Newsletter Spring 2015 of the Eurythmy Association of Great Britain and Ireland Editor: David MacGregor [email protected] Reflections from The Council It is around mid-day on Saturday the 13th of last December and we six members of the Council are converging on the Glasshouse in Stourbridge for lunch before beginning our meeting. It is as always joyful to see one another again but this time, especially a little later when we get down to business, it is odd and rather disorientating, even a little frightening, to realise that Michael’s guiding hand is no longer resting on that table with all our papers and lists. Perhaps for the first time since the Association was re-found- CONTENTS ed in 2006 he is not present. I think it would be honest to say Council Reflections .............................. 1 that, six or seven weeks later as we Council members email Workshop/Conference ..................... 2 or phone one another about continuing business, we are still finding our feet on this new ground, making some mistakes Stephen Nicholas Lloyd .................... 3 and learning slowly to work as an interdependent team. Outreach Initiative ............................ 5 MA Degree in America .................... 7 In December we spoke at length about the idea for a mini BA Presentation at Emerson ............. 8 conference and workshop or master class event in which the West Midlands Eurythmy News ...... 8 AGM and our own Autumn Council meeting would be em- London Eurythmy ..........................9, 10 bedded. We talked about some of the things that had come up in our earlier phone conversations with many of you re- Eurythmy at Ringwood ..................... 11 garding conferences: when in the year is good, how long Eurythmy at Delrow ........................... 13 should it be? How can we minimise costs? Should we even be Eurythmy in Mystery Drama ........... 15 having such an event with so much else going on? Eurythmy Class on Foundation Stone....17 Camphill Eurythmy School ................. 19 The suggestion of combining something with the AGM had Poetry for Eurythmy ........................... 25 actually been made by Michael before he left us and that’s what we decided to go with for this year; this might be Verbum ................................................. 26 a one-off event or the start of a series extending over a Eurythmy Form for Good Friday...... 27 period of time. Elsewhere in this Newsletter you can read Eurythmy Therapy Training ............... 31 some initial thoughts as to the form it might take and I am Criteria for Schools Eurythmy ........... 31 appealing here, as Gale does there, for any constructive History of Eurythmy Project ............. 33 suggestions. Vacancies ............................................. 34 Again, when we met in December, the Eurythmy Outreach Diary .................................................... 34 Initiative seemed to be in abeyance but is now getting back Summer Newsletter Deadline ......... 36 on track. Consultation is taking place between it to heal and uplift the human being; this is happen- and the Council as to how the Association can best ing everywhere it is practised, taught and shown. liaise with and support the Initiative. Our work in Let’s share its triumphs...And if you feel nervous Council sees much activity, via emails and phone about writing it down — well, the Newsletter has conversations, between our actual meetings. In- a sympathetic editor who will help you! Articles, deed we decided in December to see if it works please, as Microsoft Word attachments, to David to have just two actual meetings per year to touch Macgregor at newsletter@eurythmyassociation. base with one another and monitor what’s going uk forward. Our next meeting is on 14th March in London. The Council meets next on the 14th March in Lon- don. If there is anything you feel we should be The Newsletter is a place where we can inform discussing there please contact any one of the six one another of all the events that are going on of us to place it on the agenda. in our eurythmy world — so please keep sharing! — but it’s also a place where we can inspire one Christopher (Kidman) 01425 482 416 another with the actual work that we’re all doing for the Council Gabriella Vasas-Turnbull, Gale in the different branches of eurythmy — so please Ramm, Mioara Tarzioru, let’s tell one another about that, too. Tomie Ando and Willemien Erenga Almost fifty years after meeting eurythmy for the first time I am still amazed at its beauty and power performed a piece, would then be part of a master Eurythmy Association class in which comments on the work would be made Workshop/Conference by experienced eurythmy facilitators (perhaps those who are or have been involved in trainings). One of the results of our conversations with you, the The aim of this would be not only a sharing of our members of the Eurythmy Association, is that the coun- work but also a learning experience for both the au- cil is considering organizing a workshop/conference dience (perhaps non-eurythmists might be invited!) at the end of the October half term. This would in- and the performing eurythmists. clude the AGM. We hope that this working together, both in practising We have thought back to the success of the Aber- and the performing, would help strengthen eurythmy deen conference in which so many of us participated in this country. in the preparation and performing of the soul calen- dar verses. The venue would probably be either Stourbridge or Stroud, and the event would run from the Friday af- Our suggestion for a theme for October would be ternoon to the Saturday evening. to focus on a poet of the 20th century (maybe T. S. If you have any comments or further suggestions, Eliot, who died 50 years ago) and a composer (pos- please contact me. sibly English: Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Finzi, Wal- ton or Britten). Local groups, having prepared and Gale Ramm, on behalf of the council [email protected] 2 STEPHEN NICHOLAS LLOYD 14 May 1947 – 18 December 2014 Stephen Lloyd was born on 14th May 1947 in sounds where they are. Later, when in Holland, he Gwelo, Rhodesia. His parents were from Leeds. was quiet for months, not speaking the language, His father was in the Royal Air Force and flew in and then one evening he started talking Dutch. the renowned Lancaster bomber. After the war he was given the choice of being posted in Paris or Exposure to recordings of opera as a boy ignited Rhodesia. His mother, a sun-loving being, chose his life-long love affair with the voice of Leontyne Rhodesia. Price, whom he was to follow wherever she sang in Hamburg, Salzburg, London etc. An only child, Stephen was outgoing, sociable and round like a teddy bear. He adored his quiet, During his high school years his parents drifted dedicated father from whom he inherited his com- apart, their marriage ending in an ugly divorce mon sense and sense of humour. He inherited his that traumatised him for a long time. After his par- savoir vivre and love for the human voice from his ents divorced he lived with his mother and they mother. moved house nearly every three months. After high school his father suggested that he study lan- At school he was good at sports and loved hymn- guages and off he went from the ‘bush’ via Rome singing each morning, but he had little interest in to Neuchâtel in Switzerland where he studied lan- most academic subjects. The educational system in guages and simultaneous interpreting, specialising his school was totally removed from his daily ex- in French. Only 17 years old and all on his own, periences of life. He loved to cycle miles out from this was a real culture shock. But he loved Swit- Bulawayo to his favourite Matopo Hills where he zerland with its beautiful mountains, cleanliness, could sit for hours just watching nature and the organised ways and people. marvellous rock formations. Mostly he would sleep outside on the balcony with his dog, watching the Also, being a skater, he was a very good skier changing clouds and the clear starry night. His from the start and explored many mountain routes. greatest thrill was the daily thunderstorm, espe- During his time in Neuchâtel he became interested cially during November, lasting only an hour and in religion and was baptised as a Roman Catholic, leaving the earth rejuvenated. Stephen’s forma- more out of a fondness for the theatrical aspect tive years were full of nature impressions. He was of the liturgy than for its foundations. It didn’t last a champion ice and roller skater and would prac- long. tise every day. After his graduation he went back to Rhodesia. At the end of High School he received the highest When his father died, he and a friend sailed off marks in French of all the students, whilst his oth- to England and worked for a year as waiters in a er marks were below average. He related to the posh Chelsea hotel in London. He heard Leontyne French teacher as she was vivacious and elegant, Price for the first time live in the Albert Hall, the and recognised and encouraged his extraordi- day after Martin Luther King was murdered. He nary talent for sound. He learned to speak French often talked about it, saying that it was the great- by listening and being able to physically place the est musical event of his life. 3 After a year he returned to Rhodesia and on among these twelve, which was rudely disturbed New Year’s Day 1969 when he and I met, his life by the arrival of the third years after Easter.