Main Post - Würzburg, Germany ~ Tuesday, March 7, 1995

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. ~~