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The Twelve Moods of the Zodiac in

VOLUME 94 Autumn 2017 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE EURYTHMY ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA NEWSLETTERNEWSLETTER 2 Eurythmy Association of North America Mission Statement The Eurythmy Association of North America is formed for these purposes: To foster eurythmy, an art of movement originated and developed by out of ; to foster the work of eurythmists on the North American continent by sponsoring performances, demonstrations, and workshops; and to maintain, develop, and communicate knowledge related to eurythmy and the work of eurythmists by means of newsletters and publications.

The Eurythmy Association of North America is a non- OFFICERS OF THE EURYTHMY ASSOCIATION profit corporation of eurythmists living and working on the President Emeritus North American continent. Any eurythmist holding an Alice Stamm, 916-728-2462 accredited diploma recognized by the Section for Eurythmy, Treasurer Speech, and Music at the , may join the Gino Ver Eecke, 845-356-1380 Association as a member. Eurythmy students and non- Corresponding Secretary accredited, but actively working eurythmists, are warmly Alice Stamm, 916-728-2462 welcomed to join as Friends. Recording Secretary The Newsletter is published two times annually. Laurel Loughran, 778-508-3554 Annual dues are from January through December. Newsletter Editor and Archival Secretary Membership subscription is $45 single/ $50 for euryth- Maria Ver Eecke, 845-356-1380 mist-couple; for eurythmists living outside of North America it is $50 single/ $55 for eurythmist-couple; for all REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES friends, musicians, or speakers the subscription is $30. Eastern Canada Single issues are $6 a copy. Please make checks out Margaret Osmond, 902-466-7735 through a bank with a branch in the United States. Northeast The Council members believe that financial concerns Victoria Sander, 518-672-4289 should not hinder eurythmists from membership. Spring Valley Area Eurythmists should feel able to contribute a lesser amount if Sea-Anna Vasilas, 909-496-6308 they cannot afford the full annual contribution. We hope that Southeast others will also contribute more to support our work. Anna Ziegner, 267-495-9887 All checks should be made payable to the Eurythmy Northern Midwest Association of North America and mailed to the treasurer: Constance Michael, 513-961-7455 Gino Ver Eecke Southwest and Mountain 34 Margetts Rd. Cristina Geck, 303-402-9030 Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 Northwest Email: [email protected] Laurel Loughran, 778-508-3554 Articles, announcements, news items, poems, and Northern California forms should be sent to the editor at least one month before Isabella Guardia Ferragutti, 669-233-924 publication. Deadline dates for the two annual issues are Southern California October 1 and March 1. Items may be faxed or sent via Rachael Abbott, 747-258-8266 email. Photos sent by mail will be returned. Photos may be Coordinator of Grant Proposals emailed as attachments. Carsten Callesen, 610-455-2038 Please mail to: Member-at-Large EANA Newsletter Editor Christina Beck, 919 643 2066 Maria Ver Eecke Representative for Performing Arts Section 34 Margetts Rd. Laura Radefeld, [email protected] Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 Eurythmist-in-need fund Phone: 845-356-1380 Alice Stamm and Raymonde Fried Email: [email protected] Liaison to AWSNA www.eana.org Susan Eggers, [email protected] Although welcomed, the viewpoints expressed in the EANA Newsletter are not necessarily those of the publisher. Eurythmy Association of North America 3 CONTENTS FROM THE COUNCIL

Letter from the President Emeritus Alice Stamm 4 Letter from the Editor Maria Ver Eecke 4 Intorducing New Regional Representatives Anna Ziegner and Victoria Thate Sander 5 Minutes of the Annual General Meeting Maria Ver Eecke 6 In Memoriam of Antje Ghaznavi Rev. Michael Breuer 9

In Memoriam of Hélène Oppert Jehanne Secretan 11 Remembering Mary Delle LeBeau Beth Usher, Sheila Shaprio, Gail Langstroth 13

Articles

The Moral Imagination, Technique, and Power of Eurythmy Virginia Hermann 14 English Monophthongs: their Structure and Relationships Reg Down 17 Beginning with B in Light of Goethe’s Process Kate Reese Hurd 20 Substituting Movement for Eurythmy in Waldorf Schools Reg Down 26 AWSNA Support for Eurythmy Laura Radefeld and Susan Eggers 27

Reports and Reviews

A New Art in an Ancient Land: the SFYET in China, 2017 David Weber 28 Reports from the School of Eurythmy Spring Valley B. Schneider-Serio, E. Erkelens,C. Venho 31 Review of Eurythmy Conference “The Twelve Moods” Michael Hughes 33 The World Eurythmy Festival, Pasadena, CA Truus Geraets 33 Eurythmy Can Make You Stronger Marta Stemberger 34 Review of Course with Jan Ranck Raymonde van der Stok 36

Announcements 36 Events 38 Calendar 42

Front Cover: The Twelve Moods of the Zodiac, EurythmyConference, Photographer Jim Collias Inner Back Cover: The World Eurythmy Festival on World Eurythmy Day, Pasadena, CA Outer Back Cover: The Graduation Performance, School of Eurythmy Spring Valley, Photographer Tim Lee 4 Eurythmy Association of North America Letter from the President enhance the place where you live and work, including classes, workshops, classes for children, etc. Dear Colleagues, With best greetings for all your work and courage at this After some ten years of serving as President of EANA, Michaelmas tide, I felt it was time to look for new leadership! Someone Your Alice Stamm, President Emeritus! younger and really in the artistic work folk. Having taken on other tasks as well, such as thank you notes to dear donors, Eurythmy-in-Need Fund with Letter from the Editor Raymonde, and writing the WEF Grants, these are adminis- Michaelmas Greetings! trative duties to help our Association progress with member The highlight of my year was to attend the eurythmy support, performing groups, and high school projects. conference on the theme of the Twelve Moods of the Zodiac I took the initiative to ask Sea Anna Vasilas if she would with forty eurythmists under the guidance of master artists consider taking on this position and I would keep on with Dorothea Mier and Michael Leber. Supporting our work the above mentioned duties, relieving her of these adminis- were Patricia Smith, speech artist, and Besso Namchevadse, tration duties. She replied that such a task awakened in her pianist. The organizers of the conference must be commend- a collaborative impulse to form a kind of artistic group to ed for their excellent attention to detail and warm generosity especially carry the artistic-performing impulse for EANA. in welcoming us all to Portland, Oregon. For years we have nurtured the artistic in general, with Alice Stamm supplied the costumes for the planets and grants to groups and as support for workshops. two groups of Zodiac positions! When you look at the cover It seemed to me that the performing art of eurythmy photos by Jim Collias, please notice the colors of the veils could be strengthened on this continent in order to bring this in the Zodiac when all the planets are aligned in Aries. art to larger audiences so that people could see it and These are the true colors. The photo below that is of the perhaps be inspired to do a training! Or to take classes. planets on the planetary circle demonstrating the vowel Over the course of the Eurythmy conference in Portland movements of the text and the veils colors are not all as this past summer, there were many discussions as to next indicated. A collage of photos is on page 23 and a review by steps. At the AGM there were strong feelings about how the Michael Hughes is on page 33. leadership of EANA should look; could we have a triumver- EANA Council members were able to meet several ate of leaders? Could there be one president, but a new form times before and during the eurythmy conference. Minutes of an artistic sub-committee as we had done to carry the from the Annual General Meeting may be found on page 6. strong pedagogical impulse of so many members? In the And a special tribute on page 8! past, the Council has taken on many tasks: guidelines with A hearty thank you goes to Raymonde van der Stok AWSNA, helping to publish books about eurythmy, etc. Fried for her two terms serving on the EANA Council as the Now, as all tasks are covered by different representa- Representative of the Southeast. Raymonde offers to tives in the Association (Maria and Gino with their heroic continue to manage the Eurythmist-in-Need Fund with efforts managing newsletter and website, plus acting Alice Stamm. The new representative for the Southeast Treasurer; Carsten and his superb organization of the Grant Region is Anna Ziegner, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. applications) now we have some space to see what and how Much gratitude goes to Sheila Shapiro, Northeast we might form this artistic impulse together. In the next Representative, who served on the Council for two years. months we will be conferencing to see what is needed and Sheila offered the human element of care and concern for how to support what exists as strong artistic endeavors (the other eurythmists. This is reflected in her interview of Portland initiative, Eurythmy Spring Valley, Christina Dolores Kaufmann, who Sheila accompanied to the Beck’s projects, to mention a few). There was also an idea Goetheanum for the One Hundredth Anniversary Eurythmy to organize three eurythmy festivals in 2020, to join Conference in 2015. Sheila helped gather reflections of together to bring this art to as many places as possible, but Mary Delle LeBeau, including Mary Delle’s poetry, which in a collaborative festival manner across the continent. (The are treasures. In jest I have called Sheila a roving reporter impulse of Percy Mckaye may still be relevant!) for EANA, but in all seriousness, I do hope that she will As you can see, we are looking for a more vibrant continue to offer contributions to this newsletter. Sheila has service of the performing art of eurythmy. This could very passed on her tasks as N.E. Rep. to Victoria Sander, of well involve the high school groups. There is a lovely open Harlemville, New York. space now, as the ongoing tasks of the EANA will continue Welcome Anna and Victoria to the Council! Their to be held in responsible ways. We will keep you posted! biographies are included here as an introduction. We are grateful for input from you, our members and Evoe! Maria Ver Eecke friends. Please look in your areas, how a performance could Eurythmy Association of North America 5 Introducing Anna Ziegner During my time free time, I enjoy all kinds of handwork and gardening. I learned how to knit I was born and raised in the former when I was a little girl and up to this day I always communist part of and my have a knitting project handy for the inevitable primary school education was dominated wait time at the dentist office or at the baseball by a doctrine perpetuated by this regime. practice. More recently, much less of a portable Choices for my future were extremely hobby, I became a quilter and now spend many limited, travel was almost non exiting. hours behind the sewing machine and really However, right at the time when I finished enjoy creating contemporary quilt designs. I’m a my primary education and I had to deter- member of the Philadelphia Modern Quilt Guild mine what was next for me, the and really appreciate the inspirational creativity wall came down and the East German of all its members there. Republic collapsed. That meant for me I hope that the experience of a long time that suddenly, the entire world became a teacher in combination with being a creative possibility and I could travel to countries I thinker can be put to use within the eurythmy never thought I would see and study council and I’m looking forward to dedicating my topics I never thought a possibility for me. time and energy toward this noble task. I already knew in high school that I wanted to spend Anna time studying and after graduating, I became a co-worker in a German camphill-style place for handicapped children. I loved working and studying there and after a year of taking it all in— the pedagogy of Waldorf Introducing Victoria Sander education and the philosophy of anthroposophy I had more How can I express in form and color, questions than ever before. This insatiable curiosity led me that process which breathes between to where I enrolled in a foundation course for my individual inner life, and my expe- anthroposophy for young adults. This year of foundation rience of the world around me; and studies solidified my wish to remain within the Waldorf having found this process, how can I philosophy and I enrolled in the West Midland Eurythmy help others to discover it as well? This Association in Stourbridge, England. With three other is the question I had already carried young women I started my training in Eurythmy. After com- for many years, and which I could pleting my four year eurythmy training I moved back to finally articulate at the age of 21, Germany in 1998 and worked as a freelance eurythmy while working on my undergraduate teacher in various settings as well as enrolled as a student Visual Arts Thesis at Columbia for German and English literature at the University of University. I came to the form of the spiral, working with Marburg. These short two years gave me invaluable experi- the polarity of inward, balancing, and outward streaming ence as teacher and helped shape the teacher I’m today. colors. A few years later, while teaching school children in In 2000/01 I followed the recommendation of my Dublin and simultaneously pursuing a performance diploma eurythmy teachers and enrolled as a fifth-year student at the on the violin at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the ques- Spring Valley Eurythmy School. There I met my future hus- tion developed and posed itself as follows: How can my band and together we moved to Philadelphia. I’ve been the inner path (my spiritual life) be at one with my artistic work; eurythmy teacher at the Waldorf School of Philadelphia how can they serve one another, both guiding me personal- since 2001 with only small interruptions for two maternity ly, and serving my work with and for others in the world? leaves. My older son just graduated from the Waldorf Enter: Eurythmy! School and is now attending ninth grade at our local public My first eurythmy lessons took place in the kinder- school. My daughter is a current sixth grader. garten at the Rudolf Steiner School in . My My commitment to Waldorf education and the first teachers were Danilla Rettig and Diane Tatum. In high school here in Philadelphia is very strong and it was always school I was taught by Ihor Radysh and Sabine Kully. I my desire to support and help it prosper. Throughout the loved to move to music especially, and also remember years I worked in various roles besides being the eurythmy enjoying therapeutic eurythmy with Carol Ann Williamson. teacher at the school and had to develop skills that go My “report cards” spoke of my initial challenges with read- beyond the classroom work. The work in the various com- ing and numbers, and of my interest and gifts within mittees has given me a wide perspective and a deep under- Language, all of the arts and the social realm. The Arts and standing of the workings of a Waldorf School. the Social Realm would indeed become my lifelong work. 6 Eurythmy Association of North America Though Eurythmy had been a part of my life from this intention immediately and I became pregnant while on the beginning, it took much later for me to realize that it was spring holidays in Spring Valley, and therefore I was not an artistic form and a life path. Having pursued painting, able to return to Dornach to complete my performances. All violin, , and acting quite vigorously through college, energy was put into relocating and creating a home for a it was only in my early twenties that I realized that the spir- baby to enter into. My partner Jordan and I moved to itual element and schooling I yearned to find within the Harlemville; Gabriel was born, and we have been here ever Arts, was not accessible to me. Crisis led me to open my since. thinking of career afresh, and it was at this time that I took Since relocating I have been rather focused on a job as a Waldorf kindergarten assistant, and simultaneous- mothering, yet I have been busy doing what seems needed ly become deeply interested in Anthroposophy. It did not as far as Eurythmy: teaching it. I teach grades 1-2 at Mrs. take long before I found myself at the Threefold Auditorium Buckbee's homeschool initiative and grades 3-4 and 7 at the for a Eurythmy School Graduation, and immediately, like Earth Program (part of Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School). love at first sight, I clearly saw myself on the stage, moving. I also teach monthly adult classes and Summer intensives at That summer I had the good fortune of playing the violin for the Painting Arteum here (which is also our home!), have the New World Symphony rehearsals, and was fascinated taught blocks at Camphill Hudson, and have given various by Dorothea’s directing, and by the beautiful movement I workshops for conferences in the Region. My artistic work saw corresponding to what we played. I subsequently at the moment is limited, yet deep, and I have never been entered the training in the fall of 2005. more grateful for the time I do get to research in practice or I truly loved my training and learned to love the collaborate with another colleague. The few performances Being of Eurythmy as my great and limitless teacher, as I have given have been significant and meaningful at new well as appreciating deeply the unique way each of my levels. teachers introduced us to the elements. I graduated in 2009 As I look toward the future, I see the value of the with my 17 (female) classmates, and entered the Spring Art of Eurythmy as a great and necessary humanizing force Valley Stage Ensemble. I also began to teach tone eurythmy in a culture where the biggest universal hallmark to be reck- to a very gracious and gifted young class of students in the oned with may be a dazzlingly fast growing technology that training. I stayed for only a year and a half receiving the threatens the very warmth and breath of life. We cannot and gifts of the artistic work and teaching opportunity in Spring should not avoid our conditions, but we can find healthy Valley, and then made the difficult destiny decision to ways to balance and counter them. Eurythmy offers us the accept an invitation to join the Goetheanum Stage Group in possibility to connect with our own humanity at all levels, September of 2011under the new direction of Margerethe with the lawfulness of the creative forces of the Cosmos, Solstadt. with the Earth we steward, and with one another. It can I moved to Dornach in January 2011 to work for six shine at the heart of a Free Culture in which individuals are months on a grant I received through the Performing Arts able to connect to Spirit and create out of it anew. The more Section, to research Rudolf Steiner’s indications for the I work with people in Eurythmy, the clearer her gifts Eurythmy in Faust. These six months were one of the great- become, as people are profoundly touched by what they est gifts of my life, and I learned privately with many master experience when they participate in a session. I often turn eurythmists there, completing a paper and a demonstration to the lives of eurythmists who have gone before us, and at the end of it, to share what I had received and learned. never fail to be amazed and inspired by their tireless dedi- That spring I had already begun some artistic work on the cation, innovation, enthusiasm, and monumental deeds. stage, and then in September the ensemble commenced full- This Spirit must live on so that each of us in our time. I spent three years working on the stage in Dornach, unique destiny pictures and capacities shares in the work of and it was a time of immense growth and transformation, a true Cultural Renewal at this time. I am convinced that which does not come without lots of struggle! I am forever the Being of Eurythmy is limitlessly fit for this vital task, grateful to my colleagues, the musicians, speakers, actors, and simply needs us to be awake and humbly take action and the many directors I learned from through our work, wherever we are called to do so. In this Spirit I am grateful especially Margrethe Solstad. The Mystery Dramas were for the opportunity to join others in carrying forward the performed twice a year, as well as the Window Words, the work of EANA in the near future. Twelve Moods, numerous works by Rudolf Steiner, Sincerely, wonderful poetry (in several languages!), and so much Victoria Thate Sander music of all styles, including full String Symphonies. Another very difficult destiny decision was to leave the ensemble at the end of my third year. Life responded to Eurythmy Association of North America 7 Minutes of the AGM Business Gino gave the Treasurer’s Report; the statements of current Sunday, August 6, 2017 assets and a report on Income and Expenses were circulated. Cedar Woods Waldorf School Gino mentioned the email blasts as effective means Thirty-one eurythmists attended the Annual General to communicate upcoming events. It was acknowledged by Meeting: Christina Beck, Maiko Canard, Carrie Mass, several members that it was timelier than the newsletter or Francis Chabot, Esther Chase, Reg Down, Sebastian website. Alice suggested that we cultivate eurythmy with Dupuis, Bonnie Freundlich, Susan Gould, Isabella Guardia, Branch members. Michael Hughes, James Knight, Chelaine Kokos, Michael Maria read the Mission Statement (printed on the Leber, Amanda Leonard, Laurel Loughran, Julie inner cover page of each issue). She spoke of the regional MacArthur, Don Marquiss, Francine Marquiss, Cameron reports published yearly in the newsletter, asking how we McArthur, Natasha Moss, Dorothea Mier, Barbara may make changes. Sea-Anna shared her idea of interview- Neumann, Maya Neumann, Sudip Paterson, Christian ing another eurythmist in the regional reports for the Seeley, Alice Stamm, Susan Strauss, Sea-Anna Vasilas, newsletter. Council members suggest that we try a new for- Gino Ver Eecke, Maria Ver Eecke. mat for the spring 2018 issue with ‘partner interviews’. President Alice Stamm welcomed all and thanked the organizers. She spoke of this time as a second moon New Initiative node for EANA, founded by seven eurythmists in 1979 at Alice proposed a new impulse to foster performing work by the Threefold Community. David Hawkins was the lawyer creating an artistic Core Group with Christina Beck and who drew up the By-Laws. Presently there are 242 members Sea-Anna Vasilas as Contact Persons, to focus on the Art of and friends of EANA and a total of 300 eurythmists on the Eurythmy for the next three years. The Core Group will be North American continent. independent, but with support from the association with Council members stood to be recognized: Alice willingness, expertise, and activity as performing artists, Stamm, Laurel Loughran, Christina Beck, Sea-Anna working collaboratively. Vasilas, Isabella Guardia, Maria and Gino Ver Eecke. Alice announced that she will step back as president, but she will continue with tasks as Corresponding Report Secretary, to write the letter for grants to the Waldorf Michael Leber gave a report of his work in the eurythmy Educational Fund, and to facilitate the Eurythmist-in-Need trainings in South Korea and China. Fund. The Xian/Järna project has 19 Chinese students, There was discussion of the question of leadership seven in the third-year class and twelve in the second-year. (as officers within the structure of the association), as The teachers are: Coralee Frederickson, Inger Hedelin and opposed to establishing a new form such as a Core Group. Michael Leber. Many questions were voiced and no decisions were made The training in South Korea has 17 students. The for now. Council members will continue to work to come to first-year training will be finished at the beginning of clarity. The main concern is to expand the breadth of January. The five teachers from Germany and Korea work performing work in this country. well together. In December 2016 Michael gave a workshop Dorothea Mier spoke her gratitude for the selfless in Seoul for 90 nursery/kindergarten teachers. quality of collegial work with the initiative to go ahead. Two other trainings are in Beijing and Guangzhou. “The Art of Eurythmy is an art with daughter movements. Adam Chan from Melbourne is responsible for the This is a concentration of furthering the performing arts.” Organization. Josefin Porteus is responsible (as eurythmist) From the By-Laws: Article 11 states that a Board of for both trainings, Guangzhou and Beijing. Advisors may be formed with this specific intention. “The We heard Michael speak I and You in Chinese. Council may establish an Advisory Board to assist and help Michael Leber, Hajo Dekker, further the artistic work of Eurythmy, to find ways and and students in South Korea means to do this, and to recommend appropriate initiatives to further the art of Eurythmy.” From Council Member Carsten Callesen, who wrote on August 3, 2017: “As always in support of our work; organizational change is good and more and more leadership roles are now shared among a couple, e.g. the leadership of the medical section is carried by two, the lead- ership of curative education and social therapy is carried by three, so we are simply recognizing the needs of our time.” 8 Eurythmy Association of North America New Council members were confirmed. Dear Alice, Laurel Loughran will serve as Recording Secretary. Like you, I care so deeply for this precious art and Alice Stamm will serve as Corresponding Secretary. want to urge us all to make sure we keep on striving to Alice Stamm and Raymonde van der Stok will continue to ensure a true, strong future. You have been selflessly carry- manage the Eurythmist-in-Need Fund. ing the presidential tasks for way longer than expected and Christina Beck and Sea-Anna Vasilas will coordinate as I want to thank you for doing this. Time marches on and we Contact Persons for an Art Core. know that new energy and infusion is always needed to join Victoria Sander will serve as Representative to the in the journey forward. We are so lucky that we have such Northeast Region. stability and mastery in carrying our newsletter, as well as Anna Ziegner will serve as Representative to the Southeast the finances. Maria is just a marvel at the crafting of our Region. beautiful journal, and Gino is so clear, thoughtful, and con- Noris Freidman will serve as Member-at-Large. siderate. Raymonde Fried Reports/Announcements Christina Beck announced new projects, including Alice Stamm’s goodwill, her dedication to euryth- Amaranth Arts. my and her generous warmth and insight have touched so Bonnie Freundlich is a delegate to AWSNA. She many eurythmists’ lives. She has worked unstintingly reported that Susan Eggers and Laura Radefeld have towards the growth of eurythmy on this continent over worked on the subject of eurythmy as stated in the Member many years [and although she is stepping back from the School Guidelines, found in Effective Practices. presidency of EANA I am sure she is not done yet!] Alice Isabella announced the eurythmy conference with always has a care for the individuals carrying this work as Carina Schmid at the San Francisco Waldorf School in well as for the work itself. Thank You Alice! February. Sea-Anna announced the workshop with Carina Christina Beck Schmid at Eurythmy Spring Valley. Gino asked for videos of eurythmy to be posted on Alice has been a “force” for Eurythmy since I met the website: www.eana.org. her 40 years ago! Her dedication is truly admirable as she Respectfully submitted by Maria Ver Eecke has shown by her numerous deeds in furthering Eurythmy as well as her interest in others. We look forward to her con- A Tribute to Alice tinuing generosity of support and expertise. Alice Stamm has been teach- Constance Michael ing eurythmy since 1975. She began her eurythmy training in Eckwalden, Dear Alice, I have loved your enthusiasm for the Germany, and finished with Else work (flaming!) and can hardly imagine a replacement. And Klink in Stuttgart. Alice also trained yes, Maria and Gino are also so devoted. It is a very moving in therapeutic eurythmy, receiving a team!! All best wishes! diploma from the Goetheanum in Margaret Osmond Dornach . Alice returned to the States in 1978. She has taught “The knot which karma weaves in world becoming…” in trainings, in Waldorf schools, and has performed in Rudolf Steiner, Mystery Dramas Spring Valley, Kimberton, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Fair Dear Alice, Oaks. She built up both pedagogical eurythmy and remedial Thank you for your devotion to Eurythmy: artistic, work at a Waldorf school in Los Angeles. Now she enjoys therapeutic, pedagogical and mentoring; and for your devo- teaching eurythmy to kindergarten groups and to adults. tion to Anthroposophy: the wisdom of anthroposophy, the Since the spring of 2009 Alice served as president practice of anthroposophy, Society work, festivals and con- of the Eurythmy Association of North America, which she ferences, the development of the Performing Arts Section! began with six other colleagues in 1979. She helped to form You have had the amazing destiny, which we all the Section Collegium for the Performing Arts in North have benefited from, of being part of the dedicated group of America in 1988. Her passion is to help continue and to eurythmists who formed the Eurythmy Association in North strengthen the work of eurythmy. America in 1978. That group prepared a key conference in Everyone on the EANA Council wishes to express 1986 with , Michael Leber, and Kari van Oordt much gratitude to Alice, truly a servant of Eurythmia! that brought more than 70 of us together at High Moving Maria Ver Eecke and began a long series of summer conferences in Spring Valley and Garden City, now continuing in the Northwest. Eurythmy Association of North America 9 You were there for the Foundation Stone Eurythmy In Memoriam workshops with Sissy Pracht in Spring Valley, and Therapeutic Eurythmy conferences with Ursula Ziegenbein antje Ghaznavi and Margaret Hitsch in Chicago. And you were active in the October 1, 1936 - July 9, 2017 regional performing groups and the big eurythmy touring Two things we offer when we die. To the earth we offer the groups from Europe for many years. All this has helped the substance of our body; to the spiritual world we offer our growth and development of Eurythmy in this country. life story. This is the offering of Antje Ghaznavi. You are a pioneer Initiative taker, continuous artis- tic colleague, serious therapeutic practitioner, conscious carrier of the Being of Eurythmy in its relationship to its birthplace and home in the . Thank you. There is both a spiritual geographic and biographi- cal destiny tale that is woven through this activity…In the 1950’s and 60’s there were three young girls who, on sunny, summer Sunday mornings, would stand on the sidewalk talking with friends and family as church bells were ringing. They didn’t meet outside these two churches which stood side by side, but there were links between family friends. Alice and Leonore Russell went to the Episcopal Church and next door, Barbara Richardson went to the Methodist Church. Barbara’s family friend was Leonore’s best friend in kindergarten. Alice’s grandmother was organ- Antje Eva Bertha Ursula Christina Harding was born on ist at Leonore’s church. Leonore and Barbara had the same October first, 1936, in Rostock, Germany. Her mother, born English, history, math and science teachers in junior high Barbara von Restorff, came from old German nobility who school, three years apart, and went sledding on the same lived at Rosenhagen, a family estate near Rostock. Karl farm at Round Hill Dairy. Harding, her father, worked in business; he had been a pilot All three of us found our way to Eurythmy; Leonore in the First World War. He limped slightly from a wound he in High Mowing, New York and Dornach; Alice in had received during the war. Because of the fact that he was Eckwelden and Stuttgart; and I, Barbara in London and a commoner, Barbara’s parents did not support the mar- Sekem. We met as colleagues at conferences and perform- riage, and her artistic talents had to be set aside for secretar- ances, found ourselves on the Eurythmy Association ial work. These grandparent /parent relational circum- Council and over the years each took our turn as president. stances continued to play themselves out during the grand- Three girls from Mt. Vernon, Ohio… parents’ life and had an impact on the three Harding sib- Alice has served now for ten years, a lings. decade or, could one say in more modern terms, “1.0”? And During the war years Antje was joined by first a now perhaps it is the moment for Eurythmy “2.0” in North younger sister, Dörthe, and then a brother Heiner. The chil- America? I hope there will be others who share their stories dren were for a time at the estate in Rosenhagen, but then in and become aware of destiny threads that will carry Bremen during the bombing. Some of Antje’s earliest mem- Eurythmy forward… flourishing! ories were of the bombing raids. One time her mother took Sincere thanks for the colleagueship the her out into the streets while the buildings were burning all Association has provided, around, and told her: “Your generation must see that this Barbara Richardson never happens again.” P.S. Make that four girls – two blocks over at After the war the family remained in Bremen, ulti- another Methodist Church, Jo Forkish, Barbara’s next-door mately rescuing Barbara’s parents from the East. Living neighbor, was listening to bells ring on those same Sunday with her parents was an interesting exercise, as they kept up mornings. She plays piano for eurythmy in The Waldorf their aristocratic values to the best of their abilities. As Antje School of the Peninsula and was asked to edit this article. approached confirmation age, her mother arranged for her to get instruction from the Lutheran church, but after a cou- ple sessions Antje told her: “This is not for me.” So her mother told her to look for a church that would suit her, and after some searching she found . 10 Eurythmy Association of North America Here she felt at home. Her family followed, and through this would not be renewed. Return to Pakistan was out of the connection they also found their way to Anthroposophy and question; applications to Australia were delayed and then Waldorf education. Antje was actively involved in the youth rejected; in Ireland there were no appropriate job openings. work of The Christian Community. Finally they were accepted in Canada. They went first to Her love of music led her to study music for which Montreal as the most ‘European’ city, where they were kind- she had sufficient talent that she was admitted to music ly received by members of The Christian Community; but school even though because of the war she had little formal Yaqoob could not deal with the French language and had no education. She supported herself financially by accompany- Canadian work experience. Thus it was that they came to ing eurythmy classes at the Bremen Waldorf School. This Toronto. was how she found her actual calling, for she fell in love Antje’s first work was at Michael Haven, with spe- with eurythmy and determined that this should be her path. cial-needs children. This was a shock to her system; her In order to study, she went to Switzerland, first to prior experience in curative eurythmy in Berlin had been in Basel, where she worked as a domestic worker to support a very different environment. But she found her way into the herself during her studies. She learned there was no part of work, and formed lasting friendships. the work that did not require her thoroughness and attention It was not yet the time to settle down, however. to detail. When she had enough money she proceeded with Yaqoob received promotions which took him first to the first year. Her gifts were recognized by the eurythmists Detroit, then to Hong Kong. Particularly during her time in leading the school so that when her funds ran out she was southeast Michigan she made further lasting friendships. In encouraged to attend what part of the curriculum she could Hong Kong her social connections were primarily with the while earning money. German community there. For a time, to economize, she shared accommoda- Finally they returned to Toronto, where she became tions with younger brother Heiner and developed a close- the eurythmy teacher for the kindergarten and the high ness that endured to the end of her life. In fact, the relation- school classes at the Toronto Waldorf School. One of her ship between all three siblings was one of strong and loving inspirational deeds for high school eurythmy was to make it connection. over from an obligation into a privilege. Her students came Her first job as eurythmist was as teacher for the to love and respect her, and for a number of years she would high school classes at the Bremen Waldorf School, includ- take her high school group on tour to other Waldorf schools ing the class which Heiner had been in and left. Then she in North America. returned to Dornach and was part of the stage group there. Her work now brought her onto wider responsibili- It was there that she met and married Uli Schmidt, a carpen- ties. In addition to her own teaching she took on mentoring ter for the Goetheanum stage group. Her work also included work in Waldorf schools across North America and admin- washing the Goetheanum windows. This marriage did not istrative tasks with the North American Waldorf school last, and while the separation was progressing, she studied organization, AWSNA, and in the pedagogical Section of Curative Eurythmy in Vienna. And at last she went to the School for Spiritual Science. For a number of years she Berlin, where she struggled to make ends meet. was a class reader for First Class of the School for Spiritual It was on a visit from Dörthe that the two of them Science. All the while her home was beautiful, with special went to a disco and met a tall, dark handsome man, who accommodations for visits by her grandchildren. asked for a dance. Antje, her divorce recently finalized, An onset of illness meant that she had to retire and immediately felt the sense of something significant for her curtail her activities in the last years of her life. For one who life. Throughout that first evening she held back, but when had been so active this was a frustration. There was a con- he suggested a second meeting, she made up her mind. This stant struggle for her between the feeling: there is nothing was Yaqoob Ghaznavi, and this was the beginning of a rela- the matter; I am fine; and the reality: I cannot do everything tionship which led to the birth of Corinna and marriage. At as I would like to do it. In the light of her condition she their wedding on May 27, 1966, all of the men present were began preparing things so that Yaqoob could live comfort- Pakistani students and all of the women were eurythmists. ably after her passing. It was a surprise for her when last Through the next years of her life she followed year Yaqoob entered the spiritual world before her. To the Yaqoob to where he could find work. While in Hamburg and end she remained actively present. Her passing was from expecting Nadim, she went through a complicated pregnan- the same hospice room on Sunday, July 9 in the early morn- cy which required complete rest. This enforced sabbatical ing, as the full moon was setting, in which she sat with was the first time Antje was not hard at work since her Yaqoob when he died almost a year earlier. childhood. In contemplating a completed life story we may Following Yaqoob took on a special significance recognize that every life story is a work of art. The artist is when the German authorities informed him that his visa the “I”, not the conscious “I” but the higher being guiding Eurythmy Association of North America 11 the destiny. When the life is complete, the artist puts his or were in harmony with the well-ordered, antique books. She her signature to the work of art. So we may look at Antje’s repeatedly experienced these circumstances as a great gift offering to the spiritual world. She was born into Europe as destiny had given her and was extremely grateful for them. Europe was being torn apart. Her birth was in the time of She radiated joy, lightness and trust, even though she was Michaelmas, and we can at once recognize in her taking up aware that eurythmy, to which she had devoted her life, was her life’s tasks, a follower of the Archangel Michael. still in a seminal state, and had still Michael’s impulse is cosmopolitan; at the midpoint of her not yet found its footing in France. life she was moving across the world, finally coming to a land distant from the place of her birth. And her death in the season that captures the essence of a true teacher’s hope: after me is coming one who is preferred before me; he must increase, I must decrease. Rev. Michael Breuer Eulogy given at the Funeral Service held on July 12, at the Christian Community Church, Maple, Ontario

