Faculty

Our faculty draw from diverse fields of expertise and professional experience in a wide variety of institutional and performing arts settings. They are committed to life-long learning and growth on an individual and collective basis.

Leadership

Nan Walsh

Caren Bayer

Lori Schiff

Ariel Carson

Gary Adelman

Karla Booth

Steven Borzykowski

Melissa Brown

Lane Kwederis

Eleanor Taylor

Emily Rodriguez

Clare Robert

Serena Venditto

Bios — Leadership

Nan Walsh

Nan Walsh, m.AmSAT, M.F.A., M.A. is the founder and director of RIAT (Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique) Teacher Certification Program (2014-present). Prior to directing RIAT, she co-directed Alexander Technique New York City; she has graduated over sixty AmSAT certified teachers. Nan is also the founder and Executive Director of RIAT’s umbrella nonprofit organization, Sapientia Initiative, Inc. (2020). She is author of Unsmudged: An Encounter with Peggy Williams, a First Generation Teacher of the Alexander Technique. She received her teacher certification in 1995 after training at ACAT; and subsequently undertook extensive post-graduate work in London with first generation teachers Peggy Williams and Walter Carrington.

Nan holds a M.A in Psychology and Systematic Theology from Union Theological Seminary (2021), and a M.F.A in Art Media Studies from Syracuse University (1982).

She served on AmSAT’s Board of Directors in 2009-2011, and served an extended tenure as AmSAT’s Chair (2010-2011); she served on AmSAT’s Leadership Advisory Council (2012-2014); and the Professional Conduct Committee (2008). Nan was awarded AmSAT’s Certificate of Merit in 2012.

Nan is also a long standing practitioner of tai chi, western style boxing, contemplative meditation, and depth psychology.

More About Nan

Caren Bayer

Caren Bayer, m.AmSAT, received her certification from Patrick MacDonald in London in 1984. Since then, she has maintained a private practice in New York City as well as leading workshops in Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, England, and Canada.

After inheriting Rivka Cohen’s training program, Caren opened Manhattan Center for the Alexander Technique, certifying teachers from 2001–2014. She has been on the faculty of Pacific College for Oriental Medicine and the New School for Social Research. As a former dancer and longtime student of the martial arts, Caren brings 40 years of movement research to her teaching.

Lori Schiff

Lori Schiff, m.AmSAT, is an associate director and senior faculty member of RIAT. She is a full time faculty member of The Juilliard School, and Guest Teaching Artist at the New World Symphony. She has served as the Alexander Technique Teacher on the faculty at The Aspen Music Festival and School, The Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist’s Program, the 92nd Street Y, The Internationale Meistersinger Akademie, and The American Center for The Alexander Technique.

Ms. Schiff qualified at ACAT in 1987. She did post graduate work with the Carringtons and the teachers at The Constructive Teaching Centre in London.She has introduced the Alexander Technique to groups and institutions across the country including Master Classes at The Metropolitan Opera, West Point Military Academy, The San Diego Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras, National Youth Orchestra of China, The New York Youth Symphony, and Aspen Sports Medicine.She has presented classes to Teachers of the Alexander Technique at AmSAT Meetings in San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Las Vegas, New York City, Boston and Minneapolis. She was a guest speaker at The International Congress for the Alexander Technique in Lugano, Switzerland. Ms. Schiff is the founding Director of Flight Feather Productions, LLC.She maintains her private practice in New York City. More information and a link to her video, The Alexander Technique: Musician’s Method for Improvement can be found at lorischiff.com. See also: flightfeatherproductions.com

Ariel Carson

Ariel Carson, m.AmSAT, SEP, is an associate director and faculty member at RIAT. She received her AmSAT teaching certification through Alexander Technique New York City (ATNYC), headed by teachers Nan Walsh and John Nicholls.

Ariel is also a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and SE training assistant. She has assisted at The Juilliard School, and guest taught at Boston University where she earned her BFA. She has also been a guest teacher at The Colburn School, and Saint Ann’s School. Ariel previously worked as a teaching artist for the Leadership Program, teaching leadership skills through the arts to under-served students in New York City public schools. She is the organizer of the Healing for Activists NYC chapter. From her work with U.S. veterans, to performers, to activists, to the LGBTQ+ community, Ariel is most interested in teaching the Alexander Technique as part of a holistic and multifaceted approach to cultivating greater sustainability, vitality, and freedom in the body-minds of her current and future clients. See wavesomatics.com

Bios — Faculty

Gary Adelman

Gary Adelman is AmSAT certified. He has a BA degree from Columbia University. Gary trained at the Alexander Technique Center at Cambridge MA and graduated from their 3 year program in 1992. In 1993, Gary studied with Shaike and Linda Hermelin at their school in Tel Aviv, Israel. Gary has taught the AT to students at Princeton University, Babson College, and at the Israeli Tennis Center in Ramat HaSharon Israel. Visit alexandertechniquewithgary.com to learn more.

