About AmSAT
The Board
The AmSAT Mission
To establish the Alexander Technique as a basic and recognized resource for health, productivity, and well-being.
AmSAT Board of Directors 2023-2024
Lisa DeAngelis
Chair
- AmSAT Chair - June 2023 - present
- AmSAT Chair Elect: July 2022 - June 2023
- Board of Directors, Member-at-Large: July 2019 - July 2022
- AmSAT Chair, Management Review Committee: 2015 - present
- Organizer/Assistant to the Directors of the 9th International AT Congress, Limerick, Ireland, 2015
- Organizer/Assistant, Presence in Performance Workshop, Pomona College, Pasadena, CA, 2015
- Faculty Member, Alexander Technique with Elm City ChamberFest in New Haven, CT, 2015-2017
- Organizer/Teacher, Alexander Technique Workshops International in Malibu, CA and Winston-Salem, NC 2013-2015
- Organizational Coordinator for Rachel Zahn's "Experiencing the Embodied Mind" Project in Gargonza, Italy, 2013
- AmSAT Chair, ACGM and ACGM Planning Committee, Chicago, 2013
- AmSAT Certified Alexander Technique Training with Joan and Alex Murray at Alexander Technique Center Urbana (ATCU) 2009
- Private teaching practice in Chicago since 2010
- Co-founder, Chicago Alexander Teachers (CAT)
- President, Lyric Opera of Chicago's Young Professionals Board, 2017-present
- BME in Music Education (Voice) from University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
Geordie MacMInn
Past Chair
- AmSAT Past Chair - June 2023 - present
- AmSAT Chair: July 2022 - June 2023
- AmSAT Chair Elect: July 2021 - July 2022
- AmSAT Training Course Approval Committee Member: August 2020-July 2021
- AmSAT Higher Education & Professional Training Committee Chair, September 2003-June 2010
- Professor of Voice & Alexander Technique, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Drama, 2003 - Present.
- 2013 University of North Carolina Board of Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
- Alexander Technique Certified from ATI-LA, June 2001
- Designated Linklater Voice Teacher, 2007
- Jessica Wolf’s The Art of Breathing, Certified Teacher 2003
- Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, expected completion 2022
- Other trainings and modalities of practice: Psychodrama, Psychodramatic Bodywork, The Actor’s Secret with Betsy Polatin, Michael Checkov Acting Technique, Pure Movement, post-graduate training with John Nicholls
- B.A. Theatre Arts, Acting: California State University Fullerton, 1998
Eleanor Taylor
Chair Elect
- AmSAT Chair Elect, June 2023 - present
- AmSAT Board Member-at-Large: 2021
- AmSAT Committee for the Alexander Technique in the Performing Arts (CATPA): 2018-present
- AmSAT Marketing Committee: Head of Strategic Brand Initiative Team 2020-present
- AmSAT Slogan Committee: 2019-2020 (committee retired upon completion of charge)
- Faculty at Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique (RIAT) AmSAT Teacher-Training Course, 2017-present
- Alexander Technique Faculty at Manhattan School of Music, American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Respiro Opera
- Completed Teacher Training at ATNYC with John Nicholls and Nanette Walsh, 2014
- Post-graduate training in Jessica Wolf’s Art of Breathing and Betsy Polatin’s The Actor’s Secret methods
- B.M. Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory (1993) and M.M. Vocal Performance from University of Minnesota (Graduate Fellowship Recipient, 2000)
Marisa de Silva
Secretary
- AmSAT Secretary: June 2023 - present
- AmSAT Treasurer: July 2015-2016
- AmSAT Board Member-at-Large: July 2014 - 2015
- AmSAT Nominating Committee Member: 2011 - 2014
- AmSAT Teacher Certification: Alexander Technique Urbana 2009
- Faculty, Loyola Marymount University: Voice, Alexander Technique, Opera 2015- present
- DMA USC Thornton School of Music 2019
- Other interests: Being a mom, Historic gestures in Baroque opera, Music Performance Anxiety, Vocal Pedagogy
John Dalto
Treasurer
AmSAT Treasurer, June 2022 - present
John Dalto is a New York based Alexander Technique teacher. He holds an MsC in Financial Mathematics from King’s College London and spent 10 years working in New York doing statistics in the fields of insurance and advertising. During this time, he was introduced to the technique through his saxophone teacher following a struggle with RSI. After his first lesson with Beret Arcaya he was sold on the benefits of the work and began studying privately while working for a period of years. Eventually he moved to Amsterdam and qualified at ATCA under the direction of Paul Versteeg and Tessa Marwick. In addition to his teaching location in Brooklyn, he regularly teaches from his parent’s home in Birmingham, Alabama.
