Newsletter Autumn 2015 of the Eurythmy Association of Great Britain and Ireland
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Newsletter Autumn 2015 of the Eurythmy Association of Great Britain and Ireland Editorial Team: Christopher Kidman, Elisabeth Bamford, Chas Bamford [email protected] Reflections from the Council Hmm -- Refections from the Council - now there’s a thing. The Council hasn’t met since I wrote my last refections after our meeting in March at the Barbican. We are experimenting with reducing our meetings to two a year, which seems more manageable for us all and also lowers costs signifcantly. But this does not mean we are doing any less: more if anything, except that now the bulk of it happens in front of the computer or over the phone. So there is no dearth of matters to refect on! I suppose the arranging of what we have come to call the AGM Event has been top of the agenda for us. And honestly, it’s a nerve-wracking business! What do people want as content? Will anybody respond if asked? Will anybody offer anything? But then, oh, so much response, how can we include it all CONTENTS and please everybody? -- Then, where in Stroud shall we have the Event? Oh good, we’ve booked a room at last! Council refections…………………. 1 But -- is it too big? What if nobody comes? And what if A Field in Autumn Laurie Lee……… 2 lots of people come -- will it be big enough? -- And how can we accommodate and feed people so that they can Vitaleurythmie…………………......... 3 afford it? What -- somebody’s stepped forward to take Michaelmas Wind Jonathan Reid…. 5 care of all that? Wow! -- But how can we cost the actual Speech and Language problems….. 5 workshop if we don’t know how many participants there will Mount co-workers refections……… 6 be? Oh, oh, oh, endless back-and-forthing of communications! Eurythmy Festival June 2015…….... 8 But we’ve worked Eurythmy Festival March 2016……. 8 Oh, oh, oh, endless together and just Foundation Stone research……….... 9 about kept our nerve, back-and-forthing of Eurythmy Outreach progress………10 I think. And not lost our communications Eurythmy Outreach refections…….11 enthusiasm either. When The future of eurythmy in social care..13 Michael Mehta retired as Administrator to the Council, his position was not flled. None of us could manage it and we Poems with eurythmy in mind…… 13 could fnd nobody else who could, either. But on the Coun- Style and smiles………………….... 14 cil we made the commitment to share out the work among Annemarie Ehrlich’s 90th birthday.... 15 us: have specifc areas of responsibility and consciousness, Eurythmy form by Marguerite Lundgren....16 yes, but collaborate over projects. And this arranging of the Tone eurythmy therapy course…... 20 AGM Event has been a good example of that. There’ll be lots of last minute details no doubt but, after that, it’s wait Vacancies……..................................... 21 and see and hope something happens! Diary……………............................... 21 Spring Newsletter deadline……...... 24 The other big piece of work has been the Newsletter. David Macgregor has been forced, completely fooding back and I felt so happy and newly inspired. unexpectedly, to step down as editor because of trouble with his eyes. David, I hope I can speak for On behalf of the Council: everyone when I say we THANK YOU SO MUCH Gabriella Vasas-Turnbull, Willemien Erenga, Gale Ramm, Tomie Ando and Mioara Tarzioru for the excellence with which you have fulflled this position over the last two full years. I for one could With my warm greetings, open the Newsletter and relax into the knowledge Christopher Kidman that it would read well and there would be no 01425 482416 typing errors. You are a hard act to follow indeed! But someone had to be found, and at least we had plenty of time before the next issue -- we thought. But you know how these things go -- you An Autumn follow a lead that looks like a cert, and it turns out not to be and suddenly you fnd yourself at the eleventh hour. I was already contemplating Poem for that maybe the good record of regular issues was about to be interrupted when frst Elisabeth Eurythmy Bamford agreed to help and then her husband Chas said he would help her and then I said I was Despite having moved to Stroud well over happy to be somewhere in the background and a year ago, I was astonished to discover a there we are! So warmest (and grateful) thanks few days ago that the Slad Valley (home to Elisabeth and Chas and we now have an Edi- of the poet Laurie Lee and a roundabout torial Team. And perhaps it’s a good moment car journey from where I live) is only twenty also to mention Jane Chase