Eurythmy

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Eurythmy is a movement art originated by Rudolf Steiner in the early 20th century. The word is a new formation from Greek roots meaning beautiful or harmonious rhythm.

Eurythmy is primarily a performing art. It is also used as a therapy and taught to children for its pedagogical value (especially in Waldorf Schools).

Contents

[edit] Movement repertoire

Steiner described eurythmy as an "art of the soul". Its gestures unite subjective experience with the objective reality of what is being expressed (the music, poetry or other theme chosen). It takes its character from the movement that arises out of the upright form of the human being, in which the cultivated feelings of the soul ray into space most strongly through the expressive movement of the arms, the legs and feet mediate the connection to the earth and differentiate the soul expression through the quality they give to the overall movement of the body through space, while the head mediates the human connection to the heavens in a more reflective way.

The gestures that build the basic movement repertoire of a eurythmist are connected to the sounds and rhythms of language, to the tonal experience of music, to fundamental soul experiences (such as joy and sorrow), and so on. Once this fundamental repertoire is mastered, it can be composed into free artistic expressions. The eurythmist also works to cultivate a feeling for the qualities of straight lines and curves, the directions of movement in space (forward, backward, up, down, left, right), contraction and expansion, and color. The element of color is also emphasized both through the costuming, usually given characteristic colors for a piece or part and formed of long, loose fabrics that accentuate the movements rather than the bodily form, and through the lighting, which saturates the space and changes with the moods of the piece.

Most eurythmy today is performed with classical (concert) music or texts such as poetry or stories. Silent pieces are also sometimes performed.

[edit] Eurythmy with music

When performing eurythmy with music (also called tone eurythmy), the three major elements of music are all expressed: melody, harmony and rhythm. The melody is primarily conveyed through expressing its rise and fall; the specific pitches; and the intervallic qualities present. Harmony is expressed through movement between tension and release, as expressions of dissonance and consonance, and between the more inwardly directed minor mood and the outwardly directed major mood. Rhythm is chiefly conveyed through livelier and more contoured movements for quick notes, slower, dreamier movements for longer notes; in addition, longer tones move into the more passive (listening) back space, quicker tones into the more active front space.

Breaths or pauses are expressed through a larger or smaller movement in space, giving new impulse to what follows. Beat is conveyed through greater emphasis of downbeats, or those beats upon which stress is normally placed. Beat is generally treated as a subsidiary element, expressed through greater emphasis on the down- or other accentuated beats. Eurythmy has only occasionally been done to popular music, in which beat plays a large role.

The timbre of individual instruments is brought into the quality both of the tonal gestures and of the whole movement of the eurythmist. Usually there will be a different eurythmist or group of eurythmists expressing each instrument, for example in chamber or symphonic music.

A piece's choreography usually expresses elements such as the major or minor key, the shape of the melody line, the interplay between voices or instruments and the relative dominance of one or another voice or instrument. Thus, musicians can often follow even the finest details of their part in the movements of the eurythmists on stage. Particular musical forms (e.g. the sonata) can have special characteristic choreographic expressions.

The above covers the craft of eurythmy to music. The art of eurythmy arises when the eurythmists' inner experience of the music, and of the feelings this expresses, infuses the whole objective expression of the piece, just as a musician must master playing the objective tones, yet fill this with inner life.

[edit] Eurythmy with spoken texts

Eurythmy is often done with spoken texts such as poetry, stories or plays. Speech eurythmy includes such elements as the sounds of speech, rhythms, poetic meters, grammar and mood. In speech eurythmy, all the sounds of language have characteristic gestural qualities: the sound of an S has a different quality from a P or an R, the sound of an A is different from an O. Note that it is the audible sounds themselves, not the letters of the written language, that are expressed.[1]

[edit] History

Eurythmy was born in 1911 when a widow brought her young daughter, Lory Smits, who was interested in movement and dance, to the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. Due to the recent loss of her father, it was necessary for the girl to find a career. Steiner's advice was sought; he suggested that the girl begin working on a new art of movement. As preparation for this, she began to study human anatomy, to explore the human step, to contemplate the movement implicit in Greek sculpture and dance, and to find movements that would express spoken sentences using the sounds of speech. Soon a number of other young people became interested in this form of expressive movement.

During these years, Steiner was writing a new drama each year for performance at the Anthroposophical Society's summer gatherings; beginning in 1912, he began to incorporate the new art of movement into these dramas. When the Society decided to build an artistic center in Dornach, Switzerland (this later became known as the Goetheanum) a small stage group began work and offered weekly performances of the developing art. Marie Steiner-von Sivers, Steiner's wife, who was a trained actress and speech artist, was given responsibility for training and directing this ensemble. This first eurythmy ensemble went on tour in 1919, performing across Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany.

In 1924, Steiner gave two intensive workshops on different aspects of eurythmy; transcripts of his talks during these workshops are published as Eurythmy as Visible Speech and Eurythmy as Visible Singing.

Eurythmy ensembles in Stuttgart, Germany and at the Goetheanum soon became established parts of the cultural life of Europe. The Goetheanum ensemble was recognized with a gold medal at the Paris Expo of 1938. The Stuttgart training and ensemble, led by Else Klink, had to close in the Nazi period but reopened shortly after the close of World War II. There are now training centers and artistic ensembles in many countries.

[edit] Eurythmy as a performing art

There are notable eurythmy ensembles in Dornach, Switzerland; Stuttgart, Germany; Den Haag, the Netherlands; Järna, Sweden and near New York City, USA. All of these groups both perform locally and tour internationally. Many smaller performing groups also exist (see list).

[edit] Pedagogical Eurythmy

When the first Waldorf School was founded in 1919, Eurythmy was included in the curriculum. It was quickly recognized as a successful complement to gymnastics in the school's movement program and is now taught in most Waldorf schools, as well as in many non-Waldorf pre-school centers, kindergartens and schools.

Above and beyond teaching eurythmy as a movement art, an extensive set of special exercises has been developed for pedagogical purposes. These include many geometric or dynamic movements (such as form metamorphoses), exercises with (usually copper) rods to develop precision in movement and expand the experience of space, and exercises with (usually copper) balls to objectify the movement experience.

There are post-graduate trainings for eurythmy teachers; however, pedagogical trainings are increasingly being incorporated into many colleges of eurythmy.

[edit] Therapeutic Eurythmy

There are post-graduate trainings in the therapeutic use of eurythmy. Therapeutic eurythmy can be helpful in conditions of illness that have both psychological and somatic components.

[edit] For more information

[edit] Training programs

Full-time eurythmy courses are generally four-year programs. There are an increasing number of part-time programs available. English language trainings include:

See a full list of English language training programs with links to some other programs

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The gestures of eurythmy have been found to be related to the flow the larynx gives to the airstream when speaking different sounds. See here.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] See also

  • Eurythmy is not to be confused with Eurhythmics, a movement art founded by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in 1906.
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