In Memoriam of Hélène Oppert Born October 15, 1923 in Asia Héléne Oppert was born in Asia; her mother was an † February 1, 2017 in Paris American of ancient Irish descent. Her father, François As the Sun was setting on the evening of February 1, 2017, Trive, was French and master of multiple technical skills; he the wintry sky lit up in magical colours. On this day, the was employed as an engineer in Vietnam. Walter Hampden, clear, sickle-shaped moon had risen with solemnity above her maternal uncle, was a famous actor and had founded the the city of Paris, accompanied by a brightly shining Venus. Shakespeare Theater in New York. He twice turned down an Hélène Oppert was prepared to cross the threshold at 8.55 invitation from the President of the United States because to pm on this day. him his rehearsals took priority. Her mother, Eleanor She had celebrated her 93th birthday with her family Dougherty, was a dancer and poet who accompanied the on October 15, 2016. On that occasion, she expressed that it American poet Vachel Lindsay across the American conti- was her deepest wish to be freed from her physical body in nent. Vachel was searching for ways of using dance to trans- approximately three months’ time and to be allowed to late or transform his poetry into movement. He recited reside in the spiritual world. This was what she replied when while Eleanor danced; he also drew forms for the poems her youngest grandson, who was nine years old, asked her! that inspired Eleanor. Héléne’s second uncle, Paul It was clear that her departure was imminent, although Dougherty, who was also one of her mother’s brothers, was her thinking was still clear and her fine sense of humour that a well-known painter; his paintings are exhibited in the contrasted so strongly with her great seriousness was still in Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. evidence until shortly before her death. Everyone who vis- Her doctor introduced Eleanor to anthroposophy; ited her in the last few days of her life was deeply touched Elena Zuccoli introduced her to eurythmy in Dornach, so by her magical smile, which was permeated with the secret she spent longer periods of time in Dornach with her two of love and outshone by a spiritual communion. children, Héléne and her three years older brother François. Héléne had been living with her daughter, the cellist One of the places they lived in while in Dornach was Albert Claire Saitkoulov, in Saint- Germain-en-Laye, west of Paris, Steffen’s house. This was where Héléne went to a Waldorf for several years. Music could usually be heard all over the kindergarten. Her life was divided between Dornach and house; this included the sound of the violin played by her Paris, where she went to school at the Institute of the grand- daughter Clara, who is already giving regular con- Assumption Lübeck in a very genteel neighborhood between certs with her father, the pia nist Roustem Saitkoulov. the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, where her parents Her sitting room, which had a view of open sky and lived. Héléne also spent longer periods of time with her a woody hill in the distance looking south-west, gave evi- grandparents in New York. The school she attended there dence of the culture in which she had grown up: it was filled allowed their pupils considerable freedom: they played with works of art that her father had brought back from football and addressed their teachers by their first names! Asia. There were magnificent paintings, statues of Buddha, Their father came back from Vietnam regularly to see his all in just the right position, they had been placed in such a family. He represented order, justice and good will to those way that the proportions were beautiful and their colours around him and also possessed a certain sternness. 12 Eurythmy Association of North America Héléne’s life changed dramatically in 1950; in that Klink’s stage group until 1978, to join her as colleagues. As year, she went to see a performance given by Elena Zuccoli a team, these three individuals complemented each other’s in Zurich. When the curtain went up, the first thing that work in a wonderful way, both in the training that they car- emerged from the wings was a pointing finger, followed by ried jointly and in their artistic work together. the arm that belonged to it. Héléne was deeply moved and One of Héléne Oppert’s talents was that she could immediately recognized the strength of expression that always convey the principles of eurythmy in clear and sim- belonged to a great artist, when she saw this first appearance ple terms. She never tired of researching and re-researching of the monk Savonarola. After the performance Héléne the original indications given by Rudolf Steiner. Whether a asked Elena Zuccoli if she would be prepared to give her student was working on a solo piece or on creating a form private lessons... The classes took place in the Schreinerei with her, the work was always a process leading to an awak- (Carpentry Hall) at the Goetheanum. Other people soon dis- ening, so that her suggestions for improvements became covered what was happening and asked if they might also be self-evident. She invited great individuals who shared the allowed to take part, so this became the first course held by same criteria to teach in the training in Paris, for example, the Eurythmieschule Zuccoli Dornach (Zuccoli Eurythmy her own former teacher from Dornach, Gritli Eckinger, who Training Dornach). Shortly after the start of this course, contributed essential material – her beautiful forms – to the Héléne found herself performing with Elena Zuccoli on the tone eurythmy graduation performances in the fourth year stage at the Goetheanum and then on tour with her. and who also performed in the stage ensemble, and then, She and her mother organized major tours across after her death, Stevan Koçonda. the United States; she married Georges Oppert, a doctor, in In addition to the teaching, the stage ensemble 1956, and Jean-Michel and Claire were born of this mar- toured the , Germany, Switzerland, riage. Alongside taking care of her family, she taught at the Scandinavia, , Romania and France, and was invited Perceval Steiner School in Chatou, the on a regular basis to perform at conferences American School in Neuilly, and devoted at the Goetheanum. Wherever the ensemble time to the children at the Institute for appeared, audiences received their perform- Children with Special Needs in Chatou. She ances in the French language, containing created magical performances with the chil- epic, dramatic and lyrical pieces as well as a dren in each of these institutions. She gave variety of styles from different cultural eurythmy lessons to acting students in the epochs, with joy and enthusiasm. class taught by Jean Laurent Cochet for four Héléne Oppert was invited to give years; then, at the invitation of Simonne summer courses in the USA over several Rihouét-Coroze, one of the remaining euryth- years and the country became her second mists trained by Rudolf Steiner and Marie home. Wherever she taught, she wanted to Steiner, she established the first French awaken a sense for spatial forms in her stu- eurythmy school in 1976. She had the support dents. There are principles at work in the of Rudolf Grosse, Elena Zuccoli and Hagen human form that are reflected in eurythmy Biesantz for this initiative. With the generous space. There was nothing arbitrary about this help of the Foundation Paul Coroze, Madame for Héléne Oppert, so it was important that Coroze put a house and garden at the disposal the poem both take hold of the space in as of Héléne Oppert for the Eurythmée Paris; until 2015 this precise a way as possible by using Dionysian or Apollonian enabled young people to train in eurythmy. Students arrived forms and make the rhythmical element in the language vis- in droves; until 1998 they came from France, Spain, ible, in the forms and in the creation of sound gestures. This Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, Romania, Russia and requires the development of a dynamic between the larger Venezuela. It did not take long to find the funds to lay a and smaller gestures; today this is frequently no longer alive wooden floor in the eurythmy hall, create a stage and then in any meaningful variations. even to construct a new building containing a second beau- In 1991, Jean-Paul Lucet, director of Les Célestins, tiful space for eurythmy, known as the Hexagonal Room. the State theatre in Lyon, invited Héléne Oppert to add 12 Héléne’s colleague during the first two years of the eurythmists to the 12 actors in his production of Lo/’re, a training was Armula Erik, an extremely gifted Russian- play by André Obey. Héléne created the eurythmy forms for German eurythmist. In 1978, she invited both Marie Claire the water beings in the river that flooded the land during a Couty, a very experienced French eurythmist from the Else storm. Michel Denard, the principal male dancer in the Klink Ensemble, and Jehanne Secretan, who had completed opera, played the spirit of the storm, spoke for the eurythmy her second pro fessional training at the Eurythmeum and moved as an actor between the water beings. While Stuttgart, Germany, in 1976 and then worked for Else working on this production, he learned to appreciate Héléne Eurythmy Association of North America 13 Oppert’s work with the eurythmists and later accompanied days I hovered between life and death. Once out of danger, the Eurythmée Paris Ensemble in another program at the my recovery was almost as rapid as the onset of the illness, Chatelet, a Parisian performance venue. Loire was per- on a physical level that is. I was in the hospital for a total of formed in Lyon to audiences of a thousand people every two weeks. I was, to spend the next ten years of my life night for four weeks and was a success. Something of the struggling to understand the meaning of this experience. future is contained within the collaboration with these pro- This was a turning point in my life, I now became a seeker.” fessional actors who were experiencing eurythmy at close Several years later Mary Delle began to read hand daily. esoteric literature. “Here finally my questions found an Héléne created the second part of the program for echo, my search a companion. Although I understood very the Citadelle Ensemble in Dornach in April 2016. Ensemble little of what I read and heard, I felt an immediate kinship members came from Dornach, the Slovak Republic, with the words of Rudolf Steiner. It was his lectures on Germany and France to work with her on this project. Her eurythmy however that sparked my interest in anthropo- contributions were again extremely valuable for everyone sophical studies. Something deep inside me stirred and I involved. knew that the crucial issues spoke to my own soul.” Former students and friends from France, Dornach, Sheila Shapiro Hamburg and Miami, representatives of the Foundation Paul Coroze (Paul Coroze Foundation) as well as members During the time Mary Delle lived in Harlemville, we would of the family came to Héléne’s cremation on February 9 this meet either in Providence, Rhode Island, where I lived, or in year, a grey day. Hadley, Massachusetts, where Valerie Poplawski and Polly The skies brightened suddenly as the flames Saltet lived (and still do, I think.) We had a series of pro- returned Héléne Oppert to the elements. The full moon and grams titled Elegiacs I, II, and III. These programs were the sun were witness to the event - a resurrection took place. designed to present and showcase contemporary American Everyone left the ceremony fulfilled and full of gratitude. poetry. We based the longer pieces around the work of May Héléne continue to accompany us. Edwin Honig, a master poet and translator who was a dear Jehanne Secretan friend of mine at Brown University. Throughout our rehearsing, prepping, preparing Remembering Mary Delle LeBeau costumes, lighting and tech, I recall Mary Delle’s “southern twinkle.” It seemed, no matter what the hassle or problem or Mary Delle taught in the eurythmy training in Moscow from mix-up… Mary Delle kept her gracious lady-like demeanor. 1993 until 1997. Her first trip to Russia was in 1990. April Even on one very cold night after we had finished our of 1993 was her first teaching in the school. She wrote, January premiere at Rhode Island College… we stepped out “When I am in Russia, I feel that I live in the midst of a bat- the back stage door AND, Mary Delle’s aged vehicle was a tleground of incredibly powerful forces that swing between NO GO. It would Not Start. As you can imagine, we are good and evil. The only solution I can see is to continue to tired, it is a Sunday, we all need to get home in order to pre- work, despite the difficulties. Many students come to us pare for the week ahead… but, Mary Delle spread her good with the same sentiment – we must continue.” Beth Usher cheer around as we all waited for her car to be fired up and ready to roll. We are so fortunate to have so many of Mary Delle’s I was also aware through my connections and work thoughts in written form, as she was such an amazing writer with Tilla Barcoff, one of the eurythmists from Germany even in her youth. The following is part of what Mary Delle who shared the teaching at the Moscow Eurythmy Training, wrote about her youth. that Mary Delle’s years there were not easy. Her love of the “My formative years were filled with love and Russian language kept her inspired. And I think she stayed understanding for the choleric, precocious child I was. I on long enough and was able to witness one of her classes read voraciously, wrote short stories and poems, and kept a graduate. regular diary. Although I was happy to spend many hours All in all, Mary Delle was careful and cautious in alone, I found a healthy outlet for my energies in the arts. her approach to eurythmy. She was not an experimenter as I Playing piano and singing in both church and school choirs am. She needed to be told the choreography, the gestures, was a joyful release for my energies, as was involvement in and then she would set to work and practice. Her loyalty to high school drama, debate, and oral interpretation of poetry. the work was the inner fire that fed that “southern twinkle These, coupled with activities in volunteer and service and charm.” I have fond memories of those years and the organizations, helped enrich my teen years. collaboration between all four of us. At the age of 19, I became seriously ill. This Besos, brought me to the edge of death in a period of two days. For Gail Langstroth 14 Eurythmy Association of North America Excerpts from The Moral Imagination, performance eurythmy has given me the opportunity to Technique, and Power of Eurythmy: dismantle some of these limitations and inquire more deeply into the nature of my own practice. I began to see how my A Critical Reflection on Practice limited criteria and pre-conceived ideas about art affected Virginia Hermann the way in which I inhabited my own work. For example, Alanus University, 2016 they lead to creative paralysis, created crucial blind-spots, and were ultimately the ferment for an increasing arrogance, MA in Performance Eurythmy judgement, aggrandizement, entitlement and a self-centered From the Introduction sense of purpose. In response to my disheartening observa- The purpose of this critical reflection is to explore whether, tions on these phenomena, I instinctively began orienting in the specific context of performance, the artistic level of myself toward the theme of morality in relationship to eurythmy is concomitant with the perceived degree of moral creative process. Penetrating the nature of moral substance self-possession the eurythmist is able to achieve in his or her provided a lens for my own artistic motivations, ultimately movement. Through the source materials researched for this propelling me into a new path of research to understand study, I attempt to show that the moral-aesthetic qualities of eurythmy’s essence and means. eurythmy are achieved through an energetic synthesis of moral discipline and technique, informed by the capacity of Excerpt of Theory of Eurythmy as Morality in moral imagination. The six interviews conducted for this Movement study provide support for this argument, showing that the Moral power is a uniquely human capacity which can devel- onlooker most highly values experiences and qualities that op, either deliberately or by virtue of circumstance, through depend upon capacities belonging to the moral dimension of the habitual, purifying, exercise of one’s best faculties in the being. Further, I put forth that developing an integrated pursuit of integrity (psychological and ethical wholeness, moral self-possession, conducted through movement, is sustained in time1); integrity between oneself, the other, the inscribed into the principles that define the art of eurythmy community, society, and the world.2 In other words, moral as such, and inform the criteria for its realization. As a result power is a byproduct of seeking the “right” relationship of my research I have come to believe that becoming cog- between that which serves, on the one hand, the develop- nizant of the moral engine of eurythmy, and consciously ment of inner freedom and individuality in oneself, engen- integrating it into practice, is where the greatest potential dering, in Steiner’s words, “love for one’s own action,” and, lies for deepening the artistry of the movement and the on the other hand, supports the same condition of freedom mover; and, based on my own observations and those of and individual expression of the other.3 This condition of others, though the moral engine is only palpable under the right-relationship can only be properly understood in this surface, it seems to me to be the most unique and progres- context as an inner process that seeks to continuously bal- sive aspect of eurythmy, poised to contribute something rel- ance and overcome forces which otherwise stand in opposi- evant to the larger cultural dialogue on the relationship tion to love and freedom. Further, it implies that the locus of between art and moral development. moral discernment depends upon the capacity to perceive I arrived at this area of research organically, through and determine the nature and value of one’s own thinking, layers of observations and experiences over sixteen years of feeling, and volition in any relationship or facet of life. watching and participating in eurythmy performances, as Heavily drawn from the ideas in Rudolf Steiner’s 1899 well as countless other performances of dance, music, and philosophical treatise on freedom and morality,4 the above theater. The main artery of my questioning through these definition reclaims the radical vitality of the moral dimen- years has concerned, more broadly, the meaning and pur- sion of being as a creative, self-determined “wellspring of pose of art and, more specifically, eurythmy’s meaning and the human spirit,” aptly termed ethical individualism.5 purpose within the arts. In a persistent rhetorical exercise, I Freed from its encasement as a religious or normal- asked myself the following, “what makes eurythmy mean- ized code of conduct, the moral source within the human ingful? What is moving about eurythmy; what is moving being, as understood above, emerges as the wholly unique about any artwork or performance? What is necessary for offspring of the soul’s higher faculties, a rarefied substance eurythmy to be eurythmy? What is true, beautiful, and good in art or performance?” Following these questions through 1 Grudin, Robert, The Grace of Great Things the years, proportional to my level of engagement with 2 Guroian, Vigen, Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic eurythmy, I slowly became aware that my observations and Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination experiences were limited by powerful pre-conceived ideas 3 Steiner, Rudolf, Philosophy of Spiritual Activity about art and ‘the artist.’ 