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But she didn't follow a straight route into her work. "I had one of the typical Gen-X career paths where I did anything and everything," she says. "I was an Anthropology Major at Barnard and a Dance Minor. Then I followed my father into the corporate world. I worked in Public Relations. I worked for Nickelodeon." Constable had been a ballerina before college, and had studied with the Baltimore Ballet, and after her stint at Nickelodeon, she decided that she wanted to again do something involving the body. That brought her to the Journal of Neurosurgery, where she worked for the doctor who worked on Christopher Reeve. Should she go to Medical School next? She didn't think so. Her quest for the right job was settled at a party in 1996 when she met a woman who played in the Baltimore Symphony. "She said, 'Try the Alexander Technique'". After just one lesson Constable knew what she wanted to do with her life. Through the Alexander Technique she gained greater knowledge of her body than even dance had given her, so much so that she was soon able to teach herself how to do a back-flip off a diving board. When her husband was offered a job in New York, the couple relocated to the city that was considered the best in the country for Alexander Technique training. Then, over the following three years, Constable finished her tutelage in the Alexander Technique and began building up her clientele. The Technique, she explains, was first developed by F. M. Alexander, a Shakespearean actor concerned with finding the essential components underlying the use of voice and movement. Many actors, musicians and public speakers are attached to it, and it is required of all students at Juilliard. And many marathoners use it to help them control their breath as well as their stride and posture.
Constable say she's glad she
doesn't work in an office, and she likes the hands-on and person-to-person
dimension of her work. A favorite experience was the day an old man came in
with a cane, set it aside to begin a session and forgot it in her studio,
not thinking he needed it anymore when he left. Learn more about Katherine Constable
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Katherine Constable has a thriving business
teaching people in the Alexander Technique, a course of lessons which helps
people know their bodies better and which assists in recovering from
injuries and in dealing with back and neck pain. While she can't mention
their names, her clients include some of America's most famed actors and
several well-known businessmen.