ATI Board & Committee Election Bios 2022
The 2022 ATI Board & Committee Elections will be held virtually this year. Please read through our candidate bios before voting. If you would prefer to read the candidate bios in a different language, feel free to change the website into your preferred language using the Google Translate feature.
Committee bios below.
Board Positions
Executive Board Co-Chair: Dr. Maria Weiss (Second term - First Year)
Maria Weiss is an Alexander Technique Teacher and professional musician. An ATI Teaching Member by Certification (2013), she also received Certification by ATVD (2006) and by AmSAT (2001). From 1998-2001, Maria trained with Ruth Kilroy (ATTC) and with Rivka Cohen in Boston. She has served ATI in many roles, from 2008-2012 as a member of the committee for press relations (ATVD), from 2016-2020 as a member of the ATI Ethics Advisory Committee (EAC), since 2019 as an ATI sponsor, and since 2020 as an ATI board director.
She has a Doctor of Musical Arts in voice performance and authored The Alexander Technique and the Art of Teaching Voice (BU 2005, published 2009); has a MA in flute pedagogy and MA in high school music education with flute and piano (Mozarteum/Salzburg). Additional achievements include a Diploma in Music Kinesiology, certified Systemic Coach and certified visual trainer.
Since 2005, Maria has taught full-time from a private studio South of Munich, since 2020 partly also online. She served as Director of the Bavarian Alexander Technique Training Center (BATC 2013 – 2020, since then on sabbatical). The most interesting process in teaching is for Maria to find out with her students which steps and means lead to a solution for their goals and at the same time to their utmost potential.
Executive Board Secretary: Dr. Diane Foust (Second Term - First Year)
Diane Foust - After retiring in 2013 from 28 years of full-time teaching in the Viterbo University Music Department, Dr. Foust continues private and adjunct teaching of voice and the Alexander Technique in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Diane trained as a teacher in Philadelphia and was certified as a teaching member of ATI in 2007. She served on the Membership Committee for 4 years and as Chair of that committee for 2 years. She has attended a number of intensive workshops, among them Seven Oaks, Virginia; Ohio State University; Sweet Briar College; and Malibu; as well as the 2018 International AT Congress in Chicago. She coordinates the Viterbo Summer Residential AT Workshop, which will celebrate its 14th year in July 2022. She holds degrees in music from Millsaps College, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Executive Board Treasurer: Bill Conable (Second Term - First Year)
Bill Conable began his study of the Alexander Technique in 1962 with Marjorie Barstow and also studied extensively with Frank Pierce Jones. Bill is the originator of the Alexander sub-specialty Body Mapping, which has enriched the work of many Alexander teachers. He taught the AT at the Ohio State University for 35 years and now teaches classes at Eastern Washington University and Holy Names Music Center in Spokane, WA as well as offering private instruction in person and online. Bill gives workshops across the US and internationally and is a frequent guest at Alexander teacher training courses worldwide. With Shawn Copeland he is co-director of the training course Inter-Mountain Alexander Training, centered in Spokane. A cellist and conductor, Bill continues to be an active musician. He is an Advanced Practitioner of Nervous System Energy Work and is active in integrating energy work with the AT. He is a former teaching member of AmSAT.
Bill has been serving as Interim Treasurer since November 2020 and is standing for election to a second year.
Executive Board Director 2: Gabriella Minnes Brandes (First Term - Second Year)
Gabriella Minnes Brandes, Ph.D.,- A Sponsoring Member of ATI, Gaby agreed to be appointed to the ATI Board in 2021. Gaby originally completed a three year, STAT certified, teacher training course in 1988 in Haifa, Israel. Her teachers include Rivka Cohen and Nilly Bassan, in Israel, and Patrick MacDonald and Marjory Barlow in England. She has maintained an active private practice since 1988 and is the owner of the Alexander Technique Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Gaby teaches Alexander Technique in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music, in the Young Artists Program at the Vancouver Opera, and at the Vancouver Island Summer Institute (for strings). Gaby holds a BA in Hebrew and English Literature, an MA in Education and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. She taught for twenty years in the Faculty of Education at UBC and for twelve years in the Theatre Department at Capilano University.
