Robyn Avalon
Robyn has been studying Alexander’s Work for nearly 50 years, being first introduced to it as a young professional performing artist. She is the Founding Director of The Contemporary Alexander School, offering contemporary teacher training programs in Santa Fe, NM, Portland, OR, and NYC; and is also Co-Director of Alexander Alliance International, offering Teacher Training and Post-Graduate programs in Japan, South Korea, France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the UK.
Robyn is also the Creator of Living in a Body™: The Quintessential Owner’s Guide to Natural Movement, a Professional Body Mapping Certification Course translated into multiple languages and taught worldwide, geared towards educators from all disciplines.
Robyn has developed a situational and activity-based, contemporary style of Alexander teaching, working with students while they do whatever they do. She can be found teaching at an orchestra rehearsal, on a ski mountain, in an office, at a potter’s studio, in a Pilates class, on a golf course, and even with rock climbers and sky divers, as they practice.
Her clients include numerous national and international performing arts organizations and their members; including: opera companies: NYC, Metropolitan, DC, Boston, Santa Fe, Rome, Firenze, Koln, Strasbourg, Paris, Mainz; orchestras: Berlin Phil, Paris, Firenze, Mainz, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Bremen, Krefeld, Tokyo, ABT, NYC Ballet, Orpheus, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Boston, DC, Pittsburgh, Houston, Chicago, New Mexico, Santa Fe Concert Association; dance companies: NYC Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Joffery Ballet, Aspen/SF Ballet, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham, Atlanta Ballet, Seattle Ballet, Maria Benitez, Meredith Monk; and circuses: Wise Fool, Ringling Bros/Barnum & Bailey, Cirque de Soleil. In athletics, she has also taught for the US Olympic Dressage Team, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, and at numerous equestrian events throughout North America.
She has been a guest artist in numerous conservatories and universities worldwide for the past 45 years, and is currently teaching students at Juilliard, MSM, CIM, Oberlin, and Curtis.
Robyn is also a professional theater director/choreographer and rhythm tap dancer. She has performed extensively with Honi Coles and the Copasetics, Savion Glover, Gregory Hines, Brenda Bufalino, and most of the “old timers” of rhythm tap. Her work has been seen in venues as diverse as Off-Broadway, NYC’s Blue Note Jazz Club, Carnegie Hall, and The White House.
Robyn runs the Contemporary Alexander Program at the Meadowmount School of Music, offering lessons and workshops in Practice skills, Performance skills, and ‘Body Tuning’, helping students learn to play in accordance with the innate design of the body, and prevent tension, over-efforting, pain, and injury.