4 Ibid. The past four years of fully engaged work in 5 Ibid, Chapter 10 Eurythmy Association of North America 15 one could arguably claim as being a composite of that which sustain one another in the cultivation of character and we name truth, beauty and goodness.6 This moral substance authenticity, generating a resilient, liberating counterforce becomes active as a power when it is aligned in love and to shame, cynicism, and fear10 (C. Otto Scharmer, 2012. service to higher ideals which are then embodied, through Theory U). Energetically, this counter-force can be per- an individual, into the progressive course of human evolu- ceived as a kind of unyielding inner alignment, which, when tion.7 Robert Grudin, professor of Art History at the cultivated to a palpable degree, is articulated in the collec- University of Oregon, considers in The Grace of Great tive imagination as strength of character or moral upright- Things, his phenomenological exploration of the principles ness. I would like to suggest that there is a direct relation- and practices of the creative mind, the ethics of creativity as ship within the human being between the palpable vitality of a domain in which “massively immovable” polarities are moral uprightness and the body of energy and life-forces “obliterated by a global creative energy” which can “rede- sustaining the human being. In one particular characteriza- fine basic parameters so radically that there is a palpable tion of the life-body, or etheric, Rudolf Steiner describes, sense of a “new moral universe.” “...it is above all a body of forces. It is a flowing-out of Borrowing from an eloquent description by forces, a manifestation of forces, and we notice these in a Abraham Maslow,8 Grudin points to a defining aspect of number of phenomena that occur during the course of our this dynamic experience with the words, “character is tem- life. One of these phenomena is the ability to be upright.”11 porarily reunified, reconstituted as the agent of a single act Thus, I would like to put forward the possibility that it is the of will.” Through the lens of this defining act of volition, the moral substance itself which is active in the human being’s creative capacity of the human spirit, the “active agent” in life-body, which is then perceived as having an effect upon this moral quest for right-relationship, is none other than our one’s bearing and way of moving and being in the world. freedom to choose how we stand, align ourselves, move, Historically, a relationship between movement, in and act in relationship to the world around us. In the cultural the form of dance, and the moral-spiritual world, seems to vernacular there are many phrases, such as “practice what have existed for millennia, at least since ancient Greece. you preach,” and “if you talk the talk you have to walk the This relationship evolved out of sacred temples in walk,” demonstrating both our knowledge of the fact that the cloistered mysteries, into pagan rituals and tribal cere- integrity in the domain of morality depends on this monies invoking spiritual beings, and it eventually emerged synthesis of ideals and action, as well as our endowed sense in the renaissance courts in the originating impulses for bal- of responsibility and necessity regarding the alchemy of the let. In Apollo’s Angels, Jennifer Homan’s thorough and moral constitution – this derivative of higher faculties – insightful research into the evolution of ballet, it is clearly which blossoms from the ennobled soul. shown that ballet has conceived of itself, since its earliest This vernacular phrase “walking your talk,” indi- incarnation, as an art of movement bearing ethical and cates our common cultural understanding of morality as per- spiritual dimensions within it. Ballet’s form and structure ceptible phenomena in that it acknowledges the difficulty come from a set of exacting positions, movements, facings, and inherent ethical challenge involved in sustaining, in steps, and techniques. According to Homan’s research, these lived practice, the kind of freedom, balance, and wholeness formalized elements are the result of an effort under the we are prone to profess towards all that which we stand in reign of Louis XIV to visually represent the inner structure relationship to in the world. However, in an age when “talk of music and poetry as a kinetic experience in space. At that is cheap,” and the ontological fabric of language has been time the laws and structure of music and poetry, akin to stuffed with “the empty phrase”9 and degraded by spin rhet- mathematics or geometry, were naturally relegated to the oric and pundit jargon, I would argue that it is becoming an realm of divine archetypes, still seen as part of the ladder equally formidable challenge and responsibility to “talk connecting the human being to the active forces in the your walk,” namely to be honest, vulnerable, humble, and cosmos. responsible for owning how your ideas and actions are From this originating impulse of danced illustration manifesting in the world. of cosmic events, leading over into formally prescribed In the realm of one’s inner activity these two poles, movements, Homan draws a red thread highlighting the “walking” and “talking,” when made conscious, foster and moral nerve of ballet and, by extension, the modern dance that subsequently emerged. Through Homan’s eye, move- 6 Steiner, Rudolf, Man’s Fall and Redemption ment art’s development is intimately connected to the evo- 7 Steiner, Rudolf, Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, Man and the lution of consciousness, the spiritual scope of culture, and World of Stars, Spiritual Foundations of Morality the collective moral landscape. The fervor of the existential 8 Grudin, Robert, The Grace of Great Things, pp 70-71 10 9 Steiner, Rudolf, The Younger Generation, Chapter 3 C. Otto Scharmer, Theory U 11 Steiner, R. Art As Seen in the Light of the Mysteries, p 35 16 Eurythmy Association of North America debates in the dance community that Homan points to, for essence lies in our experience of what we hear – of how and example incorporating dramatically “mimed” character why we are moved – that the inner movement associated gestures, or the gargantuan struggle to evolve beyond the with our experience of hearing is a vehicle for the meaning artistic mold of Balanchine’s ballet, show how intimately clothed by the composer or poet in words and musical nota- movement communicates something sacred and transcen- tion. Eurythmy aims to do artistic justice to both the outer dent to our souls. As modern dance slowly morphed and “clothing” as well as the listener’s experience of inner revolted out of the constraints of ballet,12 the guiding movement. For this reason I would put forward that it stands spiritual archetypes upon which ballet had been based all with its modern dance contemporaries in the recognition of came into question. Modern dance, as I understand it, was the need to bring inner experience to visibility, namely to seeking a new guiding source upon which form would arise, ‘modernize’ dance, but, like ballet, it also establishes a tech- a source that was closer to the modern human experience of nical scaffolding to maintain integrity within its own aims the moral world in the same way music and sacred geometry for embodying what is archetypal through form and gesture. had informed the experience of the renaissance. A portrait can be created in an unlimited number of Where ballet conceives of itself as imparting ethical styles, colors, or expressions, but the real face upon which and moral qualities through formal structure, highly culti- it is based will always be a gauge for how well the essence vated order, grace, and precision, modern dance can equally and reality of that person and their intangible personality well speak to what it imparts through depth of human were able to be expressed. How well did the artists unite expression, movements that intimate the human soul, and with the subject and put their skill in service of transcending the natural or discordant rhythms and meters that feel more their medium? With eurythmy I think it is quite similar with grounded in the cultural zeitgeist.13 In terms of its standing respect to music or poetry, except that the human being is within the context of dance, eurythmy, while often broadly simultaneously the perceptive instrument through which categorized along with its modern dance contemporaries,14 one unites with the subject as well as the medium that must aligned as it is with some of the revolutionary aims of the be transcended. Thus the movement becomes the vehicle modern dance movement,15 also shares significant traits through which we experience this synthesis of activities, an with the technicality, structure, and originating impulses of infinite succession of aesthetic moral choices which, in ballet. I would argue that this dual nature of eurythmy is an painting a portrait, are still distinctly separated – spatially aspect of its applicability to our modern consciousness and between artist and canvas, and temporarily between the the moral fabric of our time. moment of creation and the moment of being viewed after Both with respect to ballet and modern dance, how- completion. ever, there are critical differences in how eurythmy achieves This synthesis of activities creates something like its aims. For instance, unlike ballet, the form-giving element an artistic double-bind for the eurythmist, whose moral, in eurythmy is liberated from the necessity of achieving artistic process of lawfully rendering something sense-per- specific steps and positions as an end in itself. Eurythmy ceptible in movement, occurs in real time before an audi- gestures are, from this perspective, entirely malleable arche- ence. This double-bind consists in the fact that on the one types that, through movement, must be uniquely molded hand the outer forms and gestures must be tethered to the and embodied according to the way a particular sound is speech and music, while, on the other hand, the eurythmist heard and experienced the moment it's spoken or played. must put their intention in service of revealing the inner Whatever the music or poem is expressing, is, in short, experience of the source content, the essence, and the mean- exactly what the eurythmy is meant to be translating into ing. I would like to suggest that it is precisely in respect of movement. You might even say, from this point of view, that this artistic double-bind that the inner activity of the euryth- eurythmy is analogous to the art of rendering a portrait, but mist becomes visible, that their moral self-possession, their in movement and space rather than on canvas. And instead moral-artistic character, or uprightness, can be witnessed of a face, it is the ‘portrait’ of a musical score, a poem, story, and experienced. A simple litmus-test that any eurythmy even a musical phrase, word, or single tone. Just as a good director asks of themselves while directing is, “am I seeing portrait captures the essence of a person, eurythmy, in and experiencing what I am hearing?” In effect, I think, this addition to the audible and structural aspects, must likewise is only a slight variation on ascertaining whether someone capture the essence of the music or poetry. I would say the is “walking their talk.” The “what” is given, therefore the “how” shifts into primary focus. This is, I would think, quite 12 Anderson, Jack, Art Without Boundaries innately, the moral dimension of being. 13 W. Sorrell, Dance In Its Time The movement of eurythmy, when it achieves its 14 Amrine, Fred, Introduction to The Early History of Eurythmy ideal, becomes a vehicle for activated moral substance, a 15 Ibid; Anderson, Art Without Boundaries rarefied quality of experience found in the balance of our experience of truth, beauty, and goodness. Based on the Eurythmy Association of North America 17 interviews conducted during my research one begins to get English Monophthongs: a sense for how sensitive the audience is to what is con- their Structure and Relationships veyed through the movement of a eurythmist and the degree to which they perceive whether or not this ideal is being Greek: mono- single, alone achieved. A knowledgeable audience member expects to see + phthongos sound a eurythmist moving in accordance with what they, the Reg Down onlooker, are hearing and experiencing. Thus, for the eurythmist, there is nowhere to hide from this fact; it is English vowels have been known to present a challenge to inscribed into the nature of eurythmy itself. I think it is pre- eurythmists. They are so fluid and dynamic, so dependent cisely this unavoidable tenet of eurythmy that makes it both on speaker and accent, in short, so ephemeral that even the unique in the arena of movement arts and, more broadly, best of friends find their veils disgruntledly entangled. positions it as a social art form that meets a particular need Fortunately, in 1888 the first International Phonetic of modern consciousness. When we have our attention on Alphabet (IPA) was published. To quote the Encyclopedia how something is being done, and are not only preoccupied Britannica, the IPA was “developed with the intention of with what we are observing, we are engaging with, and wit- enabling students and linguists to learn and record the pro- nessing, the formative forces of creativity being conducted nunciation of languages accurately, thereby avoiding the by the moral and imaginative discretion of the human being. confusion of inconsistent, conventional spellings and a mul- With regard to the nature of morality, that which can’t be titude of individual transcription systems.” What a brilliant taught, but only shown by example,16 this aspect of euryth- idea! We can celebrate the IPA’s imminent 120th birthday my potentially offers a cultural and artistic example of by taking a peek at what it has to offer with respect to clar- morality in-practice. I think it is, perhaps, much the same ity. The definitive, latest edition IPA chart can be found at way in which ancient Greek drama functioned as moral the International Phonetic Association website—or encyclo- instruction, secular communion, and a form of collective pedias, university language department websites, and so catharsis. forth. The chart includes the phonetic symbols for all lan- Going further with this line of argument, I wonder guages, including clicks, pitch, tones and various diacritic whether culturally we might be at a point in the evolution of marks indicating altered pronunciations. As fascinating as art (as we are in quantum physics and technology) where we the chart is (I do recommend you seek it out and imagine can start to respond to the dawning recognition that our how to gesture its contents), it is too much for our purpose. inner states of being, hence our moral character, have a Luckily, lists of the English vowels with their IPA symbols qualitative effect on what we do or create, and therefore on are also readily available online—though I do recommend our future. I think a new way of approaching the world and you choose reliable websites, such as those mentioned one’s creative work from out of this recognition would have above. Or, if you are adverse to the web, look in the front of to begin by relying on, and might ultimately be character- a decent dictionary, they have been using the IPA symbols ized by, people developing a capacity for moral imagina- as a guide to pronunciation for generations. tion;17 or, to put it in other words, moral self-possession Below is a list of the English monophthongs. with respect to the inner conflict between ideals and self- Diphthongs are not included as they don’t impact our dis- interest. To conclude this theory of eurythmy as a moral art cussion. Ditto for triphthongs—apologies to Bostonites who of movement, I argue that it has this element of moral imag- love the musical ring of a ‘shower of flower power’. Also ination built-into its core, and, in many respects, demands omitted are a few symbols for delicately nuanced variations, the capacity of moral self-possession through application of such as the ɝ (burr) or ɚ (butter) that include a smidgen of its most fundamental techniques. With any art form, but the half vowel ‘r’ (IPA = ‘ɹ’), making them into a sort of especially the performing arts, I think the aspect of public diphthong. I do include the ʏ (as in ‘shoot’ with a Scottish consumption naturally relegates artistic acts to the moral accent) for reasons that will become clear. sphere. Eurythmy being no exception, it could, rather, even i (feel) be seen as taking this moral-social exchange even further by ɪ (bit) embodying, in the movement itself, the significance of the ɑ (father)—also written as ɑ: if it is long. moral sphere of human activity altogether. a (first vowel of ‘Boston’ said with its native accent. The symbol is also used for the German ‘ah’ sound—as in 16 Vigen Guroian, Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic dach—or its lengthened version a: (bahn) Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination 17 æ (bat) Seiner, Rudolf, Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, Chapter 12; ɛ (bet) Vigen Guroian, Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories e (first vowel of chaotic) Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination u (blue)—also written as u: if it is long. 18 Eurythmy Association of North America ʏ (as in ‘shoot’ with a Scottish accent) has polar tension, relieved by arriving at the ‘o’. It is often ʊ (book) characterized and gestured in eurythmy as an open, warm or ʌ (sun, fun) hot ‘o’ with the hands facing out. ә (the) The relational monophthongs are: ɔ (awe) ‘ɑ’ (father) ɒ (God, spot—British accent) ‘a’ (dach/Boston—with an accent!) ɜ (bird, earth—mark well: the vowel ɜ alone, sans the ‘r’ ‘i’ (feel) (IPA = ‘ɹ’), not the ɝ (burr) or the ɚ (butter) ‘ɪ’ (bit—the short ‘i’, as it is called) o (pillow) The ‘ɪ’ is a short, often bright, small, quick ‘i’ with the You will note that the ‘ɑ’, as in father, is slightly emphasis on the forearm and hand; also a sudden coming to different to the ‘a’, as in the German word ‘dach’ (or the uprightness (‘ɪ’ in the spine), and so forth. Boston ‘a’). Eurythmically we take both as an ‘ah’, soften- ‘o’ (pillow) ing the first and giving more form to the second. I will use ‘ɜ’ (earth—the ‘ɜ’, remember, sans ‘ɹ’—see the monoph- ‘ɑ’ as our eurythmic ‘ah’ symbol in English. thong list) For eurythmists there are five ‘pure’ monoph- ‘ø’ (German ö, as in öl or Österreich) thongs: ɑ (father), e (chaotic), i (feel), o (pillow), u (blue). ‘ɶ’ (German ö, as in Göttlich) They are ‘pure’ because their eurythmic gesture is clear and Here, starting with the ‘o’, we can feel the increasing form unequivocal; the gestures are qualitatively and substantively and tension until in the ‘ɶ’ (ö) the ‘o’ is, so to speak, broken different from each other. This leaves (in eurythmy, not pho- through or inverted. This is especially clear in the eurythmic netics) a number of remaining monophthongs which have gesture for the German ‘ɶ’ (‘ö’). differing characteristics and relationships with the five pure ‘y’ (German ü, as in über) vowels. If we work our way into these relationships we see ‘ʏ’ (German ü, as in müssen / Scottish as in shoot) that there are, collectively, three categories: ‘u’ (blue) — pure monophthongs (ɑ, e, i, o, u) ‘ʊ’ (book—the short u, as it is called) — transitional monophthongs between two pure monoph- ‘ʌ’ (fun) thongs ‘ә’ (the) — relational monophthongs, i.e., ones that relate to a single In this group we have two movements away from pure monophthong. Here I add a few German monoph- the pure ‘u’. One intensifies in pitch, form and muscle ten- thongs as they illustrate a particular direction the English sion towards the German ‘y’ (the ü, as in über). The other monophthongs are inclining without becoming as formed or drops, relaxes and loses form towards ‘ә’ (the) —the schwa intensified. as it is called, a “neutral”, generally unstressed vowel. The ‘ʌ’ (fun) and closely related ‘ә’ (the) become so relaxed in Transitional monophthongs are found between ɑ (father) the mouth that they can take on a slight ‘ah-ishness’—espe- and e (chaotic): cially in Canada and the USA. If we live a little deeper into ɑ (father) — æ (bat) — ɛ (bet) — e (chaotic). them, however, we find that their gesture color chords are In this sequence it is especially easy to experience related to vowel ‘u’. the gradual transition from ‘ɑ’ and ‘e’. The ‘æ’ (bat) may be Key — Movement ~ Feeling ~ Character done as an ‘ɑ’ gesture, but with the hands turned up as if ‘u’ (blue) — blue ~ yellow ~ lilac tinge warding away what flows toward us—or variations thereof. ‘ʌ’ (fun) — blue-gray ~ sudden bright yellow ~ bright lilac The ‘ɛ’ (bet) is the same gesture as ‘ä’ in German, one ward- tinge ing off hand behind the other—also with variations thereof. ‘ә’ (the) — blueish dove gray ~ pale, weak yellow ~ slight Note that English has two steps between ‘ɑ’ and ‘e’, where- violet tinge as German has only one, the ä (also written as ‘ɛ’ in German The ‘ʌ’ (fun) especially is subject to opening up IPA, or, if long, ‘ɛ:’). ‘ah-ishly’ in the gesture, notably in American English. This A second pair of monophthongs lie between ɑ is legitimate, provided it is called for by the context and we (father) and o (pillow): are following the yellow Feeling with veracity. If not, then ɑ (father) — ɔ (awe) — ɒ (spot) — o (pillow) rooting this gesture in the ‘ɑ’ becomes a kind of artistic The ‘ɔ’ (awe) gesture is an ‘ɑ’ that turns in ‘o-ishly’ untruth, in my opinion. Molly von Heider, a second genera- at the periphery. The inner tension between ‘ɑ’ and ‘o’ tion eurythmist, taught this vowel by gesturing a loose ‘u’ in warms it up. This dynamic is experienced in its speech for- the lower front zone, back of hands facing up, and tossing it mation as well. The ‘ɒ’ (spot), on the other hand, with a upwards with (and here she was quoting out of the early modicum of good will, can be produced by forming a clear days of eurythmy) “an uncomfortable jerk of the back”. A ‘o’ with the mouth, then trying to say a quick, soft ‘ɑ’. It too strong characterization perhaps, but the point comes across. Eurythmy Association of North America 19 The schwa (‘ә’) on the other hand is a throw away —various combination of letters, such as ‘ai’ in mountain vowel, a mere upbeat or onset movement before the follow- —in unwritten form, as in rhythm (between the ‘th’ and the ing sound or syllable. One shouldn’t make too much of it ‘m’) unless the situation demands. It can be done with a slight, Almost the same is true for the ‘ʌ’ (fun), the loose, flick of the hand(s), arm(s), shoulder(s), elbow(s), or schwa’s more active cousin. It appears in ‘u’ (sun), ‘o’ (son), head. Nevertheless the schwa shouldn’t be ignored entirely. ‘a’ (what), ‘oe’ (does), ‘oo’ (flood) and ‘ou’ or ‘ough’ (enough).* Lastly, to lift the schwa from the mire of forgotten- hood, a eurythmy figure is included.**

