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Gabriella Minnes Brandes, Ph.D., has maintained an active private practice since 1988, and is the owner of the Alexander Technique Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia. Gaby teaches Alexander Technique in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music, in the Young Artists Program at the Vancouver Opera, and at the Vancouver Island Summer Institute (for strings).
Gaby works extensively with musicians, singers, actors and horseback riders. She collaborates with voice, movement and acting instructors, focusing on the application of the Alexander Technique, as performers are encouraged to explore, experiment with, and reflect on their habitual patterns, and seek effective and efficient ways of using themselves and their voice to enhance their training and performance.
Much of Gaby's current work and research focuses on exploring the connections between Alexander Technique and creativity as it pertains to performers. Informed by her Ph.D. and research in education, she is also exploring the connections between current educational research and Alexander teacher training. She is currently collaborating with Alexander teachers from the US, UK and the Netherlands to study connections and tensions between the Alexander Technique and Mindfulness-Based Approaches in Stress Management.
For over a decade she taught the Alexander Technique in the Theatre department at Capilano University. She was the founder and co-director of the Vancouver School of the Alexander Technique, a three-year CANSTAT recognized school that ran for close to twenty years.
She has taught courses in the Alexander Technique at post-secondary institutions (University of British Columbia Faculty of Education, Capilano University Theatre Department and Jazz Studies). Gaby has taught the Alexander Technique in elementary and secondary schools. Over the years also collaborated with orthopedic surgeons, rheumatologists, chiropractors, neurologists, dentists and family physicians, who refer patients for Alexander Technique lessons. She conducts workshops in Israel, the US, and Canada and presents at national and international conferences.
Informed by her Ph.D. in education. Gaby is also interested in articulating how current theories of learning relate to concepts of Alexander Technique. Gaby works extensively in collaboration with musicians, voice, movement and acting instructors. She is continuing to hone her skills as a teacher and communicator.
She is an active member of the Canadian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique and served on the Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (UK), the American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique, and Alexander Technique International, where she currently serves as a Board Director.
Gaby graduated from a three year, STAT certified, teacher training course in 1988 in Haifa, Israel. Her teachers include Rivka Cohen and Nilly Bassan, in Israel, Patrick MacDonald and Marjory Barlow in England.
Gaby is a member of the Canadian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (CANSTAT), a member of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT, UK), and The American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (AmSAT). Gaby is the past president of CANSTAT (Canada). Gaby is also a member of Alexander Technique International. She is one of their sponsor teachers, a Director on the ATI Board and the current elected co-chair of ATI. Gaby was also founder and the co-director of The Vancouver School of the Alexander Technique, a CANSTAT certified, three year, teacher training course that ran in Vancouver for close to twenty years. She currently trains people in an apprenticeship and hybrid model.
Gaby has presented in various professional international conferences, where she ran workshops in Alexander Technique. She has published numerous papers about the Alexander Technique and its applications (see links below). She had served on the Professional Development Committee and the Teacher Training Committee of CANSTAT and had been an elected director on council.
One of the most important elements in her work has been on-going professional development. She sees continuous exploration of her own practice as an essential and integral part of her work in the Technique. Gaby conducted different research projects looking at Alexander teaching training, musicians and creativity, and working with actors using the Alexander Technique. She is currently researching the connections and differences between Alexander technique and Mindfulness-Based approaches for stress reduction. She is collaborating with AT teachers in the UK, US and Netherland in this research. She was the recipient of the AmSAT research grant, and the CANSTAT research grant to support her work. She has worked with Alexander teachers in Vancouver, Israel, the USA and UK. She has also had the opportunity to be a guest instructor in Alexander teacher training programs in Boston, Toronto, Cincinnati, and Haifa.
Gaby also holds a BA in Hebrew and English Literature, an MA in Education and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. She taught for twenty years in the Faculty of Education at UBC and for twelve years in the Theatre Department at Capilano University.
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