The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1912–1918

GA 277a — 21 September 1912, Bottmingen

The Dionysian Course VI

Once again, Rudolf Steiner began this day with spatial forms. Yesterday he had given forms of expression for personal pronouns, for the way in which one documents one's human relationship “as I,” “to you,” or “to him.” Today, these further forms were to be found when the human being examines whether he experiences himself as a willing, thinking, or feeling soul. And according to these different forces, they should move in different form principles.

Every crooked line
be it in position
be it in
movement
will
straight-faced countenance.

every angular movement
Thinking
Face directed downward

Feeling
straight and crooked
oh unt upward-facing face On that day, Rudolf Steiner gave no further explanations or clarifications. One should study poems to see whether the thinking, feeling, or willing soul is expressing itself, and then arrange the forms accordingly. Thinking requires straight lines, willing requires round forms, and feeling requires a combination of both, and each of them requires a completely different experience of space, I would almost say a different filling or feeling of space: thinking is completely linear, as in one dimension; feeling is a weaving and swinging between the straight and curved lines, always relating one to the other, i.e., completely in the plane, the second dimension; and wanting first taking hold of and filling the whole space – the third dimension. Since these forms are very characteristic, with careful elaboration, much can be brought to light in this “Dionysian eurythmy” that cannot be readily revealed by simply reading or listening to a poem.

But the principle: “Every crooked line, whether in position or in movement, is an expression of will” only became a real experience for me when, much later, Dr. Steiner himself showed me the last eleven lines of Walther von der Vogelweide's beautiful poem on old age: " Ah, where have all my years gone!“ according to will, thinking, and feeling [see p. 249f.] and—after a ”non-knight“ had described the ideal image of a true crusader in heartfelt tones—suddenly said: ”And now the impulse of will rises." Reaching deep into still dormant powers, he lifted them up with both hands from deep below and spread them out in a curved line in space, filling this space in all directions.

Much later, when I heard a lecture by Rudolf Steiner on the dimensions, in which he assigned thinking to the first dimension—the line—feeling to the second—the surface—and only then will to the third dimension—space—I was ashamed to realize how little Rudolf Steiner's intentions and perhaps even hopes had been fulfilled.

Even in these very early beginnings, we have a certain opportunity to prove true one of Rudolf Steiner's introductory words on the foundation of the new art: this new art of movement should be used to bring things that require too much attention from the viewer or that are so profound that their full meaning cannot be put into words to the viewer's understanding in this new way. If the eurythmist were to succeed in bringing this interplay of the soul between thinking, feeling, and willing and the changing life in the first, second, or third dimension to a clear revelation in a suitable text, would this not also have the effect on the audience that they would leave such a performance clarified and harmonized for their own soul? Through these hints, I wanted to try to describe the richness and depth of such a brief initial statement by Rudolf Steiner.

For three years, Rudolf Steiner let us live and work with these forms before he added the Apollonian ones, the forms of meaning, as he also called them, or even just “the meaning.” And that is why such forms should not be forgotten, because when the students are later allowed to work with Rudolf Steiner's standard forms: “You will see that what lies in such forms is already processed in the broadest sense. You will always find it.” — But only if you have seriously and intensively engaged with them.

Incidentally, when Rudolf Steiner made these statements about thinking, feeling, and willing, Philia, Astrid, and Luna, but he never referred to the three soul forces, not even in the last course in 1924 when he spoke about these forms. Just look at the Luna forms, or consider how one should express love, pain, longing, and devotion in the Philia zone.

The forms for willing, thinking, and feeling just described are already associated with head postures, which will now be described in even greater detail. The face, which is directed straight ahead in connection with the will, is now described in all its expressiveness, and one is involuntarily reminded of the stern, impressive heads of Egyptian statues, which show the greatest unity precisely because they still act energetically in the greatest dependence on the universe, determined by the laws of heaven. - The upward-facing face during feeling intensifies into an ever clearer and deeper “I understand myself” of the feeling soul. - The downward-facing face during thinking – who does not see before them the pensively lowered foreheads of most Greek sculptures – can now, with warm thinking and recognition, grasp the essence of the other more and more truly in “I understand you.”

Shouldn't we also try to understand why Dr. Steiner puts a full stop after some of the short sentences and suggests in others that there is something like an event that never comes to a conclusion, which we should listen to? Rudolf Steiner emphasized more than once that the sentences must be interpreted as broadly as possible and that the different head positions should be combined. Thus, “I want myself” can mean both: I want to assert and prevail over everything and everyone, but also: I want to stand up for you, even devote myself and sacrifice myself. In this last [sentence], we even have a combination of “I want myself” and “I understand you.” First, the head turns to the right, then down, causing the chin to drop toward the right shoulder.

Finally, he described the two possibilities of not wanting and not feeling something. These two are to be expressed by tilting the head to the right or left. Dr. Steiner demonstrated the first. From the position of facing straight ahead, he tilted his head to the right without turning it at all. It looked as if the head was tilting to the right side due to a shortening of the right neck muscle, the right eye and the strong brow lowered, and the left eye with the brow raised slightly.

greatest dependence / on the universe / and at the same time greatest / unity
Turn to the right = “I want myself”
Turn to the left: “I feel myself”
Turn upwards: “I understand myself ...”
Turning downwards: “I understand you...”

Tilting the head to the right: Gef / “I don't want something to be like that...”
Head tilted to the left: / “I don't feel that something is like that...”

