of Barnard College for 10 years where she originated the Alexander Technique program in the Physical Education department. She has taught at the 92nd Street Y, Manhattan School of Music, Movement Research, Mindful Harlem, the July Program at Bennington College, and Hunter College. Allison came to the technique as a dancer/choreographer seeking ease and integrity. Her early lessons were with June Ekman, Eva Karczag, and Remy Charlip. The newfound creativity and freedom she experienced led to a long period of experimental dance-making and performing. Since training, she has been teaching on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and raising her son Walter. See allisonfoley.net.

Gayl Forman

Gayl Forman, m.AmSAT. Introduced the technique to members at Gilda’s Club, NYC. Completed the Alexander Technique Teacher Training program at RIAT, her training having begun at Balance Arts Center, before it was interrupted by stage 4 colon cancer. Early study of the Alexander Technique began with Kitty Wielopolska and Missy Vineyard and continued with Lydia Yohay over many decades.

Dance background: 2005, attained the Simonson Jazz Dance Teacher certification and substitute taught beginners at Dance New Amsterdam. 1999, taught dance at the Columbus Park West Nursery. 1998, Assistant to Ellen Robbins, choreography class for 9 year olds. 1986, became a member of the Diane Jacobowitz Dance Theatre company. Worked with Anna Sokolow, Nancy Topf and Simone Forti. Dance major at SUNY, Purchase. As a child, studied Ballet, Modern, Duncan and Folk with performances in television and outdoor settings. Private practice, lessons scheduled by appointment. Get in touch with Gayl.

Joan Frost

Joan Frost has been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 40 years. She served on the senior faculty of The American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT), New York City, for over 35 years and was Director of Teacher Certification there from 2001–2008.

In addition to training teachers, Joan has taught in a variety of medical institutions including Greenwich Hospital’s Center for Integrative Medicine and in was on the faculty of both the dance and drama divisions at The Juilliard School. She completed Jessica Wolf’s yearlong course in The Art of Breathing in 2006 and gave AmSAT’s FM Memorial Lecture in 2019, sharing about her work with a gentleman who had had a brain aneurysm. Joan has maintained a private practice in the Greater New York Metropolitan area — CT, NY, and NJ, since certifying at ACAT in 1983.

Stephen McLean

Dr. Stephen McLean completed his 1600-hour Alexander Technique training at the Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique under the direction of Nannette Walsh. He is a musician, educator, and Alexander Technique teacher based in the Westchester and New York City area who works with people of all backgrounds to move with greater ease and less unnecessary tension. A doctoral-level trumpet player with experience as a pianist and band director, he has performed and taught in classical, jazz, gospel, and contemporary settings, and draws on both his performing background and Alexander Technique training to help improve coordination, posture, breathing, and overall body awareness so movement and performance can feel more natural and efficient.

Kathryn Miranda

Kathryn Miranda has been teaching the Alexander Technique for thirty+ years and has been involved in teacher training and teacher refreshers for most of those years. She trained at American Center for the Alexander Technique with a faculty that included Judy Liebowitz, Debby Caplan and Barbara Kent.

Kristin Mozeiko

Dr. Kristin Mozeiko, founder of Alexander Technique Brooklyn and ART of Releasing, is an AmSAT-certified Alexander Technique teacher. In 2008 she completed a three year 1,600-hour, teacher training program at ATNYC where she studied under John Nicholls and Nanette Walsh and later served on faculty as a teacher-trainer.

In 2018 she completed a yearlong training under the guidance of Kate Freeman to become a certified Releasing coach. For 14 years, Dr. Mozeiko served on the faculty at Queens College, where she conducted the wind ensemble and taught music education courses and the Alexander Technique to musicians. Dr. Mozeiko holds degrees in music education (BA), French horn performance (MM) and a doctorate in music education (DMA). Her doctoral work focused on integrating the Alexander Technique with music education/performance and DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), and this ongoing mission strongly informs her research, writing and other contributions to the advancement of music education and practice.
Languages Spoken: English, French. See artofreleasing.com.

Lindsay Newitter

Lindsay Newitter has studied the Alexander Technique since 1999 and completed her three-year Alexander Technique teacher training at ATNYC in 2007. She teaches private lessons and small group classes in mid-town Manhattan. She has taught Alexander Technique as a faculty member at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts as well as offered workshops as a guest teacher at the Fordham University Drama Department.

She has served as a production rehearsal coach and co-teaches Free Your Body, Free Your Voice with a Linklater Method voice teacher. Lindsay earned her BFA in Drama from New York University in 2001. An active member of AmSAT (The American Society for the Alexander Technique), Lindsay has been serving as the national Promotions Media Director of AmSAT since January 2011. For more information please visit nyposturepolice.com.

