In Memory

MARY HOLLAND

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lived in London and Munich from 1939 to 2023. As one of the first teachers, she founded the Alexander Technique in Germany by teaching and training in Munich from 1984 - 2019. The ATAZ, the Alexander Technique Training Center in Munich, developed from her work. We are bound to her by our gratitude to her and our appreciation of her. She embodied the spirit of our founder, F.M. Alexander. Our wish is to carry her same spirit forward.

 

As a young girl, Mary Holland was fortunate enough to receive a lesson from F.M. Alexander himself. Her father, Sydney Holland, met F.M. Alexander in 1938, completed one of the first training courses, and was in close, friendly and professional exchange with him throughout his life.

 

Mary Holland herself received her qualification as an Alexander Technique teacher in 1970 from Walter and Dilys Carrington in London at the Constructive Teaching Centre, a direct continuation of the teacher training F.M. Alexander began in 1931. She worked there for 14 years as an assistant and a private teacher. Mary Holland moved to Munich in 1984 and from 1986 to 1997 led one of the first training courses in Germany. In 2004 she founded the Alexander-Technik Ausbildungszentum ATAZ (Alexander Technique Training Centre) in Munich with Alexander Hermann. There she led the teacher training and maintained contact with other training schools such as the Alexander Technique Centre Vienna under the direction of Michael Parkinson.

 

Mary Holland taught the technique in two acting schools in London and gave seminars in the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and the United States. Her publications include the article “A Way of Working” and the chapter “Meeting the Unexpected” in the book Curiosity Recaptured published by Mornum Time Press, as well as the article “Time for Reflection” for the STAT (England). In 2004, she was invited to give the annual commemorative speech at the AmSAT (USA) and, also in the same year, the commemorative speech of the STAT (England) “Letting it Happen – Chance, Choice and Change.” Her article "A Welcoming Attitude" was created for the 2018 World Congress in Chicago and in 2022 she gave her lecture "Finding Space" online for Alexander Technique teachers worldwide.

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