Gaby is a member of the Canadian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (CANSTAT), a member of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT, UK), and The American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (AmSAT). Gaby is the past president of CANSTAT (Canada). Gaby was also founder and the co-director of The Vancouver School of the Alexander Technique, a CANSTAT certified, three year, teacher training course that ran in Vancouver for close to twenty years. She has published numerous papers about the Alexander Technique and its applications. She had served on the Professional Development Committee and the Teacher Training Committee of CANSTAT and had been an elected director on council.
Executive Board Director 3: Kirika Rotermund-Nakamura (First Term - First Year)
Kirika Rotermund-Nakamura completed her training in 2016 at Alexander-Technik Institut Irma Hesz, under Irma Hesz. Kirika joined ATI in 2017, as a Teaching Member. She has taught Alexander Technique for 6 years at education centers for adults and families (VHS, FBS) in various courses, private lessons, as well as online. At ATI, Kirika has served as a member of the Professional Development Committee and the Working Group on Racism and Diversity. Kirika is also a Diploma Orchestra Musician and teaches French Horn. She is an artist for the project „MUS-E®“ at the Menuhin Foundation, working to bring more music and art into the school system.
Kirika says “I met AT when I was struggling with my identity. AT supported me being myself regardless of my background. I hope to support ATI's activities from an international perspective, from my roots in Japan and from my current residence in Germany, where I have spent half of my life.”
Committee Chair Positions
Membership Services Committees
Membership Committee Co-Chair: Dana Calvey (Second Term - First Year)
Dana Calvey has been in the Alexander Technique work since 2007. She teaches the Alexander Technique full-time, holding an Associate Faculty position at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and teaches the instrumentalists at Interlochen School for the Arts each summer. Dana and serves on faculty of the Philadelphia School for the Alexander Technique. Dana is both an ATI and AmSAT member and enjoys bridging the two certifying bodies. Dana has served as the Nominations Committee Co-Chair from 2016-2020 and was elected to her first term as Co-Chair of the Membership Committee in 2020
International Committee Co-Chair: Corinne Cassini (First Term, First Year)
Corinne Cassini, Alexander Technique teacher and cellist, has an established Alexander Technique teaching and training practice at Light in Being Alexander Technique Studios in Boone, North Carolina. She performs on the cello and is a senior lecturer of the Alexander Technique (AT) at Appalachian State University, Hayes School of Music. She is an ATI sponsor, former chair of International Committee and a member of IC and CEC.
Corinne is certified by NeVLAT (Dutch Society for the Alexander Technique) and ATI (Alexander Technique International), where she is a Teaching Member by Certification. She is also an active member of several professional organizations, taking part in Annual General Meetings and International Congresses.
She completed her three-year Alexander Technique training at ATON in Amsterdam, The Netherlands with Arie-Jan Hoorweg while working as a baroque cellist and teaching cello and French as a foreign language. She then went on to complete two years of post-graduate work under Tommy Thompson at the Alexander Technique Center at Cambridge, MA.
Teacher Competence Committees
Certification Coordinating Committee Chair: Eric Rentmeister (Second Term - Second Year)
Eric Rentmeister is a Teaching Member of ATI, and a resident of Germany. He received his training as a teacher for Alexander Technique at the Alexander-Technik Institut Düsseldorf, and had also studied with Jane Kosminsky at the Julliard School in New York and Tommy Thompson at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. He has been a Teaching Member of ATI, and has participated in the International Alexander Technique Congress.
Professional Development Committee Co-Chair: Kanae Tsuneki (First Term - Second Year)
Kanae Tsuneki was trained in Tokyo at ATA, Jeremy Chance’s Alexander Technique Teacher Training Program, where she studied with Sarah Barker, Cathy Madden and Tommy Thompson among others. She became an ATI teaching member in 2008. Kanae was awarded a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from Kunitachi College of Music and a Master of Arts in Human Development Science from the Open University Japan. In addition to teaching the Alexander Technique, she teaches flute, voice and Montessori education at Studio Joyce-s-tage in Yachiyo-city Chiba-Pref. She has been invited to teach all over Japan. She also frequently serves as an English-Japanese interpreter for Alexander Technique lessons.
Guidance and Governance Committees
Ethics Advisory Committee Co-Chair: Jamee Culbertson (Second Term - Second Year)
Jamee Culbertson is a founding member and teaching member of Alexander Technique International. She was certified to teach the Alexander Technique in 1993 having studied with Tommy Thompson in his three year training course. In 1999 Jamee served two terms as Chair on the Board of ATI. During this time, Jamee with the board, created the first Ethics committee, Communications committee and the three original Annual General Meeting committees. She continued by chairing various other committees; Communications, the Vision Mission committee and the Ethics committee. Jamee continues as a member of the Vision Mission committee and Co-Chair for the Ethics committee. Jamee is also an ATI Sponsor.
