The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1912–1918

GA 277a — 15 December 1911, Berlin

Notes on the Origin of Eurythmy

The conversation Clara Smits had with Rudolf Steiner in Berlin on December 15, 1911, following the sudden death of her husband Henri Felix Smits, in which he pointed out to her that a movement art based on theosophy could be developed, is considered the starting point for the development of eurythmy.

Lory Maier-Smits' notes form the essential basis for the descriptions of the early beginnings of eurythmy from 1912 to 1915. She herself wrote for the first publication in 1965 that it was her responsibility to “pass on the fundamental instructions for eurythmy, which were entrusted to me by Rudolf Steiner in January and September 1912, now, after more than half a century, to pass on not only to eurythmists, but to all those who are interested in Rudolf Steiner's life's work in its entirety and have connected themselves with it, as thoroughly and faithfully as I possibly can. In part, I am aided by brief notes, recorded immediately after the lesson I had just experienced, as well as later, more detailed attempts, but on the whole, those September days are so vivid and present to me that it seems more impossible to cope with the richness of what I experienced then than to forget anything. My task, therefore, is to report on the first indications for eurythmy as they were given by Rudolf Steiner at that time, but with the awareness that these are the very first foundations and that anyone who has seriously engaged with any area of our teacher's complete work knows what a wealth of extensions, modifications, and new perspectives he himself gave to even these foundations in the course of his work. - I would also like to briefly describe how we began our work, how we were able to show Rudolf Steiner what we had achieved after six months, how we received new inspiration, tasks, and above all, new courage and increased enthusiasm from his approval, and how eurythmy developed and spread during the first three years.”

In the following account by Lory Maier-Smits from “The Beginnings of Eurythmy,” additions from her text “First Seeds of Eurythmy” are printed in indentation.

Lory Maier-Smits, from: “The Beginnings of Eurythmy” and “First Seeds of Eurythmy”

In November 1911, my father died quite unexpectedly, and two weeks later my mother traveled to Berlin to see Rudolf Steiner, after he had sent her a telegram expressing his sympathy and support at a time when he could not have received the news either by letter or telegram: “My thoughts are with you.”

It was the second week of Advent in 1911. My father had died suddenly and unexpectedly in November, and my mother, Clara Smits, traveled to Berlin to see Rudolf Steiner about two weeks after this event, full of grief and questions. And she returned with the gift of eurythmy, with new courage to face life and new tasks for the future.

She had to wait a while in his Berlin apartment on Motzstraße and got into conversation with an acquaintance who told her that her daughter was very happy and successful as a Mensendieck teacher, which reminded my mother of my wish to learn a method of dance or gymnastics. During the ensuing discussion with Rudolf Steiner, he suddenly and seemingly out of the blue asked: “What will your daughter Lory do?” My mother told him about my wishes and also about the conversation she had just had. “Yes,” said Dr. Steiner, “of course you can be a good theosophist and also do Mensendieck gymnastics, but the two have nothing to do with each other. However, you could also do something like this on a theosophical basis, and I am happy to show your daughter how.” He had suggested something similar before, but the person in question had not responded. My mother asked whether rhythmic movements that stimulate and strengthen the etheric in humans could have healing and restorative effects. This question would be confirmed a few months later, in the instructions for the very first exercises. [...]

Even in that first conversation, Dr. Steiner said that this new art of movement would not initially involve music, but rather the spoken word. And then the first task was given: “Tell your daughter to walk alliterations; to take a strong, somewhat stomping step on the alliterating consonant and then make a ‘pleasant’ arm movement when this consonant is missing. She should remember that alliterations actually only occurred in the north, i.e., in countries where it is very windy. She should imagine an old bard striding along the seashore in a storm, his lyre in his arms. Every step is an act, a struggle and a victory over the storm. And then he strikes the strings and unites his song with that of the storm.”