Max Rosenak

Max Rosenak, m.AmSAT, is an actor, director, voice coach, acting coach, and an AmSAT certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. He has taught at NYU Tisch, AADA, AMAW, RIAT and more.

He studied voice, text and Shakespeare with master voice teacher Patsy Rodenburg, and is a Rodenburg Registered Teacher (RRT) of voice & text. He received his MFA in Acting from A.C.T in San Francisco and his BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University. Max has directed Shakespeare productions for NYU-Meisner, The Atlantic Acting School among others. He is is a founding company member of the Seattle living wage theatre company The Williams Project, and has performed with them for the last eight years. He has performed regionally at The Pittsburgh Public, The American Conservatory Theater, The Huntington Theatre Company, The Olney Theatre Center, The Magic Theater among others. Max is co-founder of the Hudson Alexander Technique Collective, and maintains a private practice where he focuses on helping performers cultivate the inner resources needed to express themselves fully and powerfully. See maxrosenak.com and thewilliamsproject.org

Becky Sandler

Becky Sandler, m.AmSAT, teaches private and group Alexander Technique lessons in midtown Manhattan, Hudson, NY, and online. On faculty at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she teaches Alexander Technique as part of the 1st year core curriculum to actors.

Having spent her first year training at the American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT), she completed her 3-year, 1600 hour teacher certification at Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique (RIAT) where she is now an affiliate faculty member. She has extensive training and experience in education, early childhood yoga, Tai Chi, and movement, and enjoys sharing the benefits of the Alexander Technique with people of all ages. Becky served as assistant teacher of the Alexander Technique to the blind and visually impaired at The Lighthouse Guild, and is committed to helping older persons and people with less mobility discover greater stability, more comfort and ease with daily activities, and less pain and anxiety. In addition to her Alexander Technique teacher certification, she is an accredited teaching member of the largest professional organization of teachers of the Alexander Technique in the United States, the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) and holds a Masters of Early Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education and a Masters of Library Science from the University of Missouri.

Robin Schiff

Robin Schiff has been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 30 years, Pilates for almost 20. Her teaching experience includes 16 years teaching faculty and students at Brooklyn College, both Pilates and Alexander. She was on the faculty at Mannes Conservatory and RIAT, regularly subbed at the Actor’s Studio, gave workshops at the AmSAT meetings in San Francisco, Boston and New York, and has presented and led numerous and ongoing workshops throughout NYC and at several NY Alexander teacher trainings.

Her previous work experience includes music therapist, youth orchestra conductor, programmer/analyst and supervising physical education student teachers. Robin teaches privately in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Roughly half her students take Alexander lessons and half combine Pilates and/or functional movement with the Alexander Technique.

Shelley Senter

Shelley Senter has been a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique since 1994 (ACAT) and is an independent dance artist whose work has been presented throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Russia. She has been critically recognized and awarded for her distinct approach to movement, performance and pedagogy, investigating the application of the principles of the Alexander Technique to the performing body and mind and collaborating with distinguished artists from diverse disciplines for nearly thirty years.

Her practice is rooted in the investigation of movement, the consciousness of kinesthetic experience, and the participation of the self in its continuous reorganization in time, space and imagination. Her interest as a dancer lies in improvisation, collaboration and experimentalism, and in the coordination or layering of simple and non-virtuous movement to create a virtuosic complexity. Current research includes embodied memory, the permanence of ephemeral experience, as well as conscious ‘seeing’. Senter teaches internationally and has a private practice in New York City.

Lena Vidulich

Lena Vidulich is an AmSAT-certified teacher of the Alexander Technique in New York City. She teaches privately and serves as an Associate Faculty instructor of Alexander Technique at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Lena completed her 3-year, 1600 hour certification at the Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique where she studied with second-generation teachers Nanette Walsh, Lori Schiff, and Caren Bayer.

She is passionate about helping students find ease in daily activities and confidence in performance. Lena is also a violinist and violist who has performed across the U.S. and internationally, holding a BM from Northwestern University and MM from Manhattan School of Music with additional studies at Université de Paris 8 – Saint Denis. Connect at lenavidulich.com.

Sue Wong

Susan Wong, m.AmSAT is a small batch producer of specialty baked goods, an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher, a business transformation leader, a road cycler and a student of Pilates and QiGong.

After years of searching for answers to unexplainable health challenges limiting her ability to do the most basic things like opening a jar not to mention all the things she’s most passionate about. It was through injuries and pain she developed a program built on a foundation that integrates her expertise into simple concepts for us to move with less effort doing the things that give us the greatest joy.