IN MEMORIAM: SAURA BARTNER August 25, 1948-February 25, 2003

My first Alexander Technique Teacher, Saura Bartner, has succumbed to cancer. She died at home surrounded by her mother, father, brother and children.

For those of you who don't know what the Alexander Technique is, it's a method for understanding how the body functions best. Most people have unconscious ways of using their bodies. More than they realize, they tighten their shoulders, back and neck. These habits of tension can limit their use of the body in strange ways. The Alexander Technique is a method for examining your habitual way of using your body, and to give you a choice on how to use it.

At the Trinity Rep Conservatory, we studied Alexander Technique for two years as part of our basic actor training. The before and after pictures of how I stand at rest are astounding!

Saura was a great teacher and an amazing human being.

One of my favorite memories of Saura is the first day of class. We all sat
in a circle, and she introduced herself a dozen times.

"Hello, My Name is Saura Bartner."
"Hello, My Name is Saura Bartner."
"Hello, My Name is Saura Bartner."
"Hello, My Name is Saura Bartner."

Each time she did a slight ... something... to her head and neck, to change
her attitude, which changed her whole face, which changed her whole body.

At the time I just thought it was a little weird, but over time I've come to
think of it as one of my most valuable lessons:


It is the subtle things that make the most difference.

I'll say that again:

It is the subtle things that make the most difference.

(I know, most of you who know me are saying "What?" or "Well, I think you need to go back to school, cuz subtlety is not your forte" (and neither is spelling it!)

But hear me out-- it is not the big comic gestures that make a clown funny, but the uprised turn of the one eyebrow at the end of it. As another teacher of mine would say (Daniel Stein) about the cartoon Fractured FairyTales: "It's not the book falling that makes it interesting, it's the dust on the book" The little thing that rings true is worth much more than the large gesture that came before it. I have had to learn this several times over the years, and probably still have to continue to remember and learn it. Saura taught it to me first.

We would study the technique in groups of 12 or so, and then once every 2 weeks we would have private sessions with Saura in the morning. I would really treasure those 20 minute private sessions with Saura. I liked the work well enough, and got a lot of valuable information from it, but I always felt like she took extra time and attention with me, and secretly thought I might have been her favorite student. Years later, I spoke to somebody about feeling that way, and she said "I always thought she took extra attention with ME!" And I had a sudden realization that that's how EVERYONE felt-- Saura took extra time and attention with EVERYBODY.

I have been missing her, and will continue to miss her.


More Pictures of Saura (and info about shiva, funeral arrangements, and memorial donations) are available at a website established by her family.

For more about the Alexander Technique, visit Trinity Rep Conservatory grad Leland Vall's website There are two teachers of Alexander Technique in the Rhode Island area: Mara Sokolsky and Carol Gill Malik. Click on either name to get more information about their classes.