The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1912–1918

GA 277a — 23 September 1912, Bottmingen

The Dionysian Course VIII

The next day, Dr. Steiner asked me, “Do you know what serpentine dances are?” Somewhat surprised, but very eager—I had educated myself as much as possible about various styles, including modern dance—I answered his question in the affirmative. He told me that there was a woman in America whose dances were called that. She was wrapped in an infinite number of veils, which she moved incessantly in serpentine, undulating movements, and was illuminated from all sides with ever-changing colors. The doctor listened to my proud, detailed explanation with increasing astonishment and amusement, laughed loudly at the end, and said, “But that's not what I meant!”

He now wanted to tell me about completely different serpentine dances, ancient ones that originally came from Greek temples and mysteries. He then drew the first great serpentine, which could counteract selfishness in full-blooded people and which could end with two different movements in accordance with the character of the poem.

In the second large serpentine, which was to be danced from the outside in and was very good for pale people as a strong reinforcement of the ego, he gave two different postures as a conclusion. The first: äu - with hands braced against the hips.

1.) Conclusion = not too gentle movement / of the hands outward.
2.) Clasping the hands behind the back Hygienic pedagogy = against selfishness in full-blooded people —

1.) Conclusion: äu (with hands on hips)
2.) eu (with hands on heart) / (meaning the other person / pointing at him) hygienic = strong attachment to the self / very good for people prone to paleness

— for a cheerful serpentine. Under certain circumstances, it can be combined with a powerful jump, also äu, into the middle of the serpentine. The final gesture for the serious, solemn type should be eu — with hands placed on the heart.

"But, you see, such originally deeply meaningful movements as these with hands placed on the heart as the conclusion of an enveloping serpentine can be found today in a trivialized form when a ballerina, after a wild final whirl—serpentine!—suddenly stops in the middle, preferably on one leg, with her hands placed on her mouth to blow kisses to the audience. That's a real movement in the wrong place!"

In other contexts, i.e. not at the end of a serpentine, eu can also mean: referring to the other person, pointing at them – the fact that in this second example the other hand is also placed on the heart was probably just a certain embarrassment or lack of imagination on our part, but it did show that this referring to the other person really came from the heart and was not a threatening: “Yes, I mean you.” Actually, this can also be read from the doctor's formulation. First “mean” (formerly ‘minnen’) and then “point.”

He then spoke of serpentine dances, which originate from Greek and even older temples, of “sacred dances.” An individual or a couple or many couples—whole avenues of serpentines should be set up—should all walk alternately out and in serpentines, accompanied by devotional movements of the hands.

linked with sep serpentine dances / devotional movements of the hands = / sacred dances =

At the beginning, we perhaps regarded this chapter of eurythmy too much as a goal lying far, far away. “Devotional movements of the hands” from us, who were just beginning to learn to babble? I also believed, and still believe, that this was not a matter of “loud” or even spoken words. And before we were ready, without the support or guidance of the spoken word, to form sounds or soul attitudes so truly and experientially that we could have dared to create “sacred dances,” it really seemed like a goal that would be difficult or very late to achieve. And yet this failure often stands before my soul as a very painful reproach.

Rudolf Steiner's preparatory notes for this lesson

A spiral from the inside out
First conclusion: not too gentle movement from the inside out
Second conclusion: clasping hands behind the back —
(hyg. Paed. against egoism in full-blooded / people)

First conclusion with hands placed on hips
Eu Hands placed on the heart.
Hyg. strong attachment of the ego for people prone to paleness

Spiral from the inside out
Serpentine with consonants - 4 times d / 4 times f / 4 times g / 2 times k / 2 times h /
4 times l | / 4 times n / Then both hands on the heart

The following drawing from Marie Steiner's notebook appears to be an elaboration on Rudolf Steiner's instructions in NZ 5234/3, although the frequency of the consonants to be performed has been varied slightly.

d f g k h / d f g k h l n / dddd
ffff hhhh llll nn [in the direction of the winding serpentine:]
d gg kk d d d f f f f
g g k k h h h h llll nnnn