Karla Booth

Karla Booth, m.AmSAT, has been teaching Alexander Technique for 30 years since graduating from ACAT in 1990. She has taught the Alexander Technique both internationally and nationally, presenting at conferences and teaching workshops to musicians, physical therapists, and movement teachers.

Her dance training and performing as well as her interest in art and music all compliment and instruct her Alexander work. In conjunction with her Alexander work, Karla has spent 30+ years working with Dr. John Diamond a well known Holistic doctor working with creativity. She teaches the Diamond-Dart Meridian Sequence based on the work of Raymond Dart. The Diamond-Dart procedures form a poetic movement meditation that recapitulates the evolutionary and developmental process as well as activating the Acupuncture Meridians, all which greatly raise the Life Energy or Chi. Karla maintains a practice and is the director for the Life Energy Arts Gallery in Westchester, NY. See karlabooth.com

Steven Borzykowski

Steven Borzykowski is an AmSAT certified teacher of the Alexander Technique in Westchester, NY. He completed his three-year, 1600 hour certification at the Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique (RIAT) in 2022 under the Direction of Nanette Walsh.

Having personally battled unexplained increased brain and spinal pressure for 25 years—undergoing multiple brain surgeries, conventional medical treatments, and alternative therapies—he found his training in and application of the Alexander Technique to be profound, restorative and life changing. He has studied privately with Judy Stern and Joan Frost, and has a keen interest in increasing awareness of the technique among medical professionals and people of all ages with movement or musculoskeletal challenges that interfere with daily living. He has a BA in Music from Skidmore College (2008).

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.

Lane Kwederis

Lane Kwederis is AmSAT certified (1600 hours) and trained at the RIAT Center. She is a certified Reiki healer and has a BFA in musical theater from The Boston Conservatory. She is passionate about helping others become more mindful and embodied in a more connected and empowering way.

Lane is an accomplished performer, singer, writer, director, and has been involved in many projects on the stage and screen including the national tour of Dirty Dancing, house teams at UCB, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Broad City, and Master of None. She has a BFA in musical theater from The Boston Conservatory and is trained in voice, movement, and dance so she is specially equipped to help any performers when they find themselves dealing with issues in these areas.

She is passionate about helping others become more mindful and embodied in a more connected and empowering way.

Eleanor Taylor

Eleanor Taylor, m.AmSAT, is on the faculty of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and maintains a private teaching studio in Manhattan, where she specializes in working with singers and actors to improve performance, prevent injury and reduce anxiety using the Alexander Technique.

She has served on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and at RIAT, where she currently teaches the Breathing & Voice course for teacher-trainees. This year, she has offered workshops for Respiro Opera, the University of Michigan Musical Theatre program, and the One Voice Centre Intensive program. During the pandemic, she has taught several “Teachers’ Lab” workshop series for AmSAT-certified teachers interested in developing their businesses as Alexander teachers. She has trained in Jessica Wolf’s Art of Breathing and Betsy Polatin’s The Actor’s Secret methods, and holds B.M. and M.M. degrees in vocal performance from New England Conservatory and the University of Minnesota. Eleanor has led Alexander Technique masterclasses for the University of Illinois-Chicago Theatre program, National Opera Association’s Eastern Regional Conference, Music Educators Association of NYC/United Federation of Teachers, the Freedom to Act and Freedom to Make Music Conferences, the Classical Singer Convention and Brooklyn Opera Works’ Summer Vocal Arts Institute. Eleanor is a member of the American Society for the Alexander Technique’s (AmSAT’s) Board of Directors, and the peer-review board for the Alexander Journal. See eleanortaylorAT.com.

Clare Robert

Clare Robert completed her AmSAT certification (1600 hours) at the Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique under the direction of Nan Walsh and associate directors Lori Schiff and Ariel Carson. She has studied privately with Joan Frost, Rachel Bernsen, and Michaela Hauser-Wagner. Clare came to AT with a background in ministry, ethics and contemplative practices. She received a master’s degree from Yale Divinity School, where her thesis examined questions relating to self-care and our responsibilities to others.

She studied meditation at UMass Center for Mindfulness and Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Clare led retreats and small groups in contemplative practices in communities in the New Haven area and taught ethics and theology locally and in Geneva, Switzerland. She was named pastor emerita of The Spring Glen Church in Hamden, CT when she retired. She is the author of You Will Be Happy Again: A Memoir (Levellers Press, 2021)

Emily Rodriguez

Emily Rodriguez, m. AmSAT was certified at RIAT. She is a conservatory-trained actor and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She is also co-founder of The Collective, a group dedicated to centering BIPOC voices within the Technique.

Serena Venditto

Serena Venditto, m.AmSAT, completed her 1600 hours of AmSAT training at the Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique (RIAT) headed by Nan Walsh and associate directors Lori Schiff & Ariel Carson.

As a recovering perfectionist and chronic over-thinker, Serena learned how to be more present and move with more freedom through the Alexander Technique. Now, she wants to share this work with others who want to connect more fully to themselves and the world around them.