The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1912–1918

GA 277a — 19 September 1912, Bottmingen

The Dionysian Course IV

On Thursday, September 19, Dr. Steiner first spoke about another Dionysian dance, which also revolves around a figure representing Dionysus as its center. In this dance, all participants are to speak the words themselves. The “I,” which is initially mentioned and emphasized in contrast to the “you,” should become increasingly joyful in the “we,” with its individuality becoming less and less apparent: “You and I, you and I.” As with all Dionysian dances, the tempo must become faster and faster, so that the last two i's (“are we!”) sound more and more jubilant and radiant.

Dion. / forward you and I
Go back / to the original / position. / you and I
forward I and you / we are on top of each other; / back you and I / further back you and I
against envy and against ambition

After “I and you,” Dr. Steiner described a series of positions that express certain moods of the soul, independent of the sounds.

He drew the first one, lovely, first and said: “Place your right foot forward with your heel slightly off the ground, raise your left arm in a graceful arc above your head and your right arm downwards accordingly.” I first had to perform the other postures according to his instructions, and then he later indicated them with just a few strokes, as a kind of aide-mémoire.

lovely

So I had to make the second position much more solemn and much stricter than it appears in the drawing, just as he described it again twelve years later.

en-prof en face / solemn

He was not at all satisfied with the position of my hand in klug. It was probably too hard and too stiff. He took my right hand, kneaded it for a while and said, “So,” and placed it on my chest in a much softer and, I would almost say, more intimate position, so that except for my thumb and index finger, all the other fingers lay loosely on my sternum.

klug

For “serious,” with the forearms held horizontally in front of the body, only the hands—palms facing upward—should be held one on top of the other with fingers extended. This creates an almost equilateral triangle between the head and the two elbows.

extended fingers / serious

The next gesture for grief, as given at that time, shows only the forearms as the essential part in the drawing. They must be supplemented by upper arms raised slightly away from the body, so that the right arm forms a very delicate but nevertheless emphatic outward line to enclose the left arm, which is perhaps stronger in expression and seems to protect the heart. Dr. Steiner sometimes encouraged us later to try out other movements instead of the ones he specified. “But you will see that this is really the appropriate and therefore also the most satisfying movement!” It is precisely in this position of grief that one can experience how incomplete and unsatisfactory it is.

Grief

when, for example, you simply let your right arm hang down straight, or place your left hand comfortably on your liver and gallbladder, instead of surrounding and sealing off the heavy and dull heart from the outside world with a protective shell, which rightly includes the liver, so that it can be alone with its grief. That is why this left hand must not lie firmly on the heart, because otherwise it would bring the protective and calming flow to a standstill.

en profil / cheerful

Cheerful: I had to do it as it is drawn, only the shoulder line is naturally different. I cannot say how much I loved this cheerful gesture, as Rudolf Steiner was so often seen greeting people with it, who were happy to be able to hear one or even a series of lectures again.

en profil / heartfelt

Heartfelt: The position of the arms was already as Rudolf Steiner had given it in 1924, but without the expressive hand and foot positions that were added twelve years later.

This second profile position for solemn, like all positions drawn en profil at that time, is oriented to the left, so in this solemn position it is not the left arm that is above, as in the first en face position, but the right; and it can and may be used to the right as well as to the left.

en profil / light in the hand / solemn

Rudolf Steiner called this last position, which is depicted very precisely and clearly in the drawing, lightness or “every awkwardness in dance.” It is therefore really a position and should not be performed with intertwined arms, leaning comfortably on the stomach, possibly even sinking into the hips.

en face / one above the other / fingers spread / lightness

When we tirelessly practiced our forms in the early days, holding our arms in this position, focusing all our attention on the movements of our feet, and gradually progressed to the point where friends watching us one day said that our forms were so beautiful and had made a very strong impression on them, then “awkwardness in dance” had finally turned into lightness. And when a characteristic movement had to be found for Terpsichore, the muse of dance, for a very small form, it was precisely this lightness that was most satisfying.

Following these positions, Rudolf Steiner went on to talk about pirouettes or turns in dance. He called them “fillers.” I therefore tried later to use a justified filler in a small poem [“Praise of Spring”] by Uhland: “seed green” (filler), “violet scent” (filler), “larks swirling” (filler), and so on. It worked very well and cheerfully. There was no motif swing yet.

This fourth day was very varied, because now came the first, and during these hours the only, staff exercise. It should be done with copper staffs, and if it was difficult to obtain them, wooden staffs wrapped with copper wire should be used. But it had to be copper, because copper gave the movements security from within.

First step / pole down
Pole up
Pole vertical on the right / right hand up
Pole vertical on the left / left hand up
Str. - r.s. / St. ob. / St. down / Dear Sir
against bad posture.

For example, you would instinctively pick up the book you wanted from a pile and open it to the right page. But perhaps also run correctly ‘from the inside out’ in complicated group formations? In this exercise, it is particularly important to perform the movements with your arms fully extended and not to deviate above shoulder height or towards the center during the sideways movements. This would render the intended effect on the back muscles illusory. When I asked how many times in a row the exercises should be done, he said: 7 x 7. That would be the healthiest and most natural number. I should just watch healthy boys fighting, they would only stop after 7 x 7 times! Since I had also requested music for the iambs and trochees, as well as a third request, namely an accompaniment for this stick exercise in 7 x 7 times, and my helpful acquaintance had complied with this request despite strong inner resistance, the stick exercise could also be demonstrated to Dr. Steiner. His response: “Yes, of course that won't work! Our tonal system simply requires the eighth note, so you can't write music in seven beats. But if you could compose in the old Greek keys, it would be possible. As I said, our modern keys require the octave! And you have to treat this eighth note in the music as a pause and hold it quietly at the bottom, which is the best way to preserve the seven-beat rhythm. However, as soon as you do the exercise in a dactyl, anapest, or amphibrach, it could also be performed in 4/4 time in today's keys. It would even be a very good exercise.”

Unfortunately, I don't remember exactly when it was, but while I was still in Bottmingen, I told the doctor about the rhythmic exercises of the Dalcroze School. You would have to beat a different rhythm with each hand and another with your feet – and that would certainly not be healthy, as it would make you very fidgety and nervous! “But why?” said Dr. Steiner, “it makes you very skilled and teaches you to control your limbs!” In any case, if you didn't have the opportunity to practice our new art of movement, you should definitely take the opportunity to practice Dalcroze eurhythmics. It would be better to do Dalcroze than nothing at all. “The relationship between Dalcroze and our work is roughly this: if Dalcroze is chemistry, ours is alchemy.”

Rudolf Steiner's preparatory notes for this lesson

Me and you / You and me / Me and you / Are we / You and me / You and me / A B
against envy and false ambition Staff exercise against misbehavior - /
7 movements - 12 movements Preliminary exercise / Spiral / Qui — for training the fingers —
Opposites — 12 movements — 1-7 Opposites—
Serious / Lovely
Light / Heartfelt
Clever / Solemn
Cheerful / Sad

1. Hold the stick stretched out in front of you with both hands from above, then hold the stick evenly from below with both hands, alternating and increasing the tempo more and more. It should appear as if the stick is almost stationary and only your fingers are moving (thumb technique). Consider this exercise to be “Qui.”

2. Grasp the stick evenly from above in front; then do the same behind your back and again in front, also at an increasing tempo.

3. 1. Stick stretched out below. 2. Stick at shoulder height. 3. Stick below. 4. Stick behind you below. 5. Grasp the stick from the outside with the same grip. 6. Stick at shoulder height. 7. Stick below. 8. Pause, then repeat at different speeds.