Let me now try to describe a few more combinations: Two people see the difficult, painful fate of a third person. The first [experiences]: “I understand your misfortune and feel filled with compassion.” (The head first lowers, then turns to the left, creating a subtle connection between the chin and left shoulder.) The other sees the same thing. His first impulse [is]: “I don't feel that your misfortune has to be this way; I want to stand up for you with all the strength that I perceive as the strongest and deepest within me.”

Rudolf Steiner himself spoke of a combination. With two warriors facing each other as enemies [see p. 73], one could tell who would be the victor by the position of their heads. "Neither wants the other to win. But the one who does so out of a sense of his own strength will win, not the one who tenses up and adds ‘I don't want ...’ or ‘I want myself’ to the equation. Or how funny it might look if, in Morgenstern's two “donkeys,” one says, “I am so stupid,” and the other responds with a revelatory, “I understand myself,” and the other repeatedly confirms, “I understand you,” and when one says, “You are so stupid,” they exchange their insights and assertions.

“But the head must never look attached; it must always float freely above the body like a small cosmos, like a small universe above the rest of the person.” Once again, I looked at him for help! "It's quite simple! You must never move your head all the way to the end, but only as far as you could go if you weren't inhibited by some muscle or vertebra. Neither you nor the audience should ever get the feeling: It can't go any further, it's stuck! Now he can't tell me anything more about his attitude in accordance with his spirit."

Do you know that only a being with an ego can laugh and cry? That only humans, but never animals, can laugh and cry? And so we want to express the two ways in which the ego faces the world in laughter or crying through two types of movement. Namely, by spreading and clenching.

And so these two essential expressions of the ego-endowed being were developed into an exercise that is good for unmotivated and somewhat unintelligent children. However, Dr. Steiner added: “But it can't hurt anyone.” The saying about “occult politeness” also comes from him!

hygienic aspect = the protruding / round dance =
is good for unmotivated and / somewhat unintelligent children —

In every spread, one should learn to feel an elevation of the inner over the outer, so that this inner looks down laughing at all the adversities of the outer world. “Humor is the dominant power of the soul,” replied Rudolf Steiner in 1918 to a question from a painter.

But when this inner self feels weak in the face of external facts, it tries to become aware of its own powers, to gather them together and compress everything within it into a single point, just as in the physical body, tears are finally squeezed out of the swelling lacrimal gland when we cry.

spreitzen = elevation of the inner over / the outer - / laughter /
ballen = feeling of inner helplessness / against external facts;
but / gathering of inner / forces / (defense) / crying

This exercise was given to strengthen the youngest and weakest link in human nature. And so one should try to confront two small ego beings with each other as “external facts” and encourage them to overcome their helplessness and fear and to make a vigorous effort. Because: "You don't even know what you can do if you just want to. Actually, it's laughable that you were so afraid. So laugh heartily! Yes, and then just turn around and run away quickly. It's really not worth worrying about!“

Perhaps it is not advisable to do ”balling and spreading" at the end of a lesson, although Rudolf Steiner does indicate a certain balance from the outset. Because the same applies to this round dance: the beginning of a round dance with hands spread apart, the end of a round dance with hands slightly clenched – because every ego, no matter how strong, must first gather itself together when it detaches itself from a community.

Two people turn toward each other with clenched hands, then spread their hands
and then run apart —
Handshake = clenching + spreading
Beginning of a
round dance
spread
hands
End of a round dance
slightly clenched hands.

Apart from this most important hygienic effect, “clenching and spreading” was of the utmost importance to us as young beginners in eurythmy in another respect. The exercise gave us the first, and until 1915 probably the only, indication of how, with a certain awareness, we could color our movements, in some cases strongly, leading to laughter, spreading, loosening up to the brightest light, or to crying, clenching, closing ourselves off, darkening to the most hopeless black.

May I recall once again one of the first sentences that Rudolf Steiner uttered at the beginning of these Bottminger lessons, almost as a condition? Namely, that only those who are convinced in their hearts that human beings consist of body, soul, and spirit, with their counterparts in the limb person, the chest or heart person, and the head person, can truly practice this new art of movement. From this point, let us look back once more at the lecture described above.

Rudolf Steiner's preparatory notes for this lecture

Clenching Feeling weak in relation to the outside world — at the same time gathering all inner forces to defend against the outside world — clenching is experienced like crying Spreading Feeling strong, feeling superior to the outside world — experienced like laughing —
Standing — human / Walking — (or already relieving the foot) Revolting against the earth against the spirits of form (luz.) 3 moments — Will as impulse / Thought / Action

Head straight ahead — greatest dependence and at the same time greatest unity.
Turning of the head: right: I want to / left: I feel Inclination — right — I don't want something to be that way / left: I don't feel that something is that way —
Head bowed: I understand you
Head turned upward — I understand myself

Head movements / straight ahead. Greatest unity, / at the same time greatest dependence / on the universe.

turn right: // lower tilt I want to / turn left: // lower tilt // I feel inclination // turn // right: I don't want / something to be like that. / inclination / turn // left: I don't feel that / something is like that.

back up: I understand myself ... / back down: I understand you ...

Head positions.
to the left turning / I don't feel
to the left lowering / I feel
to the right turning: / I don't want
to the right lowering / I want to
downward lowering: / I understand you
upward raising / I understand myself.