Penultimately, dare I suggest we use the über-centenarian IPA symbols in our professional discussions, courses and publications? They are accurate, clear and widely used. This would prevent confusion, inaccuracy and uncertainty in what exactly it is we are discussing or teaching. Phonetics can appear dry, a mere recording of individual phonemes and how they are generated physiologically, but to this approach anthroposophy and its most intimate offspring, eurythmy, bring the working knowledge that in speech the whole human being in involved, body, soul and spirit. This is not lost when we decide to be precise. Indeed, a refine- ment and furthering of gesture and understanding become possible—for diphthongs, triphthongs and consonants as well! To sum up, while the English monophthongs are numerous and delicate, they are also objective and sensibly ordered. It is possible to come to clarity. Ideally, we swim in our language to such a degree that the nuances of our ges- tures will shift according to the speaker—male or female, Bostonian or Brit. To do this we are required to become a large, intently listening ear responding objectively-gestural- ly to what is spoken. This is not to say that eurythmy should become a visible phonetics. It shouldn’t. It is a visible speech—but that opens another subject.

The name derives from Hebrew and came to FOOTNOTES: English via a German philologist. The schwa occurs in * Both examples from Wikipedia. German too, but appears to be ignored by German euryth- ** This figure has progressed from the one I drew for the mists. Being ignored by English speaking eurythmists is a second edition of Color and Gesture: the inner life of color. little harder since the schwa is the most common vowel in our lovely language! Reg Down trained at Emerson College with Molly von The schwa is sometimes confused with other Heider and the Nurnberg Eurythmie Schule with Margarete monophthongs (by eurythmists, that is), especially the ‘ʌ’ Proskauer-Unger. He has taught at Waldorf schools in (fun), or becomes somehow tangled up with spelling— Australia, Canada and the USA, and at Rudolf Steiner which is problematic since the schwa can appear in any College in Sacramento, California. Recently he did a stint as written guise, even invisible ones, as the examples show artistic director of Portland Eurythmy. He is the author of below. over twenty books, three of which are centered on euryth- ‘a’ as in about my: Leaving Room for the Angels: eurythmy and the art of ‘e’ as in taken teaching (AWSNA Press), Color and Gesture: the inner life ‘i’ as in pencil of color (Lightly Press) and Adam’s Alphabet, (Lightly ‘o’ as in memory Press). ‘u’ as in supply ‘y’ as in sibyl 20 Eurythmy Association of North America Beginning with B in Light of July 20, 1924 Newssheet; the report is at the front of Eurythmy as Visible Speech, EVS, 1984 edition). He wrote, Goethe’s Sensible- “Whoever wishes to do eurythmy must have penetrated into Supersensible Process the being of speech-formation. He must, before all, have approached the mysteries of sound-creation.” And earlier, in Kate Reese Hurd one of his short introductions to eurythmy presentations, he Of late, I have been taking up ’ book, Man or pointed out that “if someone were able to see what the lar- Matter. This is quite a pithy volume; and as with Rudolf ynx, lungs, tongue, palates and lips are really doing, and Steiner’s writings, I have to deliberate over almost every what the air is really doing during speech, he would say that sentence. But I’m finding it helpful to my work in all kinds when we are speaking, beautifully artistic movements are of ways. This is because Lehrs orients us again and again to made by all of us, especially during artistic recitation” (see the necessity of beginning all of our knowledge-seeking his May 6, 1919 introduction, the second of sixteen con- activity with human-based sense-perceptible facts; and he tained in An Introduction to Eurythmy, Anthroposophic continually shows how this can be done, often through Press, 1984). These introductions hold so many treasures, examining the many instances in natural science where for blazes on the path! I hope you will welcome the many various reasons this has not been done or isn’t being done. quotes from them that I include here. I’ll identify them by He shows that it’s possible to re-found our inquiries within month/day/year. these fields to give our present work firm ground. Though Steiner said that speech eurythmy “uses movements Lehrs’ focus is on the natural sciences, this human-based that have been found within the human organism and orientation and approach applies to every field of activity brought out as a kind of speech” (12/28/23); and that these we might be drawn to. “come from the whole human organism with the same mat- And so, this orientation has fundamental relevance ter-of-factness as sound and tone come from the larynx. to the work that I have been doing with the speech sounds ...with just as much matter-of-factness, just as much neces- and their gesture-impulses, where I begin with speech- sity as speech itself” (8/18/22). He said that we bring them work. In Lehrs’ chapter on the development that Goethe forth by “making a careful study of the artistic movements underwent that enabled him to grasp the ‘Urpflantze’ (the that the larynx and its neighboring organs execute when archetypal plant) – the supersensible idea that holds sway someone speaks” (8/15/20). These movements in our within the plant world – we begin to understand what speech can be “traced in reverse...back to where they origi- Goethe called the ‘sensible-supersensible’ process of nate in the human being” (6/9/23). He also indicated that the inquiry. And through the remaining chapters, Lehrs helps us reason our speech creation is so artistic is because it is to develop skill with it by following where he leads us. It exquisitely lawful; and this is because our “human organism was out of recognition of Goethe’s work and this process contains all cosmic secrets and all cosmic laws” (4/14/23). that Steiner gave the Goetheanum its name, as a beacon and Hence, our eurythmy must likewise be exquisitely lawful, reminder of what we can unfold and achieve through apply- musical and artistic when we bring forth with “an absolutely ing this sensible-supersensible process whenever and wher- clear consciousness” the exquisitely-formative gesture- ever we can. impulses that lie hidden within our speech (7/9/23 and see Accordingly, when we inquire into the speech 7/8/23). By making our direct experience of the living sound B, seeking to know its nature and movement-inclina- process of our speech the beginning of our inquiry into our tion, its gesture-impulse, what is of first importance here is gestures, we follow the path of Goethe, who “undertook to that we don’t skip over the direct sense perceptions we can recognize the nature of a living being [or phenomenon] have of this sound, but instead, begin with close observation from its form.” As Steiner said, “this may sound theoretical of them and proceed from there. These perceptions include but it is truly not meant to be” (8/15/20). We can prove to hearing the sound as spoken by others; but it’s indisputable ourselves in our eurythmy work that it is not theoretical in that our strongest, most telling experiences of B are to be the slightest. found in our own production of it through our own organs To be honest, I did not originally form gestures for of speech. To be sure, this doesn’t mean that we will ever the speech sounds by finding these lawful, artistic move- speak while preparing pieces for performance. What I am ments within my own organism as a speaking human being, suggesting concerns the beginning, the foundation for to bring them forth directly and vividly into my bodily achieving the richest and most immediate experiences of the movement. This was not our starting point in school. Nor gestures. were we seeking direct perceptions of the gesture-impulses In his report about the “Eurythmy as Visible for our eurythmy when we worked on our speaking of poet- Speech” lectures he gave, Steiner pointed to speech as the ry in speech-formation classes. What Steiner pointed to in starting place for this new art (see the “Nachrichtenblatt” his introductions is different from how we approached the Eurythmy Association of North America 21 gestures; it is therefore new even in our time a century later. speech defect.) And when a voiced consonant follows, I As I’ve already mentioned in my other writings, might let the B simply slip into that sound; e.g., “I’ll grab among Steiner’s very first suggestions to Lory was the sug- my coat.” These sense-perceptions tell me that any voicing gestion to write sentences for the individual vowels, speak I hear at the release of the B is the following sound, not the them and see if she could dance them; and he gave her the B. To voice the B itself, the only way I can do it is through example, “Barbara sass stracks am Abhang” (Barbara sat the briefest sounding of my larynx just before I’ve stopped directly on the slope). She followed this suggestion; but it is all air from moving; but I find that I don’t do this in all clear from her notes that she did not discover the gesture- cases. I also find that if I attempt to voice the B right impulses of the vowels (see Siegloch, How the New Art of through to a following vowel, my nasal passages must be Eurythmy Began.) Steiner began to suggest to her how such open and it becomes an M! And it seems to me that when I gestures would be done. Then when he introduced the con- whisper the B, I do not move air at all so as to whisper-voice sonants, he gave her word examples; in particular, he gave the sound; I only move air to whisper-voice the vowel her: “Hier heulen heute Hyänen” (Hyenas howl here today). before or after it. (As an aside, this would suggest that the As with all of Steiner’s work, his suggestion to make use of difference between B and P depends upon characteristics assonant and alliterative sentences is a hint. He left it up to other than whether or not we voice it while forming it.) us to take the hint, to find what he knew we could find by What I come is this: my forming of the B entails a proceeding in this manner. This is what I have been doing. I specific kind of complete stop followed by (but not always) invite all of you – both eurythmists and speech-artists – into a specific kind of release of that stop into the next sound. this work. Now that I’ve consciously-observed these sensory What might it mean to inquire into the speech sound facts – how I form the B by shutting off the movement of air B, seeking to know its “necessary” and “matter-of-fact” at all points, with my lips closed, and how I deftly release nature and movement-inclination, its gesture-impulse, and this form – what further knowledge can I achieve by gather- to do so in keeping with the spirit of Goethe’s sensible- ing feeling-perceptions and by allowing them to ‘rise into supersensible process? I will describe how I go about it my head’? – as Steiner told Lory to learn to do (see within the scope of my physical-sensory and soul-spiritual Siegloch). Something of a supersensible nature unfolds capabilities as yet. within our investigation when we include these perceptions B is commonly classified as a voiced, bilabial, that reach beyond the physical-sensory realm. And here is plosive sound. How so? It is also commonly said that we where my speaking of the poetic miniature speech sound stop the air with our lips, that when the air pressure becomes etudes by heart is my special tool, and even more than that: great enough it forces our lips open, and that we voice the B my ally. as we release it. But is this really what we do? To begin to But in fact, speaking the etudes has been central to make a “careful study” of what B involves and how it feels, the work as a whole, not just because of the immersion they we need only turn to our own experience of speaking the B. provide for the individual sound that rings out through the My experience of producing the B shows me that if assonance or alliteration. As I described in my report (at our I merely stop the air with my lips, the air still moves up from website, posted in 2014) my intensive work with them has my lungs and out through my nose. In actuality, not only do honed my speech, because my hearing has continually – I stop the air at my lips; I also stop it by closing my soft though indirectly – guided my speech organs to form the palate. Of course, as in childhood, a lot of what I actually sounds ever more cleanly, sculpturally and resonantly. How do, I don’t do consciously. But I am now observing what I would I be able to discern accurately the characteristics and do. Next, I find that I do not force my lips to open by accu- gesture-impulse of the B if my speech itself isn’t brought to mulating air pressure: I have also stopped the air at its origin a much higher level of clarity, dexterity and lawfulness? I’m in my lungs. There is no mechanical air pressure process. grateful for the help that the poetic etudes have given me. Instead, with deft regulation, especially of my lips and Through speaking the etudes with their rhythmic lungs, I give a precise little puff of air while opening my dance of repetitions of B, I now gather feeling-perceptions: lips. Then, upon my release of this completely-stopped con- I feel how quickly – very quickly – I produce its form, as I sonantal form that I have shaped, I find that what I actually stop up the air each time. This is striking. I would say this is voice – i.e., make sound for with my larynx – does not a key characteristic: B doesn’t wait around. In addition, I belong to B: what I voice is the vowel that follows. feel a resolute quality in the boundary I’ve made, rather Through further investigation, I find that when B balloon-like in feeling, that involves all of the tissues comes at the end of a word, I release it silently; or I might bordering the the cavity of my mouth. I also feel awake in not bother to release it at all. In either case, I still experience the complete halt of my speech organs; I feel this as a self- it as B; for instance, “he’s in his crib.” (Note that deliberate- made barrier in the flow of time. Like the quickness of my ly voicing a vowel after this final B would be considered a stoppage of air, this halt in my speech movement is striking. 22 Eurythmy Association of North America Then when I release the B into the vowel that follows, I feel choose, speak quite without gesture, even going so far as to how suddenly and completely I drop the whole form of the stand rigidly still with your hands in your pockets; but in B; how suddenly my intoning of the vowel begins. I feel the that case your etheric body will gesticulate all the more vig- dramatic contrast between these two sounds: the formed, orously, sheerly out of protest!” (Also see 8/28/13.) completely-stopped B and the singing vowel that ensues. I believe this explains why I feel the gesture-impulses most Indeed, the forming of the B feels just as Steiner strongly when I keep rather still and don’t try in any way to said the plosives do in general, when they are properly assist these subtle movement-inclinations: they “protest” expressed in eurythmy: “The body must show that it intends against my quietude! I have found that as they gain strength to come to rest, to fix, as it were, the movement which is and clarity in me, they find their way into my limbs to an indicated by the sound. ...This inner rigidity gives the ever-greater degree all on their own. I do not direct them. consonants of force their special character. ...And the Through proceeding in this way, I have found that consonants of force express this feeling: I will hold fast to the invisible realities that belong to B appear to my inward Ahriman, for if he escapes me he will poison everything; he perception as qualities of form, movements and colors that must be held fast” (EVS, Lecture 7, one-third in). Each plo- involve the region of my entire body – though not limited to sive sound has its own way of “holding fast.” For instance, my physical form – and are present in the space around me. D doesn’t make the same kind of boundary that B does. When I speak the alliterative etudes for B, I perceive that its I can now “raise perception itself” to yet another movement-urge is bent upon an instant formative activity. level (12/28/23), to gather a further higher body of percep- Yet, in keeping with the nature of B that I have already dis- tions to add to the those I’ve gathered in the physical- covered, this activity is short-lived. It quickly comes to a sensory and feeling realms, and let these perceptions also halt. In my body, I find that the movement engages both my ‘rise into my head’ to be consciously known. Steiner spoke upper and lower limbs in an instant urge toward rounding: of what is possible for us if we attain the next-higher stage I perceive how my arms must bound out from my sides to of inner development, that of true Imagination Cognition – make a gesture in front of me akin to the rounded boundary direct perception of etheric currents, firstly, of the formative of my rib cage, my whole breast area, and often overlapping forces of our own etheric body (see “Knowledge and each other; and my legs and feet want to turn in and are Initiation,” his 4/14/22 lecture) – but even without this, it is embodied with this urge whether or not they can actually possible to have perceptions of many of the invisible carry it out physically. My back must be straight. realities that occur when the speech sounds are spoken. To my inward perception, this forming movement Abundant color-work and work with the seven rod exercises of B appears as the invisible color-experience of yellow. prepared me for this. (In my article about the rods in the Steiner explained in Theosophy, that we gain inward EANA Newsletter, Fall 2015, I described in detail my experiences of colors when, while observing a colored approach to them.) I couldn’t have succeeded as well as I surface, “the soul experiences not only the sense have without the help of the rods, to hone my inward impression, but through it, it has a soul-experience” (Ch. 3, sensitivity and to strengthen my ability to clearly 6th section, on the human aura). This is the sensible-super- differentiate and know my experiences. sensible approach applied to color. When we develop our For this third level of investigation, again I speak ability to have soul-experiences of colors, and work to dif- the etudes for B; but this time I stand quietly poised, ready ferentiate them accurately, we will be able to recognize the to move. However, movement in space is not my purpose: I invisible color-characteristics of the movement-urge of all am poised to perceive what moves within me as the gesture- of the sounds, such as the yellow movement of B. Going impulse of B. I have found that this approach gives me the further with B, I find that the space around me does not strongest inward experiences. As Steiner stated, whenever further this yellow; nor does it resist it particularly. I sense we speak, our whole being is making gesture-movements. something below and to the outside of my rounded arms; it “Through a kind of sensible-supersensible perception, one is not everywhere. In this phenomenon, I perceive the quiet discovers at those moments [when a person speaks] that passivity of blue, though its presence has come instantly, inclinations toward movement, movement-intentions – not along with the yellow in the formative movement of my the movements themselves but the intentions-to-move – limbs. A third color comes strongly to my awareness in the surge and weave through the entire human being” (see outer surfaces of my arms and hands: red. 8/18/22). And at Penmaenmawr, in his longer introduction What I am describing pertains, of course, to the on August 26, 1923, he said that “the etheric body never three-color dynamic of “movement,” “feeling” and “charac- uses the mouth as the vehicle of speech, but invariably ter” that is found in all of the gesture-impulses of the makes use of the limb-system. And it is those movements sounds, as Steiner showed in his Figure drawings. made by the etheric body during speech which are Continue on page 24. transferred into the physical body. Of course you can, if you Eurythmy Association of North America 23 Eurythmy Conference “The Twelve Moods” in Portland, Oregon

