William Blake and the Alexander technique (follows Blake Society AGM)

6.30 pm Tuesday 17 January 2012 AGM + 7.30pm Kate Kelly-Tanguay
talk: 'The Vision in Practice : William Blake and the FM Alexander technique'
A talk by Kate Kelly-Tanguay
It may be that the names William Blake and FM Alexander have never before resounded in the same sentence.
For over 30 years the Alexander technique has been an essential part of Kate’s life. More recently Blake’s vision, especially through Andrew Solomon’s interpretation of his work, has caused her to appreciate the worth of her own personal journey in a Blakean context. The Alexander Technique offers a practical way to overcome the comfort of habit, which might be at the root of much that Blake found deadening and stifling of our freedom of choice and thought, rendering us adverse to creative change.
In this talk, which may have some participative aspects, Kate shares her personal experience of the benefits of the technique as a method to release from habit, enhance life and lend a renewed direction to ‘our arrows of desire’.
Kate teaches the Alexander technique in London, Europe and Québec.
During her career as a professional actor she found it an invaluable creative support which she now teaches to trainee actors.
She first encountered Blake’s work while a student at Queens University in Northern Ireland, where she was born. Kate is a past committee member of the Blake society and likes to bake cakes.
The Annual General Meeting will immediately precede the Talk.