Amanda Blair MacDonald, Member-at-Large
AmSAT Service
- Board of Directors, Member-at-Large: July 2022-present
- Membership Committee, Chair: 2019-present
- Taking Time To Connect, Curator and Host: 2020-present
- Training Standards and Course Requirements Committee, Secretary: 2014-2018
- ACGM Committee, Chicago 2013
- Certificate of Merit recipient: July 2021
- Distinguished Service Award recipient: June 2020
Education and Certifications
- Alexander Technique Teacher Training: Habit & Choice, Balance Arts, The Dimon Institute, Certified 2006
- Post-Graduate work with Beret Arcara, Joan & Alex Murray, Luc Vanier, Alice Olsher, and Mio Morales
- MFA in Dance, The University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee
- R-MPA - Registered Movement Pattern Analyst with the Warren Lamb Trust
- Pedagogy and Developmental Movement studies with Anne Green Gilbert
- Certificate in Musical Theater Performance, American Musical and Dramatic Academy-NY
- BA in Theatre, emphasis in Music, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN
Teaching and Admin
- Faculty, DePaul University School of Music: 2019 - present
- Private Practice in Alexander Technique: 2006 - present
- Group Teaching includes: American Academy of Dramatic Art-NY, American Musical and Dramatic Academy-NY, The Ailey School, the 92nd Street Y, The Joffrey Academy, Near North Montessori School, and many other schools as a teaching artist
- Workshops for Teachers includes: Ann Green Gilbert’s Summer Dance Intensive for Teachers, Chicago Lights Dance Academy Professional Development Series, Bay Area Parkinson’s Group Teaching Methods Class, multiple teacher workshops at elementary schools, and workshops for AmSAT, WLT & NDEO conferences
- Management includes: House Manager for Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Director’s Guild of America-NY; Dance Coordinator for The New School Summer Musical Theatre Immersion Experience; Program Manager for Chicago Lights Summer Dance Intensive; and organizer of multiple dance concerts
Other
- AT Congress volunteer: Chicago 2018
- Co-Founder and Treasurer of Chicago Alexander Teachers (CAT)
- TEDx DePaul: How We Move is How We Think: 2019
Jared Negley, Member-at-Large
- AmSAT Board, Member-at-Large, July 2023–present
- AmSAT Archivist, July 2018 - present
- Alexander Technique Liberation Project, Volunteer Organizing Team, 2019 - 2022
- Guest lecturer in Musician’s Health Class, Slippery Rock University, 2018 - present
- AmSAT Teacher Certification, ATNYC with John Nicholls and Nanette Walsh, 2013
- M.A. in Jazz History and Research, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
- M.S. in Library and Information Science, The Pratt Institute, New York, NY
- B.A. in Music, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA
Erin O'Leary, Member at Large
- AmSAT Board, Member-at-Large, July 2021–present
- AmSAT Committee for AT and the Performing Arts (CATPA); 2017-present
- AmSAT certified, ATNYC (J. Nicholls / N. Walsh); 2013
- Private teaching practice in NYC; 2013-present
- Guest Faculty at National Theater Institute, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center; 2019-present
- Adjunct Faculty at The Juilliard School, Drama Division; 2015-present
- Associate Faculty at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts; 2015-present
- Guest Faculty at University of TN, Dept of Theater and School of Music; 2013-2015
- MFA Acting- The University of Tennessee, Clarence Brown Theater, Knoxville, TN
- BFA Acting- DePaul University, Theater School, Chicago, IL
Alice Olsher, Member-at-Large
- AmSAT Board of Directors Member-at-Large, June 2023 - present
- Grew up in California where she did theatre in high school. She then studied and worked in the theatre in England.
- Trained to teach the Alexander Technique at the Constructive Teaching Centre in London with Walter and Dilys Carrington.and taught with them for 15 years before returning to California.
- In London Alice served on both the Training Course Committee and the Professional Conduct Committee for 7 years.
- Alice became Director of her own teacher training course in San Diego (2008) where she was assisted by Rome Earle and Eileen Troberman gave Anatomy talks
- Alice also does a lot of postgraduate teaching both in person and online and has been an active member of The Teacher Training Directors committee.
- In 2017 Alice was chair of the ACGM committee.
- In 2019 she helped on the ACGM committee and mentored the chair, Renee Schneider.
- Alice had also offered workshops and private lessons at many ACGMs and joined the Constructive Teaching Centre team at the Chicago Congress in 2018 and 2022 in Berlin.
- She has given talks for Huddle and The Judith Leibowitz Scholarship Fund.
Renee Schneider, Member-at-Large
Secretary
- AmSAT Board of Directors, Member-at-Large: June 2023 - present
- AmSAT Board of Directors, Secretary: July 2021 - June 2023
- AmSAT Board of Directors, Member-at-Large: July 2020 - July 2021
- Chair of ACGM 2019 New York: "Our Community's Future: Diversity, Equity and Belonging"
- Occasionally assists with Rose Bronec's training course in Urbana, Illinois
- Alexander Teaching in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois
- Member of the Alexander Technique Diversity Coalition 2016-present
- Owner of Coqui Baby Cloth Diaper Company www.coquibaby.com
- Graduated in 2012 from Joan and Alex Murray's course, Urbana Center for the Alexander Technique
- Owner of Baan Aksorn Thai Language School for expats www.baanaksorn.com in Bangkok
- MBA in International Business from Thunderbird University/Arizona State University
- UCLA B.A. British Literature and minor in Asian American Studies
- English teacher in Peace Corps, Kyrgyz Republic
- Fourth-generation Japanese American
- Other modalities of practice: Somatic Experiencing, Somatic Resilience and Regulation, The Experience-Based Brain, Ortho-Bionomy, Reiki, classical Thai massage (Wat Po Massage School)
- Other interests: being a mom, being an entrepreneur, classical guitar, literacy, work in diversity and equity issues