With this gift, which, however, could not have been predicted to usher in a new art form, my mother returned from Berlin in late autumn, and weeks of the most beautiful, most serious anticipation began, a real Advent season.

Lory Maier-Smits, notes from 1965

During a conversation that my mother, Clara Smits, had with Rudolf Steiner in Berlin in mid-December 1911, shortly after my father's death, he suddenly asked about me and my career plans. Had it not been for a conversation she had had with a well-known lady while waiting to speak with Dr. Steiner, my mother would certainly not have thought of my long-cherished wish to learn some kind of rhythmic gymnastics, or rather, dance, but now she was able to tell him about it and also that this lady had told her about her own daughter's training and work, who was very satisfied and happy working according to the Mensendieck method. And Rudolf Steiner replied with the often-quoted saying: “Of course, one can be a good theosophist and do Mensendieck gymnastics on the side, but the two have nothing to do with each other! But one could also inaugurate a completely new art of movement based on spiritual science.” This gave my mother the opportunity to tell Dr. Steiner about an idea that had come to her during the lecture on “Laughter and Crying,” namely: Couldn't certain rhythmic movements have a healing, strengthening, and regulating effect on the physical body through the etheric body, which is the seat of everything rhythmic as well as of health and illness? Not only did Dr. Steiner enthusiastically affirm this possibility, but he also spontaneously agreed to provide the necessary instructions, which I could then work out with her help.

My mother often told me in detail how this conversation, which began in the shadow of a death that was almost incomprehensible to her and far too early, blossomed into a more and more hopeful and bright life. She told me how Rudolf Steiner had said that he had long been striving for this new art of movement, which she felt was based on ethereal impulses, because he considered it increasingly essential for the whole of anthroposophical knowledge, but that his suggestions had not been taken up until now. And yet he himself needed this new art of movement, for example, when things had to be brought to people that were so profound that they could not be put into words at all, including those that either demanded a concentration that was almost impossible for the listeners to muster or required long, cumbersome, and time-consuming explanations from him. Then this new art should come into play and, appealing to other ways of gaining insight, convey an understanding of such truths to people.

“But it will be about words, not music!”

To help her understand this concept, which was unfamiliar at the time, he showed her the following passage from the Akashic Records describing certain measures taken at the end of the Lemurian era, through which initiated leaders had trained a select group of people to become the tribe of the coming Atlantean race: "The Akashic Records show beautiful scenes in this area. One such scene shall be described. We are in a forest, near a mighty tree. The sun has just risen in the east. The palm-like tree casts mighty shadows, and the other trees around it have been removed. Facing east, enraptured, the priestess sits on a seat made of rare natural objects and plants. Slowly, in rhythmic succession, wondrous, few sounds flow from her lips, repeating themselves over and over again. A number of men and women sit in circles around her with dreamy faces, absorbing the inner life of what they hear. Other scenes can be seen. In a similarly furnished place, a priestess “sings” in a similar way, but her tones have something more powerful, more vigorous about them. And the people around her move in rhythmic dances. For this was the other way in which “soul” came into humanity. The mysterious rhythms that had been listened to in nature were imitated in the movements of one's own limbs. This made them feel at one with nature and the powers that ruled it.

And these “movements of one's own limbs,” caused by sound, tone, and rhythm, had a formative and organizing effect on the then still very soft, malleable bodies, and indeed in a specialized and concentrated manner in a specific area of these bodies, so that through them the first seeds of today's speech organism were planted in humanity, which in those distant times of our Earth's development was not yet gifted with speech. “Just as the eye is formed by light, so the speech organ is formed by a language that is initially toneless.”

Rudolf Steiner then continued: “It was not only the soul that came into humanity in this way; through these rhythmic dances, evoked by sounds and rhythms that had been mysteriously instilled in the wise priestesses by higher guides, the first seeds of our present-day speech organism, the larynx and neighboring organs, were planted in humanity, which at that time was not yet gifted with speech.”