Gerda Alexander

Through the creation of Eutony, Gerda Alexander collaborated with medical centers, pedagogical and artistic training institutes in Europe, North and South America and the Middle East.

From 1922, at the age of 14, Gerda Alexander began to get involved in the activities, trips, stage productions and as an assistant teacher at Blensdorf's school and its affiliates in Essen, Düsseldorf, Köln, Remscheis, Solingen, etc.

In later interviews and remembrances, Gerda Alexander referred to personalities as Rudolf Laban, Mary Wigman, Elsa Gindler, Heinrich Jacoby, Bess Mensendieck, Loheland school (Louise Langgaard e Hedwig von Rohden) and Anna Herrmann, and highlighted how the observation of their students were important on the development of her work.

At the same period, Charlotte was also invited by the state government to teach at the Staatlichen Erziehungsheimen Stadtroda, a residential institution that cared for around 600 children and adolescents up to the age of 21 with physical disabilities, mental disorders, children of single mothers, prostitutes or mothers aged 13 or 14, including those from dysfunctional homes and with a criminal record in the city of Stadtroda.

After attending the fifth international conference of the New Education Fellowship (founded by Beatrice Ensor), and then being invited to teach at Fröbel schools, Gerda Alexander moved to Denmark.

Her early partnerships also included works in Sweden, most notably at the Royal Conservatory in Malmo, Sydsvenska Gymnastikinstitutet, Ericastiftelsen and the Karolinska Institutet.

The training was aligned with the principles of the Dalcroze Eurhythmics teaching programmes in England, Switzerland and Germany, and it was partnered with the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music.

[4] In 1959, Gerda Alexander organized the "First International Congress for Release of Tension and Functional Movement" in Copenhagen with the support of the Danish Ministry of Education.

[6] Gerda Alexander worked with institutions as diverse as the Fröbel College and Fröbel schools, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Karolinska Institute, Ericastiftelsen, Frederiksberg Folkemusikhøjskolen, Sydsvenska Gymnastikistitut, Private Theater School, Royal Theatre Copenhagen, Theater Academy, Danish Broadcasting House (orchestra, choir and staff), Royal Music Conservatory, Danmarks Lærerhøjskole (Department of Music), Rigshospitalet, Dalcroze Societies, CEMEA (Centres d'Entraînement aux Méthodes d'Education Active, in France), and others.

She gave lectures and workshops in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, USA, Israel, Greece, Italy, Holland, Mexico, Venezuela, Belgium and Argentina.

By her ongoing reflections with her students of all ages, an enthusiastic inquiry about artistic development and the overcoming of her difficulties, Gerda Alexander made her own research on human movement.

[3] In the creation of Eutony, Gerda Alexander was deeply engaged in developing a pedagogical approach that considers the person's own experience as a living body.

Rehearsal of Orpheus and Eurydice in Festpielhaus Hellerau, Dresden, Germany, 1912
Gerda Alexander, sitting on a chair by the window, talks with a student in Talloires, France, 1985. Source: eutoni.dk
Gerda Alexander with a student on walking sticks, probably in the 1960s. Source: eutoni.dk
The Gerda Alexander School was located in this building in Frederiks Kirke Square, Copenhagen, Denmark