Dorothea and participants Dorothea Mier Planets in Taurus Eurythmy Spring Valley From “The Twelve Moods of the Zodiac”, Rudolf Steiner

Michael Leber Rhapsody in g minor Op. 79 No. 2 Nine Pieces for Piano, No. 1 Eurythmeum Stuttgart Johannes Brahms Zoltan Kodály

"The Song of Initiation, A Satire” by Rudolf Steiner; Photographer Jim Collias

Two-hour performance of group work and solo/group pieces to a full house held in the eurythmy room of the Cedar Wood Waldorf School. Warm-up exercises with Michael Leber 24 Eurythmy Association of North America Beginning with B... quick formation of such a boundary is expressed beautifully. Continued from page 22. And at point of danger to the child, all decent mothers and When I was first working intensively with B, my observa- Madonnas will move to protect the child with an instant B! tions were tentative. When I finally began to look at So, what did Steiner mean when he said that with the con- Steiner’s drawing for B, I could see that there was much sonants we “imitate” what we perceive in nature (as in EVS, more to be discerned; but I realized that I had laid a fine Lecture 2)? In our being we possess a “lively relation to all foundation. Now I could ask, is what Steiner shows in his things” (6/9/23) on account of the formative processes at drawing really present in my experience of the phenomenon work in them; and through the medium of these same form- of the B gesture-impulse? Can I find these details if I turn ative forces at work within our own organism and in our my attention to them? The answer is: yes! I was then able to speech activity, we give expression to our experiences, both perceive the two limited areas of the blue that lie crossed as speech and through the movement of our whole being. In “daruber” (‘over,’ ‘there-over’) the front of my body. It eurythmy, we do not imitate natural processes in the manner became even clearer to me that the blue is not all around; in of mime: we go to the source of both the outer phenomena, particular, I sensed how bare, bald, my head is and how my and the inner phenomena of our speech and movement. And arms are free of the blue, not enclosed by it – just as Steiner each gesture comes forth each time new, from a fresh grasp shows. I was also able to discern the presence of the angled of these phenomena, not as any kind of memory process. red zone on my face and the zones on my left chest and in Steiner said that “Goethe relates artistic creation to true the region of my right lower leg. My perception of the red knowledge … that has nothing to do with theory but that at the outer surfaces of my arms and hands – not permeating belongs to immediate perception” (8/15/20). Eurythmy them – leads me to say that I believe this is what Steiner depends upon ever-new perceptions of truth. meant when he wrote, “daruber,” for the red character color; Knowing the B this way gives substance to what and I found that the red in the three other zones is also only Steiner said about Virgo, the home of B and P, through present “daruber.” which the enthusiasm of Leo “becomes sobered.” B places Regarding the nature of the colors of the speech a hold on what enthusiasm would carry out without due con- sound gesture-impulses, it might be of value to consider sideration, so that the pros and cons can be weighed in Libra what Steiner wrote in Theosophy about the three species of (and so on), so that the intention can properly ripen to readi- colors in the human aura (again see Ch. 3, 6th section). In ness to become deed in the external world (EVS, Lect. 10). reverse order to the gesture colors, he said that “space is These experiences also show us how we will make filled by the first two species of colors with a subtle fluidity the transition between B and a following vowel in eurythmy that remains quietly in it. By the third, space is filled with movement. In school, I felt chronic pain over these plosive an ever self-enkindling life, with never resting activity.” consonant-to-vowel transitions, especially those involving (See his full descriptions.) In my work with B, I was the B. Learning to meld gestures only hid the problem. But surprised to find that the feeling color does not actively now that I understand that the B involves a particular quality move; and it appears to me that this is the case for all sounds of finished form and of release of that form, and that the regardless of what color this aspect might be. I’ve also sound I hear when I release the B when I speak is not the B, found that the character color is not a movement color. Only everything becomes clear for me in my gesture transition: I the movement color moves, ever-ready with “self-enkin- must form and complete the full-stop gesture of B and then dling life.” I don’t kindle it. That is why the movement let it go exactly when the vowel is to begin. I am laggard if colors of the sounds are so immediate in my experience and my forming of the B comes coincident with the sounding of within my expression. the vowel: at that point I must have dropped the B, in order Reflecting now on all three levels of perceptions of to express the vowel. And so it is for every transition. If we the B that I have had, sensible and supersensible, I see that would attend to critical details and nuances such as these, to they form a unity of experience. The B closes itself off with build our knowledge of every speech sound, every gesture- a quick yellow action. It does not interact with what is out- impulse and the transitions between them, then every bit of side its bounds. The space around it conforms to this, just as our expression of whole words joined into whole lines of the color blue would. And the red I experience at the bound- poetry can be “artistically formed,” “perfectly articulated” ary of my arms and hands in the gesture matches perfectly and vibrant in its “musical, sculptural, colorful” diversity of my experience of the resolute boundary – on all sides of the contrasting sounds, rhythms, meters, tone and structure. Our cavity of my mouth – that I produce when I speak the B. eurythmy can become the “highly developed gesture- Now I understand the role that B plays as the first sound in speech” we want it to be (7/8//23 and 11/2/22). And I long words: ‘basin,’ ‘bubble,’ ‘boom,’ ‘bully,’ ‘bold,’ ‘birth.’ The for this because of my experiences with all of these musical experience of whatever forms an outer boundary and the elements in my speech-work and poetic recitations (which I’ve written about here before). When both arts are equally- Eurythmy Association of North America 25 developed and vibrant, the most intimate collaboration is made in eurythmy; …down to the smallest vowel or conso- possible; and onlookers will be richly blessed with a true nant, everything has its own fixed gesture.” And so each revelation and renewal of the forces that underlie all life. In remains, whether made “brightly or dully, loudly or softly, my own movement, I continue to work toward this. long or short” (4/14/23). B remains B. If I don’t stop the B, So, in light of my experiences in the present, how this is the same as if I tried to speak the B without fully stop- do I now understand the way I used to approach gestures? ping the air; but this isn’t B. Hence, my gesture makes an What ingredients shaped my gesture for B before now? ugly discord with the properly-spoken B. When I reach one I took in the descriptions I was given. With B we address arm high for my B because I prefer it that way, I will find – our first concern in earthly life: building a physical shelter. if I look – i, ĭ or ‘loveableness’ lurking in my expression; I was to feel that I enclose something with the movement. and making a transition from this version of B to u or e (e.g., I also paid attention to how my teachers and schoolmates ‘say’ or ‘get’) will be awkward. And if I slow my B, for formed the B. In lessons, we were helped to improve how ease, its movement color is no longer yellow; hence, it is not we trained our movement, as this B gesture became more B: my movement has taken the color green, reddish-pink or familiar to us. In essence, we each formed mental picture blue, and I create a sound that we don’t make in English, a ‘imaginations’ of what the intention of B is said to be and sort of M-ish or o-ish B. I have taken leave of reality. what the gesture should feel like; and we made memory But we must remain grounded when we seek to pictures from seeing the movement being done. All of these know and express these higher realities, the speech sound mental pictures were tools for evoking, manipulating and gesture-impulses. In Knowledge of Higher Worlds (Ch. 2, adjusting our movement and endowing it with feeling. one-fifth into “The Control of Thoughts and Feelings”), In reverse, we also tried to ‘ensoul’ our B by asking our- Steiner described how we may undertake the sensible- selves how the learned physical gesture feels when we do it. supersensible contemplation of a seed, such that we may We were given to expect that entering the gestures fully gain true higher perceptions of its nature. He wrote: “In the might take years and years. first place let [the student] clearly grasp what he really sees From my experience of evoking a gesture for B with his eyes. Let him describe to himself the shape, color, with this mental picture ‘imagination’ process, I notice and all other qualities of the seed.” With these perceptions several things: my feelings and movement are dependent we unfold a path of thought and feeling, which includes upon what I hold in mind; this mental content intervenes observing that “if I had before me an artificial object which between the sound and my movement; this requires time; imitated the seed to such a deceptive degree that my eyes and it forces me to limit what I attempt to express. could not distinguish it from a real seed, no forces of earth How do these mental pictures and ‘imaginations’, or light could avail to produce from it a plant.” Two pages the creations of my ordinary ego, stand in relation to what later, he pointed out “the necessity … of perpetually culti- Steiner said about the gestures? He said, “as a matter of fact, vating that healthy sound sense which distinguishes truth there is not the slightest particle of intellectual content in from illusion.” And several pages after this, he wrote: “An them! …you understand [eurythmy] best if you don’t pile error fraught with serious consequences would ensue if it up a stack of thoughts about it. …it is not formed by intel- were assumed that the desired result could be reached more lectual forces” (6/10/23) unlike in mime, where the gestures easily if the grain of seed or the plant mentioned above were “are only guessed at” through intellectual activity (4/14/23). merely imagined, were merely pictured in the imagination. Yet when I pretend that I wrap my arms around something, This might lead to results, but not so surely as the method build something, or feel embraced by someone, these here given. The vision thus attained would, in most cases, be experiences are what my onlookers receive. This is not the a mere figment of the imagination, the transformation of expression of an experience of B itself. Eurythmy falls into which into genuine spiritual vision would still remain to be mime. It is made “impure” by intellectual, personal and accomplished. It is not intended arbitrarily to create visions, arbitrary elements like these (4/14/23). To gain speed and but to allow reality to create them within oneself. The truth fluidity, I can quiet my mental processes through a strong must well up from the depths of our own soul; it must not habitual association of the gesture with the sound; but I find be conjured forth by our ordinary ego, but by the beings that any real experience I might have of the sound itself themselves whose spiritual truth we are to contemplate.” becomes diluted or nil. Here is where eurythmy falls into My experiences tell me that everything that Steiner dance: rhythmic movement with little soul-spiritual content wrote about the contemplation of the actual seed applies to or exaggerated expression that makes it “vulgar” (ibid). our work with the speech sounds and their gesture-impulses. Once I have gone in these directions, I will not I will not find the true gesture-impulse of a sound so long as notice it when I gloss over the stop of the B as I merge my I begin by imagining the sound and its gesture as I suppose gestures into a sweeping flow. However, Steiner said that them to be, rather than accurately observing the sound with just like in speech, “there are only definite movements to be sensible-supersensible attention while actually speaking it. 26 Eurythmy Association of North America And one final note: Steiner said that “beauty is an It is just plain wrong. immediate reflection of what goes on in the higher worlds The following is a list of activities that also bring us in the form of movement.” When “intensified,” this into movement: ditch digging, ice skating, rioting, extra becomes “the artistic element.” He said that “much that is recess, harvesting apples, hopscotch, chopping wood. The unhygienic today ...is caused by the fact that there is so little list can be endless for almost anything to do with life has harmony between what the physical body has to do to adjust also to do with movement. With the possible exception of to the external world and what the etheric body, through its rioting, all these activities also qualify as potential pedagog- own inner mobility, demands from the physical body” ical means to get children and youth out of their desks and (8/28/13). Looking back, I see that the more enthusiasm and moving—including ditch digging! (I know, I’ve had experi- skill I brought to my predetermined and guessed-at gestures, ence.) Yet none of these would be considered a stand-in for the more certain it became that I would never perceive what eurythmy. If a faculty needs to create a substitute for euryth- my etheric body is actually, so subtly and lawfully, doing: my we must dig a little deeper. my overt gestures drowned out its activity. But now, perhaps Imagine a situation where there is no music avail- I can say, that because it has cost me such great effort to root able for a particular Waldorf school. I mean really no music: out these preconceived gestures, the true gesture-impulses no music teachers to be had, no one on the faculty with any that hold sway in me now are all the more precious to me. musical ability whatsoever, no one to sing with the children, What a marvel it is, to achieve this goal so significantly! all musical instruments have vanished and none are to be acquired. Immediately the faculty would search for a substi- Substituting Movement for Eurythmy tute. They’d look for something which, in its ennobling in Waldorf Schools effects, would be similar to music. They would look for an activity where, as with orchestra or choir, the children work Reg Down in ever shifting configurations that are highly tuned to each Sometimes there is no eurythmy program in a Waldorf other artistically, socially and with inner discipline. A sub- school. The reasons are various: budgetary choices, lack of ject where the children must take hold of phrasing, interval, suitable space, no eurythmists available. Generally there is rhythm, melody, mood and beat and master them with finely a certain unease around the situation. A Waldorf school honed skills. Luckily, the school does have a eurythmy pro- without eurythmy is suspect: if it can lack eurythmy, the one gram. In these areas eurythmy demands similar levels of subject unique to Waldorf education, then what else, per- activity, response and skill. Of course, nothing can truly haps less visible, is not being done? In this context, we find substitute music as an art and practice. It has its own schools substituting eurythmy with spatial dynamics, uniqueness and relationship to the inner life of the human games, circus skills, folk dance and so forth. The parents are being. But, if there were genuinely no music available to a told that while there is no eurythmy, the school has other school, if the faculty were forced to choose another field of movement options available for the children and all is under activity as a substitute for music then intensifying the control. We encounter this situation directly, or anecdotally eurythmy program would be a good option, perhaps even via administrators, parents, teachers or eurythmists. Aside the best one from a pedagogical point of view. from a sincere or pro forma bemoaning of the lack of We can see in a successful eurythmy program’s eurythmy the conversation stops there. There is no reason to effects on the children something similar to what music go further if the situation is objectively clear. Usually there brings to a school. It’s not hard to notice how classically is no animus against eurythmy, quite the opposite — it’s just trained musicians or musically gifted children have some- that no budget or eurythmists are available! What else is a thing about them that is different. It is visible in their being, school supposed to substitute eurythmy with? their gesture, their posture. We see that they interact with the Let’s take a closer look. The argument goes: world in a way that has been molded and refined by the eurythmy is movement and our children must have move- world of music. They have been ennobled in soul and spirit ment in the curriculum. They can’t sit at their desks all day! to such a degree that it becomes visible in the physical body. Therefore we will substitute eurythmy with another move- Eurythmy, in part at least, shares these positive effects. If a ment subject. A direct correlation is made between euryth- school does not have eurythmy then an intensification of the my and movement. This is a mistake. It might seem obvious music program is called for. After all, music is movement that since eurythmy is a movement art then it can be too! It brings highly refined and complexly textured group- exchanged with spatial dynamics, circus skills or folk danc- individual movements into play. And music is an art. Only ing, common subjects in Waldorf schools and therefore art can substitute for art, and we shouldn’t let ourselves be prime candidates to be chosen. However, if the aim is to cre- fooled by superficialities. ate a substitute for eurythmy, then the thinking that leads to But as wonderful as music is, it cannot of itself, be the above options being utilized is profoundly flawed.* a full substitute for eurythmy. Something else is needed. For Eurythmy Association of North America 27 instance, the forming-shaping element of eurythmy. Is there AWSNA Support for Eurythmy an activity in which the children are engaged in forming and At the most recent gathering of Association of Waldorf shaping? Is there a subject, an art, for instance, where what School delegates, June 2017 in Portland, Oregon, the circle lives in the inner life as imagination and will is brought out of delegates ratified a Position Statement to be included in and made manifest through a plastic molding process? We the AWSNA Membership Guide for all Waldorf Schools in find this in sculpture. Sculpture is movement too! Here the North America. Melanie Reiser, Executive Director of result of its activity remains in space, unlike the temporal art Membership for AWSNA and Susan Eggers the EANA of music. It’s not difficult to notice how different children liaison to AWSNA were our champions in this effort, under- are if blessed with imagination and skilled hands, or not. standing that eurythmy needed a gesture of support from the This forming-shaping sculptural ability reflects a deep real- leadership of AWSNA that would be heard by developing ity in children. They too are going through a forming-shap- and member schools. The Pedagogical Section Council also ing of their bodily members and organs. This is something carried our concerns and was a part of urging action from we want to foster in youth for a host of reasons. Therefore, AWSNA. to an intensification of the music aspect of schooling we can Schools without eurythmy programs now need to create add an intensification of the sculptural element. plans for how and when they will integrate eurythmy into But something essential to eurythmy is still miss- their school. Changes to eurythmy programs in schools will ing, even with music and sculpture combined. What is miss- need to be discussed as part of ongoing membership in ing is speech. Speech too is movement! And not just speech AWSNA. We are very grateful for Melanie’s strong gesture as in talking—we must remember body language, gesture, of support, and her understanding of the necessity for this sign and tongue. Observe how different a student is if they gesture at this time. We can all also feel deeply supported have an intimate relationship with language, or not. There by the efforts Susan has made over the past several years to are children to whom language is a dull instrument, and oth- strengthen eurythmy in Waldorf schools. ers where language manifests as a remarkable faculty. It is As eurythmists working in Waldorf schools, it is now the ‘remarkable faculty’ we want to cultivate: speech as incumbent upon us to strengthen our resolve to meet this social communion between human beings; speech that flies gesture of outer support with new inner vigor for our work. on the wings of poetry, generates drama on the stage or We’ve been given a gift of support—we can build on this! engages the feeling in storytelling; speech in its ability to Now it is up to each of us to strengthen eurythmy by impart meaning on multiple levels of being. This too is an making artistic eurythmy more visible within our schools, to essential aspect of eurythmy. strengthen pedagogical eurythmy for our students, to artic- If a school finds itself without eurythmy and the ulate more beautifully and clearly what stands behind our faculty genuinely wish to create a substitute for eurythmy work with the children in eurythmy, and to strengthen for their children, they will intensify three aspects of the eurythmy therapy as a presence in schools. It is also curriculum: speech, music and sculpture. Each of these arts strengthening for eurythmy in schools if eurythmy teachers addresses an essential aspect of the human being. Each has serve as AWSNA delegates in their region, bringing unique effects that can appear even in the physical body and “eurythmy consciousness” to their work with AWSNA. mien of the child. From a practical point of view, this might Bonnie Freundlich, Susann Eddy, Barbara Richardson, Ute mean extra lessons in these subjects where eurythmy is Grimm, Sabine Kully and Raymonde Fried have all served missing in the timetable. It can mean investing more time in or are serving in this way. plays, choir, ensembles, modeling, woodcarving or creating The AWSNA website of material supporting eurythmy sculpted puppets for festivals. It also means an opportunity, teachers has been expanded, and will continue to grow as a a challenge, for the faculty to strengthen the musical resource for eurythmy teachers. Articles and eurythmy element in their teaching, regardless of subject. Likewise to books are available for free download on the AWSNA web- heighten the sculptural, formative aspect of their teaching. site. Susan Eggers as the EANA/AWSNA liaison has been Similarly, to imbue with strength the word-world of speech instrumental in improving the offerings specifically sup- into their lessons. In their deeper effects, an intensification porting eurythmy teachers. If you have questions about the of these arts will tide their children over until the time Position Statement or the AWSNA website resources for comes when eurythmy proper lives in the school. eurythmy teachers, please contact Susan Eggers at * Just so we are clear: the issue here is these sub- [email protected]. jects’ suitability as a substitute for eurythmy, not their suit- Laura Radefeld and Susan Eggers ability as a subject. On a personal level, I have had excellent and supportive colleagues who taught these subjects and our http://eana.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ work with the children was never out of harmony. AWSNA-Position-Statement-on-Eurythmy.pdf 28 Eurythmy Association of North America A New Art in an Ancient Land: – we take this to mean that seeing a full eurythmy troupe on stage and under the lights is newly astonishing every time. The SFYE Troupe in China, 2017 It is always remarkable to see the students’ energy, engage- David Weber ment, and commitment to eurythmy. Beijing The year 2017 brought the 24th annual San Francisco Youth Just a week later, we arrived in China as a bright red sun set Eurythmy Troupe performance and tour. Astrid Thiersch over Beijing. We were met by Mandy and Alex, our tour created an all new program (as she does every year – noth- guides, who ushered us into the huge city. Our incomparable ing is repeated) with our tour to China in mind. The Chinese tour organizer (and Troupe parent), Caihong Zhou, had fairy tale was The Tibetan Prince, about the marriage of arranged a fine hotel for us in the city center, and we felt Princess Wenchung of the Tang dynasty to a wise prince awed and grateful, like visiting royalty. Dinner at a tradi- from far-away Tibet, replete with three tests, help from the tional Nanjing-style restaurant provided our first delicious bees, and the gift of grain to make the land fruitful. She also taste of China. included two selections from the Dao De Jing, a fable about A bus ride north out of the city brought us to the two mice and a snake, and for the Year of the Rooster a 闻鸡起舞 Great Wall (Chang Cheng) at Mutianyu. Our guide Alex chengyu story about rising up at rooster crow, Weber, a teacher, historian, and business consultant, regaled wen ji qi wu. A verse by Rudolf Steiner, Beim Läuten der us with an interactive talk about the history of China, Glocken, and a poem by Levertov rounded out the speech Mongolia, Beijing, and the Wall, with fascinating details pieces. The major music piece was a movement from and Mandarin etymology regarding gates (mun) and walls Beethoven’s piano trio in D Major, op.70 no.1; other musi- (cheng). The weather was superb, with bright blue skies and cal delights included pieces by J.S. Bach, Bartók, Satie, sunshine illuminating the tall jagged mountain peaks and Chopin, and Saint-Saëns. ridges. Ascending by gondola, we could see the Wall, stud- This year’s group of twenty-two students included ded with guard towers, snaking for miles and breathtaking fifteen seniors, and they responded with great energy and in its size and grandeur. We did excellent guard duty for an enthusiasm to the challenge of learning such an ambitious hour or two, floated down on gondolas or slid on toboggans, program. and returned to the city exhilarated and refreshed by our After more than five months of rehearsal, all was outing. At Beijing Public High School No.80 we were ready for our two San Francisco performances on February received by a group of teachers and parents from 7 and 8 at the Jewish Community Center. Attendance was AnDeHuaXu Waldorf School, which sponsored our high, with many young children who were captivated performances. They ironed costumes, ordered a piano, and throughout the entire show. Our guest artist, Christine ministered to our every need while we ran through a slightly Wang, teaches Mandarin in the grade school, and her superb ragged rehearsal and lighting set-up. A Peking Duck dinner guzheng artistry helped create a beautiful Chinese mood. sent us to bed replete and anticipating our performances. Lilia Zheltova, our pianist, was joined by her son Mischa Then it was Eurythmy day, and we were eager to be Khalikulov on cello and Sarah Lee on violin. Each year doing what we came to do. The theater at school No. 80 is a someone comments that this was the best performance ever performer’s dream – a big stage, spacious backstage and dressing rooms, excellent lighting, and seating for 800. The morning rehearsal went well, with our energy and focus restored. The first showtime was 2:00 p.m. and the hall was very full, with many children, parents, and teach- ers from several Beijing Waldorf schools. The performers responded with professionalism and heartfelt engage- ment, and the atmosphere was electric. The second performance at 5:00 p.m. was also well attended, with more Waldorf enthusiasts and students and teachers from No. 80. We received many accolades from eurythmy cognoscenti and also neophytes, expressing amazement about the breadth and depth of the program and also the students’ energy and commitment. Afterward we man- aged a brief meeting with the eighth grade students from Nanshan Waldorf school and their teacher, our dear friend Kathy Hu. They are on the verge of high school, and we Photo by Mandy were very touched that they came to our performance. Eurythmy Association of North America 29 Caihong Zhou, who is a keen student and appreciator of One Waldorf mother and teacher who is keen on Eurythmy Eurythmy, gave us some insightful reflections: (and had also seen our Beijing performance in 2011) said, “Over a long period, the Chinese people “Although the spotlight is given to the students, my real have sought the harmony of body, soul super star is their director Astrid Thiersch, for she knows the and spirit with the universe; they might students and she creates every year a new program acknowl- have been stopped during difficult times in edging and recognizing the students and their abilities.” history, but now it is the time that people Post-performance, a mid-morning start gave us time are more awakened. Eurythmy is the right to feel rested, then we were off by subway to a restored art and movement here in China. hutong area for a glimpse of Old Beijing. One-story grey Nationwide there are already many short brick houses line alleyways that twist and intersect; these term workshops and seminars, and even were usually courtyard houses, and now are restored as long term training courses; there are forms shops. Beijing was a low-rise city of neighborhoods like this of dancing classes going on in all public well into the twentieth century, and we could imagine the schools... Your performance came at just great Drum Tower and facing Bell Tower as the skyscrapers the right time! of their time, marking the north gate of the city wall. A short walk brought us to HouHai, the center of life when Kublai “Your performance is both uplifting and it Khan ruled China. Beautifully restored hutong curve around is fun, full of color and life. It is done by a a series of lakes at the terminus of the former grand canal. group of very beautiful, true, and lovely Some intrepid souls sought an encounter with Tibetan students. Many parents said they fell in Buddhism at the Lama Temple while others shopped and love with the boys and girls, especially lunched. Our evening outing was to a superb vegetarian kindergarten parents with still-dreamy restaurant, and a culture show at Lao She Teahouse, with children. The freedom, individuality, and plate juggling, singing, Chinese ensemble music, scarf consciousness of each student on stage magic, gong fu tea pouring, and face changing, all represen- were seen by many parents, as well as the tations of a truly amazing culture! vice principal of No. 80, Mr. Huo, and We were all eager to see Tiananmen Square and the they see that as the best part. Many in the Forbidden City. Despite the cold weather, we were amazed audience felt the oneness of the human by the size, scope and intricacy of the Emperor’s Palace. being with the music and the cosmos. A Alex regaled us with stories from its 800-year active history, professor from China’s Central Academy featuring emperors, concubines, eunuchs, and Mandarins, of Drama found the performance ‘very the 9,999 rooms, building secrets from the 1400s, and the modern and cutting edge’. Knowing meaning of dragons. others, knowing ourselves – when we all We returned to PS 80 for a fine lunch in apprecia- know each other better, the world is better! tion of our performance. As we arrived it started to snow, for Thank you for coming, and you have a the first time this winter in Beijing! The school’s dance club solid invitation to come back again!” performed folk dances from minority peoples in fabulous

