Rosemary Moone |
Rosemary Moone is a registered Member of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. She has been running a private practice in Cork since 1995. Her clients have included Cork School of Music, the Institute of Choreography and Dance, Ballymaloe Cookery School and various theatre companies in the Cork area. She has taught at RADA and the Guildhall School of Music, and was also teacher-in-residence at the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre. |
Even an Alexander Teacher has use for the Alexander Technique!
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This year, when the drama students put on their end of year show, 'The Milk of Human Kindness' by Ian Wild, they were short of tramp characters for the final scene - twenty actors squeezed onto the tiny stage of the CAT Club in Cork. Rosemary was asked to play Scary Mary 'who runs a distillery in the women's toilets near Covent Garden'. Quite a contrast to her next role as Lady Bracknell in 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde. In the rehearsal photo Scary Mary has a rounded back (kyphosis), yet has to dive under a table and climb in and out of a cardboard box. Lady Bracknell, however, being a member of the aristocracy has an upright carriage and moves elegantly without unnecessary fidgeting. As one pupil remarked 'What a makeover! Who would have thought posture would make such a difference?'
Rosemary
Moone had a fabulous opportunity to play the Dwarf in the Cork Opera House
production of 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe'.The RSC had commissioned
Adrian Mitchell to turn the book into a musical.
"It
was quite a challenge physically. I was pretending to be a four-foot malevolent
creature stooped with servility and resentment, yet still had to sing
from G below middle C up to a top B and dance while sweating in a big
furry white coat."
"The
entire experience put my mastery of the Alexander Technique to the test,
from the nerve-wracking auditions, through the rehearsal process and on
to the Opera House stage. How does one maintain a free neck, open throat
and working lungs, while sounding and looking as bitter,
twisted and mean as it's possible to make oneself?"
Before the performance the Alexander Technique can help performers cope with nervousness. Afterwards, it helps them to unwind and leave the performance behind.
Rosemary
Moone has extended her professional development by attending a Body Mapping
Course. This was given by an American teacher of the Alexander Technique,
Barbara Conable.
We
all have Body Maps but if this internal representation is
out of sync with reality, there will be faults in co-ordination and movement.
Here Rosemary was able to mingle with horse-riders, Pilates' instructors, dancers, an archer, a tennis player, a singer and both traditional and classical musicians.
It
was amazing to see how they were each helped by corrections of their individual
body maps", says Rosemary.
"I
was also reminded of how adults enjoy the gym ball just as much as children".
Rosemary also includes the use of the gym ball in her classes.