Jamee has had the pleasure of training teachers in the Alexander Technique training course at the ’Boston Conservatory at Berklee’ with Debi Adams for the past 10 years. Jamee is also a Senior Instructor in the Universal Tao System teaching Tai Chi, Qigong and meditation techniques and certifying new teachers. Jamee also teaches in various institutions in the Boston area, hospitals, fitness clubs and residential centers.
Ethics Advisory Committee Member: Minseong Kim (First Term - Second Year)
MinseongKim became a Teaching Member of ATI in 2020. He is also a Registered Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist, and a member of ISMETA. He completed his training at the Alexander Technique International School (ATIS) of Korea. Minseong Kim also became a Certified Taichi Instructor at Balgunbit. Minseong agreed to serve on the Ethics Advisory Committee and was appointed by the ATI Board in 2021.
Ethics Advisory Committee Member: James Paisner (First Term - First Year)
James Paisner, a Teaching Member of ATI completed his training at the Alexander Technique Center of Cambridge in 2005, becoming a teaching member shortly thereafter. He taught privately, and also group AT inspired yoga classes for 10 years in Concord, MA before moving to North Carolina. From January 2019 through July 2021, he was involved with The Poise Project, helping with fundraising and teaching in person and online group courses, including three times teaching Poised for Parkinson’s, a course for people living with Parkinson’s Disease and their care partners. He currently teaches privately from his home in Carrboro, North Carolina. Jim is continuing his study of the Alexander Technique with Jeando Masoero.
Jim is a member of ATMR (Alexander Teachers of the Mountain Region) in North Carolina and has twice presented at their meetings.
Ethics Advisory Committee Member: Irene Schlump (Second Term - First Year)
Irene Schlump - Irene has taught Alexander Technique since she completed her training at the Alexander Alliance Germany in 2006. She became a Teaching Member of ATI in 2011. Since the beginning, Irene has provided support for ATI's translation activities as coordinator for Germany. As an ATI fledgling, she was part of the first fully international board (5 posts - 5 countries), thereby gaining a very practical and above all learning understanding of ATI. During her time on the ATI board, the Ethic Advisory Committee dealt with a case that was so far-reaching in its consequences that the board had to be involved. At that time, she was deeply impressed by the Ethic Advisory Committee's objective, embedded in the Terms of References. Irene says “The Ethic Advisory Committee is, at best, a committee that flourishes quietly and yet is a crucial part of ATI's integrity. I am grateful to be a part of it”.
She works with groups in many institutions of adult education such as the Figurentheater-Kolleg Bochum, and has also focused on theater pedagogical work with children on the subjects of sexual exploitation, recycling and democracy issues in the broadest sense. Irene says “I work in an integrating way and can be controversial. I am tough and warmhearted. I can keep the overview and have a love for the details. I am also involved in the Adhoc Committee on Racism and Diversity. I am a 54 yr white cis-female.”
Formal Consensus Planning Committee Chair: Diana Bradley (Second Term - Second Year)
Diana Bradley – Diana Bradley, M.Ed., has been a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique since 1979. She completed a 13-year apprenticeship with Marjorie Barstow and had the opportunity to travel and teach with Marj in Australia and New Zealand. A founding member of Alexander Technique International (ATI), she has traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Hawaii presenting workshops.
Diana was a modern dancer for 10 years and has 16 years of training in Aikido holding a third-degree black belt. In various capacities Diana has taught performing artists at The Baltimore School for the Arts, University of Maryland, Catholic University, and Arena Stage. She has been the guest clinician at the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers Festivals and at the International Congress of Carillonneurs.
Diana continues to work with actors at the Studio Acting Conservatory in Washington, D.C. - where she has been a faculty member for over 15 years. She is also a faculty member at the Barstow Alexander Technique Institute in Barstow, Nebraska. Currently, Diana teaches groups and individuals in the greater Washington, D.C. area.