Photo by David Weber 30 Eurythmy Association of North America costumes, then joined our troupe for a delightful eurythmy The threatened rain did not fall, and we spent a class with Astrid. The teachers there said they could see that morning wandering the Panda Park at leisure. It is a wonder- eurythmy was different – their dance is more purely physi- land of carefully created habitat, with bamboo forests, cal, and eurythmy calls for inner engagement and con- gently sloping hills and valleys, and clearings with log sciousness. This was pure observation, without judgment, structures for panda playgrounds. The bears and cubs were and they sensed something of the essence of eurythmy. The even more adorable up close than we imagined, enjoying Principal, Madame Tian, attended the class, and we later the good life in panda paradise. Souvenirs were a must. heard that a photo of her with Astrid appeared in the school At the Chengdu Waldorf School, Astrid and David newspaper. They found the class very inspiring, and wished did mentoring duty in eurythmy and music respectively, and it could have been longer. We parted with a heartfelt we toured their large campus housing nursery through exchange of thanks and gifts. Later we learned from eleventh grade. It is the oldest and largest Waldorf school in Caihong that the dance teacher inquired about eurythmy China, and we have long-standing connections with the workshops. community. Peeking into painted classrooms with chalk- We were delighted to visit AnDeHuaXu Waldorf board drawings, wooden desks, and cute children brought school, whose parents and teachers had worked hard to back fond memories for some students, and a longing to make our performances possible. There we we were treated extend the Waldorf experience back into childhood for to singing and dance by the teachers and parents, and a others. (“I want to just stay here and go to kindergarten!”) scene from Peking Opera by the fourth and fifth grade Their high school students regaled us with rock tunes, a students. We responded with singing, exchanged gifts and recorder ensemble, and a drumming group, and we respond- thanks, and concluded with recitation of the morning verse ed with singing. The lead teacher, Li Zewu, spoke movingly in Chinese and English. We could see that our performance of the connections between our schools, and the Troupe’s had a profound effect on the whole community, and they are prior visit in 2011. Many parents and teachers here worked trying to bring eurythmy into the curriculum for all of the long hours to make our visit enjoyable and to assure our students there. Parents expressed that their own high school performances would be well attended. life was not as beautiful, and that they hoped for experi- In the evening we mingled shopping with culture in ences like this for their own children. Having witnessed the Kuanzhai, a beautifully restored slice of the “old Chengdu” amazing ability of parents and teachers to create Waldorf with artisanal shops and restaurants. The architecture is schools in China over the past decade, we have no doubt breathtaking, and though it is a tourist destination, the wares that they will succeed! on offer reflected ancient and modern handcrafts at their Our time in Beijing closed with a gala farewell din- best. The day concluded with a superb vegan dinner in a ner with teachers and parents from the school, including the restaurant owned by a Waldorf school family. families of Xun Jin, Nick Feng, and Alex Weber. Astrid Performance day began at 8:30 am – a full day of brought us all together at the end, and there were moving rehearsal with two performances. The JinJiang Theater was tributes to the performers and the producers, especially a 10-minute walk from our hotel, a real blessing. It is done Caihong, whose vision, support and tireless work made our in traditional Chinese style, with seating for 500, a large tour to Beijing so special. We expressed our profound grat- stage, and excellent lighting system. It is the primary venue itude to our faithful donors, who make our tours possible. It in Chengdu for Sichuan Opera, which is performed there was hard to say goodbye, and we drove carefully away every night, so our showtimes were at 2:00 and 4:00 pm, through the snow feeling that we are truly part of another with a strict injunction to be out by 6:00. Waldorf community in our little sister school here. Everything proceeded in a brisk and professional manner – Astrid set the lighting cues in record time while Chengdu the students unpacked props and costumes, and volunteers We were greeted at the Chengdu airport with a warm wel- ironed costumes and provided drinks and snacks. We man- come by parents, teachers, and our old friend Li Zewu. aged a full run-through with time for lunch, and launched Many remembered our performances here in 2011. Our our final two performances. Eight hundred tickets were downtown hotel was within walking distance both to the sold, and the audience appeared about evenly divided theater for Friday’s performances, and to the evening’s between the performances, with more of the older children restaurant, which was an introduction to delicious local at the later show. The energy was high, and the students Sichuan specialties. The atmosphere in Chengdu is relaxed, brought each movement and nuance with meaning and and the city is well watered by three rivers and plenty of conviction, from the Beethoven trio to the tale to the group rain, making it verdant and pleasant. The students liked it and solo pieces. No doubt there were plenty of swans, mice, immediately; one remarked that it feels like life is on a very roosters, and pillow dances at recess at the Chengdu human scale here. Waldorf school in the following days! Eurythmy Association of North America 31 In reflecting on the performances, Astrid comment- An Overview of the ed that in eurythmy we can be freed from the constraints and demands of everyday life; we enter a realm of freedom, of 2017-2018 School Year beauty, and of joy. This is a kind of beauty we can find only Eurythmy Spring Valley in Nature, and a joy that comes from…where? We partici- pate in the etheric world of life forces, of growing and The new school year at the School of Eurythmy began on becoming. This is a glimpse of the future of humanity, of September 6, in a big circle of faculty, friends, and over 30 what we could be evolving toward. Everyone feels this students, celebrating with music, eurythmy and recitation. It when they do eurythmy or see it performed. As an art form has been a rich summer! The fourth-year students just com- eurythmy is young, and still limited in what it can show. pleted their second summer pedagogy block; last year’s Maybe in its development eurythmy is in its teens; perhaps graduates traveled all around Europe after their exciting trip that is why it is so wonderful to see teenagers do it. It was to Dornach; the second-year students rested and/or worked clear that our audiences in China felt and understood the tirelessly all summer; and it was lovely to see all the old and spiritual aspect of eurythmy in a special way, perhaps in a new faces in the first- and post-graduate years, to begin way that only a culture with an ancient spiritual tradition together once again. In another cause for celebration, two can. Anthroposophy, in its manifestation through Waldorf full-time speech students are beginning their training this education and eurythmy, seems to offer a new perspective fall, joining us for various blocks. on the relation of human being and universe, one that finds On the first Friday, the school had a rousing ‘workday’. a home in the tradition of the Dao. This is a time when everyone works together to get the On the last night in China, parents and teachers building and grounds shipshape. Now, everything from win- joined us for a most festive final dinner. We shared feelings dows to rods truly sparkle, and the garden looks ready for of school-sisterhood, thoughts about Waldorf education and winter. These first few weeks of school are filled with many eurythmy, and appreciation for our helpers and benefactors. visiting teachers and blocks: poetics, gardening, form-draw- Friends here had specially urged us to return this year, and ing, as well as a big speech chorus leading up to they expressed that their hopes for a lift to their high school Michaelmas. Greek gymnastics will follow soon after. The program had been fulfilled. We have a standing invitation to fourth-year class is presenting their talks “What is perform again, both in Beijing and Chengdu – who knows Eurythmy?” to the faculty and post-graduate students right what the future will bring? at the beginning of the term, and are also working on prepar- David Weber ing their demonstrations for the beginning of the second San Francisco term. The second year class will be carrying the festivals and are also spearheading the annual rummage sale, where the whole local community finds clothes for the winter and beyond, and everyone sees their discarded clothes look rather enchanting on their friends and acquaintances. Holder House dormitory is entirely filled up this year, and much activity is taking place in the communal kitchens, as all the students get to know each other and mingle with students from the Seminary, Pfeiffer garden interns, and other community members. Michaelmas festival celebra- tions, evening performances by the stage group, tours, fur- ther lectures and visiting teachers for many different sub- jects are scheduled, as well as a pedagogical practicum for the fourth-year class. The semester looks rich in activities all around, all built around the daily rhythm of eurythmy, while supported by speech formation, and musical and anthroposphical studies. In the midst of a brutal social and political climate to be able to work with eurythmy is mirac- ulous and a true blessing. Barbara Schneider-Serio

