About Tanya Bénard

_ABOUT TANYA BÉNARD

Tanya Bénard is a Certified Teacher and member of the Canadian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. She currently maintains a private practice in Toronto, as well as at Serenity Valley, a beautiful studio overlooking the Niagara Escarpment in the Milton/Burlington area. Tanya also teaches the Technique at the Royal Conservatory of Music, where she serves on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School, delivering an Alexander Technique program that she began developing in 2006.

In addition to offering private lessons, Tanya is also very active as a workshop presenter and clinician. Equally at home working with small, illness-based support groups as she is presenting to large national conferences, Tanya enjoys the challenge of conveying the Technique to a wide range of audiences. Past presentations have included McMaster University, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, the Chronic Pain Association of Canada, the Parkinson’s Society, Whole Foods Market and the Hillside Festival. Tanya has also been a clinician for the Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association, the Ontario Music Educators Association, Carl Orff Canada and the Suzuki Association of Ontario. For seven years, she has been the Alexander teacher in residence at various Suzuki institutes, including the Southwestern Ontario String Institute. Tanya is a graduate of the Toronto School of the Alexander Technique, where she served as an assistant on the teacher training course from 2006-2009.

Tanya became interested in the Alexander Technique while pursuing a career as a clarinettist. She has worked as a professional musician and holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts. She also brings to her work as a teacher of the Alexander Technique a wide range of experience as a music educator, having taught music and movement to children in a variety of settings, maintained a private practice as a clarinet teacher for a number of years, served as a music festival adjudicator, and helped to train music teachers, both through the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Toronto District School Board. Tanya also holds an Advanced Certificate in Early Childhood Music Education as well as a masters level Orff certification from the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto).

"Many types of underperformance and even ailments, both mental and physical, can be alleviated, sometimes to a surprising extent, by teaching the body musculature to function differently."

- Scientist Nikolaas Tinbergen, (Nobel Prize winner for medicine in 1973)