in Stourbridge who minutes walk away from here via stony and will continue to lay out the issues so attractively. muddy paths which climb down the steep hillside. Let’s go on doing this And even if your com- Laurie Lee’s valley is stunning. A new circular walk for one another – puter brings there follows paths that he loved. There are sharing our inspiring up David’s waymarkers where you can read one of name at the his poems connected to that place, view or work! Newsletter landscape. address, be assured that that is where you can continue to send your contributions, newsletter@ This is one of them which can be found high eurythmyassociation.uk and they will arrive on up on Swift’s Hill. From here you can see the Elisabeth and Chas’s desk. And, at the risk of be- Slad Valley spreading out below you and, ing judged unduly repetitive, I ask you: please do far beyond Stroud, the river Severn and the keep the contributions coming. Even if you don’t Welsh hills. It is a breathtaking view! want to write much, it’s so brightening simply to see pictures of eurythmy. It’s so long ago now that I So, who is going to bring this poem alive was actually able to do eurythmy myself that I through eurythmy? sometimes wonder if I ever did do it -- did all that amazing creativity, colour and movement Chas Bamford really happen? And then the other day my col- [email protected] league, Michele Keim, frst of all asked me a question about the I think the Speech exercise and then did a ‘B’ in front of me, and it all came 2 Field of Autumn Slow moves the acid breath of noon The sheep, snail-backed against the wall, over the copper-coated hill, lifts her blind face but does not know slow from the wild crab’s bearded breast the cry her blackened tongue gives forth the palsied apples fall. is the first bleat of snow. Like coloured smoke the day hangs fire, Each bird and stone, each roof and well, taking the village without sound; feels the gold foot of autumn pass; the vulture-headed sun lies low each spider binds with glittering snare chained to the violet ground. the splintered bones of grass. The horse upon the rocky height Slow moves the hour that sucks our life, rolls all the valley in his eye, slow drops the late wasp from the pear, but dares not raise his foot or move the rose tree’s thread of scent draws thin - his shoulder from the fly. and snaps upon the air. Laurie Lee (1914 – 1997) The Slad Valley can be seen behind the poem written on the waymarker. A further string to our The ideas behind Vitaleurythmie are frst- ly to identify the general symptoms of stress bow? - an invitation to in the wider environment. From this they have developed various signposts of behaviour that Vitaleurythmie® identify when stress is present in our own lives. An open conversation space is then created to refect As we continue to meet the challenges of on these behavioural signposts by allowing specifc fnding a way to take eurythmy forward in eurythmy exercises to act as a means to integrate Britain, I have been in discussion with Michael this changed behaviour into our normal living. Werner of Vitaleurythmie in Germany. Michael Underpinning all the above are eurythmy and his colleague Christaine Hagemann have exercises that help to elucidate the developed a tailored method of applying specifc processes at work and provide a eurythmy exercises to combat stress. Michael has a potential means of allowing integration and background in educational and social eurythmy resolution of the particular stressors involved. and Christiane is a qualifed eurythmy therapist. 3 Courtesy of the Weleda (Germany) website. The eurythmy exercises themselves are ground- www.vitaleurythmie.de. For those of you (like ed in the principles of the four elements: earth, me) whose German is insuffcient, a translation water, air and fre. Each of these qualities is programme (offered by several search engines) necessary in our lives but, when taken to extremes, should help you get a favour of what is offered. can become potential stressors. The eurythmy exercises help fnd a balance within each element In my discussions I learned that Michael in our physical, emotional and mental functioning. and Christiane would be willing to offer an ntroductory weekend for eurythmists and other in- It seems to me we are really struggling at terested individuals at some point in the future – present to fnd a means to link eurythmy to wider perhaps Spring 2016. We would need about 18 society in Britain. I wonder therefore if such - 20 people to participate in order to keep the a targeted approach to a recognisable costs reasonable (about £90 - £100 per person).