The Tibetan Prince, a Chinese fairy tale Photo by Scott Chernis 32 Eurythmy Association of North America Reflections on the Pedagogical In the same week, we also had quite a few classes with Laura Radefeld. One memorable experience with Laura was Block, Spring Valley Eurythmy, when I cringed, as I tossed a rod over my head down a line of four people. Laura saw me cringe, and she proceeded to August 2017 give everyone a lesson on how to toss rods one-handed, This summer brought four inspiring teachers for our peda- with a pile of rods in one’s arms, with confidence! I began gogical block. We began the first week with Cristina Geck, to feel as if there was a Grecian element to eurythmy then. who shared numerous exercises for grades three through Laura really strives to have one find that perfection of bal- six: creative stories, principles of introducing consonants, ance and truth in the exercise. We bow with gratitude to her rod exercises, and quite a few tone pieces. Then of course for our pedagogical lessons that are so organized. she encouraged us to create our own. I found myself becom- Erin Erkelens, Fourth-Year Student ing a window washer with my rod many an evening, creat- ing a lesson that would introduce the handling of a copper rod with a funny poem Cristina gave. Another classmate took us on an adventure through a Brazilian folktale and a Reflections from the Graduation few others made geometric dances. Every afternoon Conference in Dornach Cristina led us in the Maypole dance, or another folk dance This year’s annual conference of graduating eurythmists in that fit those particular grades. We learned the full reality of Dornach, Switzerland comprised an extraordinarily interna- introducing such pieces as we had some experienced tional group. With students from Japan, Jerusalem, South eurythmy teachers joining us and using the course as a Africa, Croatia, Slovenia, Russia, the U.S. and all over cen- refresher. This was extremely helpful, especially as they tral and western Europe, one could truly feel the diversity were so honest! I will never forget how they scurried to their and breadth of the global eurythmy community. It seemed notebooks to jot down the particulars of each exercise the that each group brought a unique element that placed it moment we were done. We ESV students were so relaxed, within the whole of the human family, each contributing its feeling more like a sponge than a processor. own special gifts and yet all sharing in the universally Dorothea Mier came along the second week and graced human striving for knowledge through art. us with her wisdom of major and minor. I found it so essen- A festive mood of meeting, exchanging, and taking tial to return to this basic principle. I felt like I could do that interest in the work of others pervaded the conference. For with her every year for the next five years or more, and that me, it was especially fruitful to hear from some students and was not just because she opened, quoting Da Vinci: teachers about how they work with eurythmy, about their “Knowledge of a thing engenders love of it.” I cannot questions and goals. Through entering into their viewpoint, express the details of her lessons, as it is what you experi- I was able to see eurythmy afresh with new eyes. Another ence in your body with her that builds this substance. highlight was a workshop with Annette Conlon Carina Schmid, in which we worked returned again, who on the Foundation Stone Meditation worked with us last in eurythmy. Moving together in year. She is quite the this large, international group in the specialist in incorpo- Schreinerei, where so many festive rating the twelve and significant events had taken senses into one’s place under the wise and benevolent understanding and guidance of Rudolf Steiner and his teaching of the child colleagues (including the Speech in the lower school. Eurythmy Course) one could sense We moved sounds as that something of this great call of if we tasted them or the Meditation was echoing in all smelled them, etc.; hearts, as the refrain exclaims at the such delicious and end of the first three panels of the pungent sounds we Foundation Stone: “This is heard by made. We built upon the spirits of the elements in East, our work with the West, North, South. May human lower senses from LL Class (left to right): Lori Scotchko, Qiaowen Zhang, beings hear it!” this spring, moving Corrine Horan, Bride McWilliam, Luna Erdmann Clifford Venho, ESV Graduate 2017 to the middle senses. Second row: Zachary Dolphin, Clifford Venho, Rebecca Renold Eurythmy Association of North America 33 Review of Eurythmy Conference old friends, and time to meet new friends. The AGM of the Eurythmy Association also was held one evening, and Alice “The Twelve Moods” Stamm reported she was stepping down as President of the Portland, Oregon Association. Thank you, Alice, for carrying and shepherd- August 4-13, 2017 ing the Associationalong with others, for decades now! The This workshop offered over 40 of us the opportunity to Association Council is now trying out a new model of work with the two lengthy cosmic verses which Rudolf working, with no one to follow her as President, but with Steiner wrote and choreographed, and which were first per- these many ‘volunteer’ council members carrying the col- formed in 1915. For some of us, this was our first occasion lective work into a further diversification of responsibilities of working with these verses eurythmically. (which Alice too will continue to be active in!). The classes were very ably and cooperatively carried by I give a heartfelt thank you to all who made this work- Dorothea Mier and Michael Leber, aided by the gifted sup- shop such a wonderful and memorable time. port of Patricia Smith (speech) and Besso Namchevadse, Michael Hughes, Maui pianist. In addition to both master teachers leading us through exercises to ‘tune our bodies’, they neatly divided The World Eurythmy Festival the course work. Dorothea led us into the “Twelve Moods”, on World Eurythmy Day sublime verses of cosmic influences, from which we will benefit not only now, but even understand better when we Honoring Rudolf Steiner and Bob Dylan are in the spiritual world between death and a new birth! September 24, 2017, in Pasadena, CA Michael brought ‘The Song of Initiation – a Satire’. This From the first sharing of ideas with eurythmy colleagues was for me more recognizable! Sometimes we ‘puff our- and a music teacher in Southern California during the sum- selves up’, or enjoy our ‘mystical musings’, or our earth- mer of 2017 there was enthusiasm for the idea, also because bound ‘stumbling thinking’, due to our lack of conscious of the novelty to connect Steiner and Eurythmy with honor- striving! Both of these works were greatly assisted by ing Bob Dylan. Dylan, having been nominated recently for Patricia’s speech and Besso’s accompaniments. Michael the Nobel Prize in Literature, was utmost in people’s minds. also brought, as he has for over thirty American summer So combining the less well-known eurythmy with Bob intensives now, a ‘tuning’ in tone Eurythmy, this time with Dylan’s songs and message brought both closer together. pieces by Brahms, Kodaly and Prokofieff. Dorothea and On the day itself three groups of students, from class Michael also provided a number of occasions for Karen eight and high school, performed Bob Dylan poems. Dottie McPherson to share some of her treasures from work with Zold of the Three-fold Elderberries Café in Hollywood gave Ilona Schubert. And Besso provided us with a moving con- the Opening Words, after people had time to look at the dis- cert evening, which was also open to others in the Portland plays. Music teacher and musician Rusty Vail led the com- area. As has been the practice, the workshop ended with an munal singing of Bob Dylan songs with guitar music, offering from the workshop to local residents. This “peek together with Frank Agrama at the piano. “The Times are A- into the workshop” was radiantly augmented by numerous Changing” was presented in eurythmy by eighth grade stu- more ‘polished’ pieces, which a number of participants dents from the San Diego Waldorf School. “ Forever offered, making the Art of Eurythmy more visible. Young” by Bob Dylan was presented by high school stu- Huge kudos go to the group who prepared and carried dents of the Waldorf Performing Arts class in Costa Mesa. the organization and running of the workshop so well! Andrew Dzeduliones, of the Waldorf School of From the first contacts, to the ‘after workshop’ photos, Northridge, performed Precious Memories in speech copies of music, and requests for how things could be better eurythmy and then in tone eurythmy to the Bob Dylan song for future workshops, a real warmth and colleagueship was “The Times are A-Changing.” Johanna Laurelin, of the experienced. Arranging housing, meals and transportation Waldorf School of San Diego, performed a Bach Gigue and for so many can be truly daunting, but it was experienced Tranquillo by Kodaly. Lillith Dupuis, of the Waldorf School more as a ‘festive occasion’ rather than a chore. Truly a big of Orange County performed a Scriabin Prelude. Rachel ‘labor of love’! It should also be mentioned that a generous Schmid, from Phoenix, Arizona, performed a Bach Prelude grant was awarded for this workshop, ‘mid-wifed’ via Reg and Ariel’s Song by Shakespeare. Truus Geraets performed Down and the astuteness of the Portland Eurythmy Group’s a verse by Rudolf Steiner, “To wonder at Beauty.” being a registered non-profit organization. We ended with a demonstration of eurythmy with the The days were nicely balanced between eurythmy participants. activity and pauses, allowing many conversations and meet- The program was announced as suitable for families ings between colleagues to take place: time to spend with and so friends and families came until the last seat was 34 Eurythmy Association of North America filled. Of course, only the somewhat older folks could streams. The scholar Frances Yates (1899-1981), who was chime in with the singing. In unstable times, as we are fac- born and died on Michealmas, drew attention to some of ing here in the United States, people are hungry for positive these in her books Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic and life-affirming experiences. Lots of lively conversations Tradition (1964), The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972), were going on during the time of refreshments, with few The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age (1979). people really wanting to leave. Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) brought the secret spiritual In a world where the Economic sphere is dominant, the practices into the Light through his writings and lectures, Rights sphere has become ever more questionable, our tracing their origins back to the beginning of times and intention was to make a contribution in the Cultural arena. beyond. And giving indications for the future development We hope that more such festivals will be planned in other of humanity. places in the US, as well as in the world-wide areas of the I find eurythmy to be the pinnacle blossom of his teach- Performing Arts. ings. Perhaps I am biased since I am a eurythmist. And I continue to be deeply in love with this harmonious move- ment art. I would like its fragrance to move beyond the cir- cles of anthroposophy. To spread awareness of the profound teachings, arising out of the Western esoteric thoughts. To feed the cravings of the souls hungry for deeper meanings. Photos of the World Eurythmy Festival on inner back cover As I see it, the mission of eurythmy is threefold: Truus Geraets • As essential part of the Waldorf education in Europe and the U.S., as well as elsewhere Eurythmy Can Make you Stronger • As nourishment for the souls on a spiritual quest incar- nated on the Earth at this time of human history “They have probably never experienced eurythmy,” she • As the blossom of the Western esoteric wisdom to be said. I looked at her bewildered: “At a Waldorf school in the shared around the globe U.K.?” She nodded. How can that be? How can a Waldorf Yes, there is a lot of work to do for eurythmists; school be a Waldorf school without giving children any daunting, challenging, and very exciting. At this point of my eurythmy at all? Eurythmy cannot be replaced by yoga, life, I am particularly drawn to bringing eurythmy into the meditation, tai chi, especially not as a support to holistic world as nourishment for adults seeking a deeper meaning child development. of life. This mission was confirmed to me as I visited Many eurythmists from the U.S. and Europe are being Europe during the summer. invited to China to teach eurythmy. I hear that Waldorf I was invited to present eurythmy at the Summer Dance schools are opening up and thriving there. Ralph White, the School in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at the end of June. I began co-founder of the New York Open Center and avid follower the evening by performing a speech eurythmy piece to the of Rudolf Steiner, was called to visit China in spring this poem “The Moment of Poetry” by Mark Nepo, spoken for year to advise how to run a holistic spiritual center. The me by a Slovenian speech artist Ljoba Jenče. The intention Chinese people are waking up, and want to explore the spir- of my talk was to introduce eurythmy to dancers. The focus itual traditions of the West. But what do we have to offer? was on speech eurythmy, because the space had no piano, Europe and the U.S. are ablaze with offerings derived and I could not find a violinist. There were over 30 people from the Easter spiritual traditions. But, they are watered in the audience: Slovene dancers, foreign dance teachers, a down; taken out of their historical and cultural contexts. few people from the local Waldorf school. Various types of yoga, meditation, tai chi, brought to the Speech eurythmy talk at the Summer Dance School, West from India and the Far East have their place. As part Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 28, 2017; Photo by Tomaž Črnej of growing global awareness. It’s good to better understand humanity as a whole through learning and experiencing dif- ferent ethnicities, different approaches to life, and connec- tions with the worlds of Spirit. Each human being is a tiny blossom, gorgeous in itself, of a composite flower of human race, to use a metaphor from the plant kingdom. Why are Americans and Europeans so eager to embrace the Eastern spirituality? There are deep esoteric traditions indigenous to the Western world. Yes, they have been ruth- lessly suppressed by the Church from the Nicaean Council in 325 AD onward. Yet, they have survived, albeit as hidden Eurythmy Association of North America 35 I was surprised to find out that some of the Slovene I felt supported. Wonderful memories that continue to dancers were exposed to eurythmy during their contempo- inspire me on my eurythmy path. rary dance training at Plesni teater Ljubljana (Dance Theater As I was heading back to the U.S., I stopped at Findhorn Ljubljana). And yes, the Slovene Waldorf schools in Foundation, near Inverness, Scotland. Visiting the spiritual Ljubljana and Maribor have regular eurythmy teachers: community there was on my to-do list for years. And finally, Mario Čuletić and Vida Talajić-Čuletić. They are also lead- the opportunity presented itself: Norwegian Airlines began ing a professional eurythmy training as a joint program of offering low fare flights between Scotland (Edinburgh) and three cities—Zagreb (Croatia), Ljubljana (Slovenia), the U.S. (Stewart Airport upstate New York and Providence, Maribor (Slovenia)—under the auspices of Eurythmeum Rhode Island). I attended the Experience Week at the Cluny Stuttgart. This summer, a nice-sized graduating class was Hill, part of the Findhorn Foundation in Forres. It was a rich attending the Eurythmy Olympiad in Dornach, Switzerland. journey with twenty-five spiritual seekers and hours of deep After my talk on eurythmy at the Summer Dance listening. On the last day, each one of us was invited to School, Andreja Kopač, who was one of my dance students share something with the group. I chose to go around the in the early 1990s, spoke to me in awe. She was especially circle and move eurythmy gestures of the first sound of inspired by the Apollonian principles in speech eurythmy. people’s names, followed by the Zodiac or planetary gesture “What a different way to understand language!” she associated with it. Five minutes did not allow me to do this exclaimed. “Much more alive than the dead end philosoph- for everyone, but just a few. As I began to move, the room ical approaches of the 20th century thinkers.” She seemed became silent. From the corner of my eye, I saw one person inspired to pick up and read some of the Rudolf Steiner’s started crying after I did a few gestures. I thought that the writings. movement brought up memories of her Waldorf schooling. A few weeks later, at the beginning of August, I led an “Partially,” she explained to me afterward. “But mainly introductory eurythmy circle in my hometown Novo mesto because I could sense the source of the sound. The cosmic in the South East of Slovenia, at the request of a person who energy of what is, of existence.” Later during the day, other read an interview with me in a local magazine. The class group members came to me and said that several of them was held at the regional library, named after Miran Jarc started crying. And they only saw me moving eurythmy (1900-1942), a Slovene writer and poet. Twenty-three gestures from behind. Nonetheless, something touched people showed up! I truly did not expect so many to come. them very, very deeply inside, and released the tears of After all, Novo mesto is a small town (population of slightly profound longing. over 23000), and Slovenes tend to drift to the Adriatic sea- That is what harmonious movement does. It touches side in the middle of summer. Half of the people knew me people when and where they need it. It embraces us with personally as a former dancer and teacher; the other half nourishing etheric caress, softening and strengthening our came because they saw the announcement in the library’s souls. I continue to be amazed how simple eurythmy ges- newsletter. We began with a couple of social eurythmy exer- tures awaken the inner Light. I look around a circle and I see cises with apples (since I did not have copper balls) to a gentle smiles on glowing faces. poem by Emily Dickinson and one other verse. Then I Marta Stemberger, MA guided them through vowel gestures, and we moved Soulful Wizardess to the poem Sun Burst. At the end, there was time to Chestnut Ridge, NY share the participants’ observations. A practicing psy- www.hAmoves.net chiatrist experienced eurythmy as a mindfulness approach to movement. He was very impressed. Another person commented how she enjoyed being carried through exercises by following the energy of my gestures. But a budding Slovene cosmopolitan Social eurythmy film director Hanna Szentpeteri shared a touching circle in description: “My first totally magical eurythmy class Novo mesto, tonight, thanks to the fantastic Marta. I’ve never felt Slovenia, so connected to a whole room of strangers before, and August 1, 2017 I thought I was a very approachable person. Thank you for today. Magical night. A bridge land. Eurythmy can only make you stronger.” Photo by Slovenia, a small country of my birth, yet it has a Hanna Szentpeteri very open and receptive audience, most of whom have never even heard of Rudolf Steiner or eurythmy. 36 Eurythmy Association of North America Review of Course with Jan Ranck recommend colleagues to attend this course if and when it is offered again. For those of you – therapists, pedagogues How can we keep alive and nurture the inspirational legacy and artists, who wish to deepen and broaden your knowl- of Lea van der Pals? This question I have lived with and edge and skills in tone eurythmy, this is where that can take continue to live with as I strive to continue my own devel- place. And last, but not least: you will be able to experience opment as a eurythmist in addition to further developing my Lea van der Pals in the process! Heartfelt thanks to Jan teaching capacities and insights. Ranck! Raymonde van der Stok My summer was a very busy one, but lo and behold, a course was being offered by Jan Ranck in therapeutic tone eurythmy, and furthermore it was taking place right in my Announcements neighborhood. Most importantly, it was bringing Lea’s Interval Reflections genius and research to those there for the taking, as it were! I would like to thank the editor for posting the notice about Somehow, I would have to make space for this in my life. Interval Reflections, the eurythmists for their interest, and Through this intensive nine-day course, we were masterful- also note that the book is now distributed internationally! ly guided by our intrepid Jan into a deeply resonating expe- There are several things I would like to say about this rience of the profound and powerfully healing nature of the composition. I wanted to write music that “reflected” a take fundamental elements of tone eurythmy. We worked hard to on the intervals as perceived in anthroposophy, at first hop- tune ourselves in such a way that we could really discern the ing to be able to convey this just using the “mood” of what subtleties underlying these elements and we had to work each creates. But that turned out to be too vague, so I used hard too, to digest the wealth of content and material that the actual intervals to create the short pieces for each one, needed to be covered. which of course limited the material; my task was to make This course was attended by mostly eurythmists. Two each of them manifest in some way an aspect of the interval. lay-people joined us; an opera singer, who brought her I chose a Steiner description for each to be an inspiration musical riches to our dialogue; and an early childhood and expectation for the moods and styles. educator, who connected very deeply with the work and I would characterize them as being clear and simple, but had so many pertinent questions to ask. These two proved of course in my own style artistically, which is tonally sug- so valuable to our work and in some way (which I can’t gestive in places but uses a personal dissonant sound to yet fully articulate) allowed us and the process greater stimulate and also so that they do not “sit” so easily (i.e., depth and reflection. wake people up!). They are not meant for “exercises” but Lea was very ‘present’ in this work, and as a graduate as short artistic characterizations. Whether or not they are of her school, I recognized and felt buoyed by the unmistak- done in eurythmy is up to each person, but personally I do able imprint of her genius! There is no doubt but that I was feel that there is something there that would “show” what an flooded with memories of the extraordinary training I was interval gesture can do as it is immersed and “starring” in a privileged to undertake in Dornach back in the mid 70’s! compositional form. To everyone who received the Interval Sequences and exercises, inspiring in their shaping, Reflections book, I have discovered one correction: In the overwhelmingly real in their content and musical selections, OCTAVE piece, line 4, measure 2, the final G in the bass and so designed to work on specific diagnoses; the mark of should have a natural sign. the consummate artist so evident in their design. This was I would ask that anyone who reads or listens will try to our daily diet, and Jan deftly guided, prodded, encouraged pick up the evolutionary thread as well as the inner and and challenged us. Time was given to hear and respond to outer characteristics I attempted to convey. The more sim- many of Steiner’s words and content relevant to a deeper ple or “primitive” beginnings lead through to more of a flow grasp of the complexities of the various conditions where of ideas as they progress. Thank you again for your interest. specific tone sequences would be relevant. Melanie Richards While the course was thorough, so well organized, articulate and artistic (with a very able young pianist play- Thyme Arts Fund ing for us), it was so full that I would have wanted a couple Eurythmy and Creative Speech are time arts and we know it of days rest and then a continuation or resumption in which takes time to fully develop as performing artists, teachers again, we would review the practice of therapies. and therapists. Thyme is a perennial plant which grows The question with which I opened these words has in slowly. The old gardening adage says, “The first year it part been answered! Lea’s work and legacy is being carried sleeps; the second year it creeps; the third year it leaps.” forward and I am hopeful that this can grow. I feel so privi- Our idea is that if people make donations in any amount leged to have been able to attend this course and am grateful they can afford, and commit to making the same donation to Jan for her unstoppable commitment to the task. I highly for five years we can make a substantial scholarship fund Eurythmy Association of North America 37 for students at recognized speech and eurythmy schools to offerings in this community. help through their extended training. Barbara Renold, Jennifer Kleinbach and Helen Lubin We collected $3,000 in the first year, and the same are the organizers and teachers. We hope, as this initiative $3,000 plus $2,500 additional donations so far in year two. grows, to be able to invite other colleagues to share their We also distributed the first year’s donations of $3,000 to artistic strivings and capacities with our students. four eurythmy and speech students. It is very exciting to have two promising students! But, This fund, started by Lemniscate Arts, is now being as you can imagine, even with significant support from serviced by RSF Finance. Please send your donations or Threefold and other institutions, the budget doesn’t quite encourage others to make donations to: balance; with a third student, it would be able to breathe RSF Finance, 1002 O’Reilly Ave., San Francisco, CA 94129 quite a bit more easilySo please spread the word and send Thank you, for the Thyme Fund: Barbara Richardson, any potentially interested students our way to join in the Marke Levene, Susan Eggers and Douglas Gerwin fun!! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, in the years to come, we could welcome some younger speech colleagues to help this art form continue to have a home on earth and support the AMARANTH ARTS work of our sister art, Eurythmy! Barbara Renold Eurythmist – Christina Beck Acting/Speech – Beatrice Voigt Pacific Eurythmy Musicians – Several collaborating We are excited to share with you that Pacific Eurythmy, a A collaborative form of working together as eurythmists, new part-time eurythmy intensive course on the West Coast, actor/speakers and musicians is at the heart of Amaranth in Portland, Oregon, has opened its doors in early Arts. September! Teachers and students gathered for a Welcome Amaranth is from the Greek: “one that does not wither.” Tea the weekend before classes started to meet and greet. “I go where I love…” H.D. We had a wonderful beginning with our small, yet dedicated ● This program is in development group of First-Year students. We meet four times a week for ● Initial performances/workshops ready for fall 2018 eurythmy classes in both Speech and Tone Eurythmy, as ● Leminiscate Arts will receive gifts noted for Amaranth on well as one Saturday a month. One evening is dedicated to our behalf, 100% of which will come to us subject classes. Since the group is still small we opened our ● More to follow subject classes (music theory, anthroposophy, painting and Contact Christina Beck [email protected] more) to the wider community. This proved to be a wonder- or Beatrice Voigt [email protected] ful idea. Many community members are participating, for schools, communities, outreach programs. helping to make those classes a rich experience for our eurythmy students and giving the eurythmy intensive course Speech School at Threefold Educational Center also a wider place in the community. For the moment we are The Speech School of North America is re-awakening! Two housed at the Portland Waldorf School, who has offered us students have moved from North Carolina to the Threefold one of their eurythmy spaces for free in exchange for free Community in Spring Valley, NY to engage in a full-time classes for faculty and staff members in our subject lessons. process of speech training! And we have begun! We join We feel fortunate to have the support and with the worldwide speech school movement, by being the mentorship of Eurythmy Spring Valley. We spent a week third full-time Creative Speech program at this time, along last spring at the Eurythmy School having good conversa- with Helsinki (Finland) and (). All other tions with faculty and students, and we will have someone known speech trainings are part-time. come mentor us here in Portland soon. We meet 5-6 mornings per week for daily speech les- For more information, please visit PacificEurythmy.com sons, work that is augmented by three movement classes, Carrie Mass, Jolanda Frischknecht Greek and Bothmer Gymnastics, Spatial Dynamics or Eurythmy. Anthroposophical studies, and community MA Course for Eurythmists speech chorus round out the basic schedule at this time. As this newsletter goes to press, the Master’s in Eurythmy Being in the strongly established anthroposophical set- in English, offered through Alanus University, is rounding ting of the Threefold community gives the students a wide off its two-year course in the US. Through eurythmy prac- variety of opportunities, both in their artistic endeavors and tice with guest teachers who have shared their research with their anthroposophical deepening. They take part in some us, seminars and student presentations, we have gathered a classes at the School of Eurythmy, as well the Christian rich harvest of experiences, insights, stimulating questions. Community Seminary. We are still exploring various possi- Whereas a eurythmy training offers a grounding in the bilities to further enhance their studies through the many subject, eurythmy, and is in that sense a BA level of study, 38 Eurythmy Association of North America an MA is for graduates who are professionally engaged as September 2018 at Emerson College in Forest Row, eurythmists in therapy, education, or performance. We could England, and takes place in three blocks a year over two say that we expect to learn the essentials in a training from years. If you’ve come to the place in your professional life experienced teachers and the teachers in turn expect us to where you have questions you want to explore or are seek- achieve a certain level of expertise. But at the MA level, the ing to widen your world-view in your field, you may con- focus shifts. The teachers become “tutors”, meaning that sider contacting Coralee Frederickson and Shaina Stoehr on their task is not so much to ‘teach’ as to stimulate and guide [email protected] to request an information packet. students. There is not a ‘curriculum’ of elements to be The 2018 course will also offer eurythmy teacher train- learned and practiced, but the content of study is the stu- ing in addition to the Master’s, so if you are a recent gradu- dents’ own experiences and questions. For this reason, the ate of a training or wish to deepen your teaching skills, you student’s first task in the MA is to articulate his or her ques- may also consider the MA in 2018-20. The eurythmy tion. Then it is a matter of finding out more... ‘researching’. teacher training will entail an extra week each block (total: In the last fifty years, the word ‘research’ has expanded 6 weeks) with experienced eurythmy teachers and education its meaning and is no longer only associated with white professionals who will take you through the eurythmy cur- coats and laboratories. “Qualitative” (or “phenomenologi- riculum practically and theoretically. We look forward to cal”) research is now recognized as a valid mode of research hearing from you! that lends itself to our own practice in eurythmy education, Coralee Frederickson and Shaina Stoehr therapy, and performance and encourages individual reflec- tion on one’s own practice. Eurythmy Spring Valley Events Research is a form of unbiased exploration that includes Frontier Part-Time Training Course: New Class placing the ‘field of interest’ into the wider context of relat- Forming October 2017. Application deadline Sept. 29! ed contemporary practice, which for us includes movement Eurythmy Spring Valley offers a part-time training program arts and different aspects of education or therapy. Opening in which the first year of training is completed through up to what is happening ‘in the world’ stimulates fresh block courses at ESV in the span of two years, in addition thinking and familiarizes us with its ‘language’. Often, stu- to working with a regional mentor. If you know of any dents express their longing to build a bridge between motivated public course students or parents who may be eurythmy and the ‘world’; that is, they are seeking a lan- interested, please share our course description below: guage that can help them speak to parents in Waldorf First Training Block: Sunday, October 8 - Saturday, schools, therapy clients and audiences, as well as family and October 21, 2017, School of Eurythmy friends. It may come as a surprise how much in current the- In the fiery hues of autumn arise forces for new ini- ory and practice is consonant with anthroposophy and we tiative and resolve. If you have been thinking about begin- may find that these ‘worlds’ are not in fact so far apart and ning the eurythmy training, now is your best opportunity to it is indeed possible that eurythmy can become a presence enroll in the new class of our part-time training program! In in a wider context than at present. October 2017, we are beginning a new class in The eurythmy questions that this particular cohort of our Frontier Part-Time Training, which has been a doorway students have been grappling with and which have devel- for many of our students to start their professional oped into their Master’s theses or projects give a picture of training in eurythmy. The Frontier program is ideal for those the wide range of individual interests that they have who want to begin their studies in professional eurythmy, researched. These include: the role of imagination, weight while honoring other existing commitments. Unlike the full- and darkness, ‘silence’ or the in-between, the sole (of the time training at Eurythmy Spring Valley, we do not offer a feet) and the soul (Performance themes), ‘touch’ in euryth- new Frontier class every year; so take advantage of this my education for special needs adolescents, eurythmy for special opportunity! the elderly (Education themes) and eurythmy and Autism Spectrum Disorder (Therapy theme). (At a later date, when The Twelve Moods: Professional Workshop for marking is completed, we will publish the titles and authors Eurythmists with Dorothea Mier of these papers and it will be possible to contact individuals Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14 and request a copy of their research.) Workshop Fee: $100. In the future, we can potentially enhance our practice as This summer at a eurythmy conference held in Portland, performers, educators, and therapists by sharing our Oregon, Dorothea Mier from Spring Valley, NY, and research more widely. Perhaps too eurythmy will be more Michael Leber from Stuttgart, Germany, presented the present in modern culture as we learn to articulate what we Twelve Moods to 40 eurythmists. Rudolf Steiner gave this do and recognize speaking partners in the “mainstream”. great cosmic poem in 1915, together with eurythmy form The next Master’s in Eurythmy in English will begin Eurythmy Association of North America 39 and indications. It is a “cosmic clock” of the signs of the For information and to register, call 845-356-0972, Zodiac, standing in their grandeur in a circle of twelve, and email [email protected], or visit: the seven planets speaking to each sign beginning in Aries. http://www.christiancommunityseminary.org/event/the- Rudolf Steiner also gave satirical verses called the Song of school-and-the-cathedral-of-chartres/. Initiation, which was given to complement the grand, cos- mic version. Dorothea will be working with the many spe- Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble cific indications given for these verses, beginning with the 2017 Regional Fall Tour Twelve Moods. Something not to miss! Rudolf Steiner in The Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble has confirmed the fact expected any eurythmist worth his salt to be intimately following venues for their 2017 Local East Coast Tour, and in tune with these verses. We hope you can join us! will keep further confirmations up-to-date on the website/Facebook page and through Constant Contact. The Lady and the Lion: Evening Performance by the TBD – Waldorf School of Garden City Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble November 10 – Camphill Special School, Beaver Run Saturday, October 21, 2017, 8:00 p.m., November 11 – Camphill Kimberton, Rose Hall Threefold Auditorium, Chestnut Ridge, NY. November 15 – Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School Tickets: $15 / $9, students and seniors. For more information, email our tour coordinator at: As autumn prepares us for the inward journey of the winter [email protected]. season, join us for Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble’s pro- duction of The Lady and the Lion, where a simple request for a lark in winter leads to a myriad of adventures and ini- tiations. Adapted from a Brothers Grimm fairytale, the story leads us through many inner and outer landscapes before, with beating hearts, we find the lady and lion transformed at the end. This captivating tale will be accompanied by a selection of pieces and a glimpse of the Ensemble’s newest offerings in preparation for their November fall tour.

