The art of
eurythmy, as developed by Rudolf Steiner,
strives to harmonize music, speech and
movement.
Piano music, somewhat
restrained, is heard coming from behind.
Bathed in red-blue light eight people move
slowly on stage. The gestures made by their
arms and hands is striking - as though
calling forth the invisible. As the pianist
increases the tempo and expressiveness of the
music, their gestures become livelier: some
leap like dervishes, others let the wide
veils of their costumes flutter through the
air.
At first the movements
seems strange to the onlooker, they seem
exaggerated, confused. But if one watches
attentively for a time one can hardly escape
the magic of eurythmy - sound and movement
melt into a whole.
"Eurythmy is visible
tone" explains Dorothea Mier, Artistic
Director of the Eurythmy Spring Valley
Ensemble. The eurythmy group from the US,
currently on tour in Europe, is a guest at
the Waldorf school in Würzburg.
Eurythmy was developed by
the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in
1912. Steiner looked for modes of expression
in the realm of movement that did not
originate from the traditional forms of dance
or ballet. He created an art form that is not
only danced to music but also to the spoken
word.
Language of the
body
"When a human being
speaks or plays music, he has the urge to
gesture with our arms. Eurythmy does not
suppress this urge - it lets it live,"
says Dorothea Mier.
Rudolf Steiner researched
the language of the body. He gave each tone
and letter a corresponding gesture. "For
example, to represent the sound 'Ah', one
opens one's arms. However, an 'Ah' can be
spoken in many ways: loudly, quietly, short,
long - by the same token there are many ways
for the eurythmist to depict an 'Ah',"
explains Dorothea Mier.
As seen on stage, eurythmy
is an art form, but it also has therapeutic
applications. According to Haraldo Humerez,
eurythmy teacher at the Waldorf school:
"the teaching of
eurythmy is a central component in all
Waldorf schools. It addresses the children as
whole human beings and helps to harmonize
them. The student learns to go let go, to
trust." At the present time there are
twenty-two eurythmy schools world-wide that
offer a training in eurythmy, five of these
schools are located in Germany.
The Eurythmy Spring Valley
Ensemble was formed in1986, drawing on
members from the faculty of the School of
Eurythmy, located in the state of New York.
The Ensemble's program this
year consists of works by Beethoven and
Chopin, and a selection of poems by English
and American authors. "Language and
music need to be appropriate. Eurythmy to
rock music or to a reading of the telephone
book would be terribly boring," says
Annelies Davidson, member of the Ensemble.
Months of rehearsal
To rehearse a eurythmy
program is very time consuming, because all
movements must be learned by heart. Dorothea
Mier: "It can be compared to the
choreography of a dance piece. The
interpretation of a Beethoven Sonata, for
example, can take up to three months of
intensive rehearsal time."
In any case, the audience
that filled the theater to capacity at the
Waldorf school was very enthusiastic. Even
though the texts were performed in English,
the audience only let the Ensemble go after
five curtain calls.
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