Nominations Committee Chair: Dianne Sales (First Term - Second Year)
Dianne Sales, Certified Alexander Technique Teacher, CFA. Dianne is currently a general member of ATI and agreed to serve as co-chair Nominating Committee. She was appointed by the Board in January 2022. After a decade of study as a student, Dianne completed her teacher training at the Alexander Technique Training Center at Cambridge. Dianne studied primarily under Tommy Thompson, with adjunct training from Debi Adams, Bob Lada and Jamee Culbertson among others. She completed a 2-year internship using AT as part of the Performance Awareness class at the Berklee College of Music under Bob Lada. Since graduating, Dianne has taught the Technique from her home studio while continuing postgraduate studies under Tommy Thompson. Prior to becoming an Alexander Technique Teacher, Dianne spent over two decades in a career in investment management, while studying acting and voice on the side.
Dianne will serve as Chair, with Tommy Thompson remaining as an Advisor to the Committee.
Conference Planning Committees
Agenda Planning Committee Co-chair: Danielle Loesch (First Term - Second Year)
I found this work through my interest in pain relief and expanded consciousness, and my first “aha” moment hooked me for life. My training began in 2001 at Frank Ottiwell’s school in San Francisco, continued in 2014 at Dan Armon’s school in Berlin, and finished in 2021 at Catherine Kettrick and David Mills’ school in Seattle. In my early days, I had the honor of working with Marjorie Barlow, Walter Carrington and Elisabeth Walker. I’ve also trained as a Rubenfeld Synergist and done some Feldenkrais training. Other hats I’ve worn include editor, yoga teacher and organic farmer. I also love dancing, meditation and anthropology. The Alexander Technique has been a central part of my life for so long that I am very pleased to continue my journey as part of ATI!
Site Committee Chair: Linda Hein (Second Term - Second Year)
Linda Hein is a general member of ATI, although she spent 13 of the last few years as ATI’s Administrative Coordinator. Linda has spent the last year traveling the world to learn more about the Alexander Technique with ATI teachers Galit Zeif, Tommy Thompson, Debi Adams, and Peter Nobes, which has allowed her to maintain many of the friendships she developed in her years at ATI. Linda is happy to continue to support ATI as a member!
She is in her ninth year serving as the program coordinator for the Tufts Comprehensive Family Evaluation Center at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, where she puts her 20-years of paralegal experience to work coordinating Guardian ad litem cases between the program, its clients and GAL consultants, and probate courts in eastern Massachusetts. She also has been working full time as the business manager at Follen Church in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Linda has spent the last three years as co-chair of Site Committee. With the end of Fiona’s term, Linda will move to Chair of the Site Committee upon election. Despite the challenges of the past few years to a live AGM, she continues to work to provide make the AGM in Boone, NC spectacular! She also welcomes any members who would like to learn the ropes of the Site Committee! 2024 is fast approaching!
Workshop Planning: Sara Goldstein Gall (Second Term - First Year)
Sara Goldstein is Associate Professor of Voice at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She studied voice with Susan Clickner, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Nina Hinson. She performed widely in the U.S. and Europe. Sara teaches the Performance and Alexander Technique course in the voice curriculum at Boston Conservatory. Sara has been a master teacher at numerous colleges and conservatories, specializing in Alexander Technique principles for singers. Sara trained to teach the Alexander Technique with Tommy Thompson at the Center for Alexander Technique in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is certified by Alexander Technique International. Additionally, Sara completed training with movement specialist and author, Betsy Polatin in her signature work, "The Actor's Secret," which integrates Peter Levine's trauma healing work, Carl Stough's breathing coordination and the Alexander Technique.
A NOTE TO OUR MEMBERS...
Dear ATI Members, we have had some difficulty identifying members who are able and willing to take on the roles of Chair, Co-Chair or committee membership. Several Committees are in need of expanded membership, including the Site Committee, the Membership Committee and the Certification Coordinating Committee. If you are a member willing and interested in becoming more active, there are many opportunities. New Members, Old Members, Members In Between – all are welcomed with enthusiasm! We are especially in need of those with social media skills…
ATI thrives through the active participation of you, its members! Those who have stepped forward to serve find it a rewarding way to contribute to our profession. We know it can seem daunting at first, but new volunteers get lots of great support from those who are already involved. If you aren’t ready to take on a leadership role, do consider joining a committee. Also, please note that service time on a Committee can be counted toward ongoing education/service hours for reporting to ATI. Please help us in our endeavor!
You can reach out to Dianne Sales via email ([email protected]) or via voice or text at 01-617-318-8825.
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