All-Souls Festival for Those Who Have Crossed the Threshold of Death Wednesday, November 1, 2017, 8:00 p.m., Threefold Auditorium, Chestnut Ridge, NY. The month of November leads us over the bridge from autumn into winter. The stars are closer, as are the dead. The Festival for Those Who Have Crossed the Threshold of ESV Ensemble performs Chopin Ballade Death will offer eurythmy, music, reading of the names, and in Taiwan; Photo by Mark Wong a short address. Due to the quiet nature of the event, doors will close at 8:00 p.m. Rudolf Steiner, Human Evolution and Modern Science: All are welcome. Donations welcome. Reconciling Two World Views and the Central Issue of Human Evolution – A Three-Day Course by Michael Chartres: The School of Philosophy & the Cathedral: A Judge Course with Rev. Bastiaan Baan Wednesday, November 15 through Friday, November 17. Monday - Friday, November 6-10, 2017. Nine Sessions / Three Daily: 9:35-2:55 p.m., with snack In one of several opportunities to cultivate and foster and lunch break. School of Eurythmy exchanges between the Seminary of the Christian Course Fe: $135 ($15 per session). Community and the School of Eurythmy, Eurythmy Spring Rudolf Steiner, as a spiritual scientific researcher, Valley is happy to participate in an open course on Chartres reports to us that there should not be any disagreement Cathedral and its School of Philosophy, led by Reverend between true results from spiritual scientific and material Bastiaan Baan. The course will cover topics including the scientific research. Yet, the results from these two approach- School of Chartres and its relationship to Michael, the es do not seem to agree on the face of it. Material science Seven Liberal Arts, and the fruits of Platonism; the site’s views spiritual science as fantastic imaginations with little Celtic origins, and aspects of the cathedral itself: its archi- connection to reality, whereas spiritual science perceives tecture, sculptures, stained glass windows, and famous material science as ignoring the human being and reducing labyrinth. living existence to only physical laws and matter. 40 Eurythmy Association of North America How then can these two approaches seeking the same truth The Lady and the Lion: ESV Ensemble’s Annual begin to be plausibly brought together? Agricultural Conference Performance Michael Judge, a willing student of both approach- Saturday, January 13, 2018, 8:00 p.m., es, has been working on this challenge for thirty-six years. Threefold Auditorium, Chestnut Ridge, NY. Drawing from both scientific viewpoints, Michael will Tickets: $15/ $9, students and seniors. present research findings addressing big questions Once again as the outer world is quietly blanketed surrounding human evolution. He will speak on his entry with snow, the annual biodynamic conference is held in into this field of study and then move on to inner and Spring Valley, and the Eurythmy Ensemble will be bringing outer specifics of human evolution. Together, Michael will their recently completed new fairytale to this evening’s per- guide us to look at not only the what and how, but also the formance. “The Lady and the Lion” is a tale adapted from why and who. We will not stop at the past, but also look at the Brothers Grimm, and it is truly a wintry tale, where human evolution today and its future implications. things keep looking bleak and bleaker... The young Michael Judge is a graduate of the University of merchant’s daughter, who – after an initial courageous act of Maryland and has earned certificates in conventional and meeting a ferocious lion and passing the test with flying col- Waldorf education. He has been a student of ors – is met by apparently insurmountable obstacles, where Anthroposophic spiritual science for 35 years. He dwells in not even Sun and Moon are able to help her. She has to the Washington, D.C. area. muster the inner presence of mind not to let her destiny slip through her fingers. This tale will be surrounded by music Rummage Sale to Benefit the Student Emergency Fund and poetry to create a rich evening’s quilt of eurythmy. Saturday, November 18, 2017, from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., and Sunday, November 19, 2017 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., Eurythmy Spring Valley Winter Studio Program Threefold Café, 285 Hungry Hollow Road Saturday, January 17, 2018, 8:00 p.m., Please donate your gently used and good quality Threefold Auditorium, Chestnut Ridge, NY. clothing, books, furniture and other household items for Tickets: $15 / $9 students and seniors. resale. Drop off your donations Friday, November 17, 3:00- Please join us for this year’s winter studio program. 5:30 p.m. through Saturday, November 18, 2017, 9:00- Once again, eurythmists in the area have been working on 11:00 a.m., on the back porch of the Threefold Café. solos and duets, and will offer a rich array of pieces made All proceeds benefit the Student Emergency Fund, up of different styles of speech and tone eurythmy. coordinated by the students of Eurythmy Spring Valley. The Human Being’s Spatial Development from Birth to School of Eurythmy — Fall End-of-Term Festival 21: An Open Course with Jane Swain Wednesday, December 13 and Thursday, December 14, at Monday, February 12, 2018, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. 7:30 p.m., Threefold Auditorium. Donations welcome. at the School of Eurythmy Since the beginning of the school year, our first-, There are deep mysteries embedded in classical second-, fourth-year and stage training students have been children’s games and activities. What do classic games and immersed in learning the many elements at each stage of activities have to do with the development of healthy per- their studies. It is always remarkable to see the clear steps of sonal and interpersonal space and a balanced relationship in development and refinement inherent in the training, the three planes of space? Why is this important? Why do through watching our student presentations from the first young children love “Ring Around the Rosie”? Why does class through the post-graduate year. This year, we are Joey insist on climbing up onto the back of the sofa and blessed with a large group of combined fourth- and fifth- jumping down to fall on the floor? Why have public grade year students, for what is sure to be a an exciting and joyful schools across the country banned the age-old favorite game sharing. We invite you to join us in celebrating their work at of tag at recess? Why doesn’t Susie “sit up” at her desk in our Fall End-of-Term Festival. school? Children’s movements have a spatial component to Threefold Community Family Christmas Festival them, which if made known, can transform our understand- Sunday, December 17, 2017, 4:00 p.m., ing of children’s behaviors. Jane will draw upon her rich Threefold Auditorium, Chestnut Ridge, NY. experience of working with children of all ages to illustrate Donations welcome. basic principles of the human being’s spatial journey over In preparation for the Holy Nights, join us for this time, so that educators and parents can go home equipped year’s Community Family Christmas Festival. The joy and with new insights to support children’s healthy spatial quiet of the season will be shared through story, singing, development. poetry, music and eurythmy. Jane Swain is a graduate of the Level III training in Eurythmy Association of North America 41 Spacial Dynamics®. Spacial Dynamics® is embedded professional alike. All are welcome who long to sing, even deeply into Jane’s work as a pediatric physical therapist, those who feel they cannot! No special talent required. adult educator at Sophia’s Hearth Family Center in Keene, Christiaan Boele trained at conservatories in the New Hampshire, and also at regional and international con- Netherlands and Germany and is the leading authority in ferences, consultant to early childhood and grade school the Werbeck method. He has devoted his life to The School classrooms, and as a previous movement education teacher of Uncovering the Voice, performing, conducting and in the younger grades at the Monadnock Waldorf School. In teaching courses around the globe. addition, Jane has co-taught workshops with Jaimen McMillan, director of the Spacial Dynamics Institute® and Van der Pals/Kirchner-Bockholt has written articles dealing with Spacial Dynamics® and Tone Eurythmy Therapy Course motor development. PORTLAND, OREGON JUNE 22-JULY 1, 2018 Indications by the First Eurythmist, Lory Maier-Smits: with Jan Ranck, founding director of Professional Workshop with Carina Schmid The Jerusalem Academy of Eurythmy Friday, February 16, 2018: 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. and Saturday, This professional course is for Eurythmy Therapists and February 17, 2017: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Medical Doctors. Eurythmists, music and art therapists, School of Eurythmy, Chestnut Ridge, NY. Waldorf teachers, students in these fields and enthusiasts are Workshop Fee: $100. also welcome to join. In this course people go through a real Carina Schmid, who led the Hamburg Eurythmy transformation of their instrument that has a continuing School and stage group, followed by the Dornach stage influence in their lives. group for many years, will be visiting Eurythmy Spring Information and Registration: Valley in what may be her first professional visit to the [email protected] United States. During her tenure as the director of the stage Please write “Portland Course” ensemble at the Goetheanum, Carina, together with and your name in the subject field Benedikt Zweifel from Stuttgart, created joint Dornach ATHENA member Grant XV Category 4 through /Stuttgart symphony projects, which traveled extensively [email protected] throughout Europe. We are very fortunate to have her EANA member travel grants through [email protected] working with the students for a few days and giving a The 56-hour course qualifies as AnthroMed professional workshop on the indications from the first Professional Development Hours (PDHs) eurythmist, Lory Maier-Smits. We are very grateful to If you would like to host a Tone Eurythmy Therapy Monika Leitz of San Francisco for initiating Carina’s visit. Course or another Eurythmy Course offered by Jan in the future in your region please write to: Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble [email protected] Mid-Winter Tour to Asia Sunday, February18 through Sunday, March 11, 2018. Four-day workshop The 2018 Winter Tour is confirmed for Taiwan and China, and plans for a 2018 Fall Tour in Canada and the with Carina Schmid Midwest are in process. For more information, email our Save the Date! – during the February tour coordinator at: [email protected]. teachers’ conference in the San Francisco Bay Area Carina Schmid* will give a daily session in tone euryth- Uncovering the Voice: my and share with us exercises and indications she received A Three-Day Singing Workshop with Christiaan Boele from Lory Meier Smits! The afternoon will be given to shar- Monday through Wednesday, February 26-28, 2018 ing pedagogical work and practice of the morning content. School of Eurythmy, Chestnut Ridge, NY. Evenings are open to explore the beautiful Bay Area. Two sessions each day: Session One: 9:35-10:45. Session Exact details will be forthcoming soon via email. Stay Two: 11:15-12:25. Fee: $100 in advance; $125 at the door. tuned or contact Monika Leitz at [email protected] After four consecutive years of enthusiastic teach- with questions. ing and joyful singing, Christiaan Boele returns to bring *After founding the Hamburg eurythmy training and “The School of Uncovering the Voice” back to our commu- stage group Carina Schmid was offered the leadership of the nity for a three-day workshop. Out of the artistic impulse Goetheanum stage group in 1999. She directed this ensem- developed by Mrs. Valborg Werbeck-Svärdström under the ble until 2011. Among other programs she collaborated with guidance of Rudolf Steiner, Christiaan offers a refreshing, Benedikt Zweifel and the Else Klink Ensemble on three motivating and inspiring approach for the novice and major symphony projects which toured internationally. 42 Eurythmy Association of North America Summer Eurythmy Retreat in the Bershires During the last week of July (22nd through the 28th) 2018 we will be offering an artistic eurythmy retreat in Harlemville, NY. We will be based at Mettabee Farm and Arts here, a center with a beautiful large converted barn space with gardens and animals; (the donkey sometimes makes herself heard)! There are accomodations available here at Mettabee, as well as, kitchen facilities. Other rooms will be found locally. We are excited that during the mornings we will work with Dorothea Mier on tone eurythmy. We will focus on Ave Verum by Mozart with a beautiful Steiner Form. Afternoons we will have just one more session – around the theme of how we support our artistic lives in the midst of our work, in order to keep ourselves at our creative best! We will experiment with some shorter texts trying out different forms and gesture possibilities, having also time for conversations. Evenings will be free for Tanglewood concerts or Shakespeare and Co. or one of the many other summer offerings here in the Berkshires, such as hiking and swimming. Cost: Sliding Scale: $300 - $450 We hope to have some scholarship funds available as well. Please be in touch with us for any questions: Jeanne Simon-MacDonald, 518-67-7367 or [email protected] Victoria Sander, 518-672-4289 or [email protected] 2017-2018 Calendar for Eurythmy Spring Valley September Fri. 29 Foundation Stone Meditation, Festival Performance in Copake, NY Sat. 30 Imagine Michael! Michaelmas Festival, Threefold Auditorium October Sun.-Sat. 8-21 Frontier Eurythmy Part-time Training Course: New Class Forming! Fri.-Sat. 13-14 Professional Workshop with Dorothea Mier on The Twelve Moods Sat. 21 ESV Ensemble Performance, “The Lady and the Lion” November Wed. 1 Festival for Those Who Have Crossed the Threshold of Death Mon.-Fri. 6-10 Course with Bastiaan Baan: The School of Chartres & Cathedral Mon.-Sat. 19 Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble Fall Tour Wed.-Fri. 15-17 Lecture Series on Rudolf Steiner, Evolution and Modern Science by Michael Judge Fri.-Sun. 17-19 Rummage Sale to Benefit the Student Emergency Fund December Wed.-Thurs. 13-14 Fall End-of-Term Festival at the School of Eurythmy Sun. 17 Threefold Community Family Christmas Festival January Sat. 13 Agricultural Conference Performance Sat. 27 Eurythmy Spring Valley Winter Studio Program February Fri.-Sat. 16-17 Professional Workshop with Carina Schmid: Indications by First Eurythmist, Lory Maier-Smits Sun. 18-Sun. Mar 11 Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble Mid-Winter Tour Mon.-Wed. 26-28 Singing Workshop with Christiaan Boele March Sat. 17 Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble Performance Wed. 28 Winter End-of-Term April, Sat. 28 Stage Training Performance May, Sun. 20 Graduation Solo Performance June Sat. 2 Graduation – Reservations Required Thurs. 7 Spring End-of-Term Dates TBD Summer Eurythmy Week Mon.-Thurs. 25-28 Graduation Conference, Dornach Switzerland Event details subject to change. Please visit www.eurythmy.org for the most up-to-date information, including event times. To receive news and event reminders, join our email list by visiting www.eurythmy.org/contact-us and clicking on “Sign up for our e-newsletter.” Thank you for supporting Eurythmy Spring Valley! 845-352-5020, ext. 13 World Eurythmy Festival in Pasadena, Ca School of Eurythmy Spring Valley

Graduation Performance 2017