The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1912–1918

GA 277a — 1 September 1915, Dornach

The Apollonian Course XV

After Rudolf Steiner had discussed foot positions and the aspects of hearing, seeing, and feeling in this lesson, he returned at the end of the lesson to the Mercury prelude discussed in the 13th lesson (August 30). The relevant information can be found there (p. 359).

Posture of the feet, foot positions

The soul can also be expressed through foot positions. You will easily come to the conclusion that the emotional expressions we use today could also be used instead of the earlier ones. Things will often cross [mix]. All these movements can also be made while walking, not only while standing, when one feeling transitions into another. In this way, you can select the most important feelings from the poem and express them in the prelude.

Poems written in iambic meter are better suited to the movements shown earlier, which are more in the movement of the body and arms [emotional attitudes]. Those in trochaic meter are better suited to these foot movements.

[The following drawings are drawn from the viewer's point of view.]

Courage, activity

right left / courage activity

Courage, action = Right foot forward diagonally. // The whole right foot diagonally forward.

(Example of courage, action: “Heereszug” in Goethe's Pandora)

Exciting feelings

Excitement = Right foot forward with the tip of the toe. // The tip diagonally forward, in the diagonal. // Right foot forward on the tip of the toe.

Command, request

Command, request = Twice courage, action (two steps)

(Example of excitement or command: Goethe's “The Sorcerer's Apprentice”)

Message

Message = weight on right foot, left foot on toes.

Suffering and feeling of weakness

Standing on the right

Suffering and feeling of weakness = Stand on the right and move the left foot forward. // Left forward and standing on the right. / / Right foot standing, left foot placed diagonally forward.

(Example of suffering and weakness: Epimetheus in Goethe's Pandora)

Calming feelings

Calming feelings = The tip diagonally forward, with the left diagonally forward on the whole foot. Right foot on toes, body weight on left foot. // Back on tiptoes, step forward with left foot. // When transferring the movement so that the weight is on the front foot, back on tiptoes.

(Example: “The storm subsides,” or “The sick person recovers”).

Suffering, weakness / left / back on tiptoes: calming / a) I calm myself / b) I calm you

Calming = back of the toes
a) = I calm myself
b) = I calm you

Persistence, calm strength

Persistent, calm strength // The feeling of calm strength, persistence = Stand with one foot to the side, left, and walk sideways to the right. // Left foot stands, right foot steps out sideways. // The right foot moves, the left foot stands still.

In my notebook from 1915 it says: Step out with one foot = perseverance, calm strength. So it does not always have to be the right foot.

Dr. on the board: “calm strength, perseverance.”

Contentment, cheerfulness

left / contentment / cheerfulness

Expression of contentment, also cheerfulness = Right foot straight NzAKIS,, forward. // Place the entire right foot straight ahead.

Sympathy

Everything that inspires sympathy = Place the front foot on the tip of the toes, position. // The tip straight ahead.

(Example: “From time to time I like to visit the old man,” Mephisto in “Prologue in Heaven”)

Dissatisfaction, seriousness

Dissatisfaction, seriousness = Standing on the left, leaning back to the right. // The whole foot straight back. // Left foot standing, right foot straight back.

So seriousness and dissatisfaction are really only indicated by the position of the feet [...]. Personally, I have helped myself in this case by using head positions.

For seriousness, look as straight ahead as possible (maximum composure) and for dissatisfaction: I don't want something to be that way.

Antipathy

Antipathy = When you stand on your tiptoes. // Move your foot backwards and stand on your toes. // Point your toes straight back (step strongly).

Not understanding

Not understanding something = Feet side by side, right foot moved sideways away from the left, turned backward in a quarter circle. // The whole foot in a quarter arc behind the left (slightly).

Negation

Negation (conspicuous, emphatic) = The whole foot in a quarter arc behind the left (firm). // Then the same with a strong stance. // Make the same movement, but make it visible that the foot is standing strongly.

Disgust, feelings of hatred

Disgust, feelings of hatred = Place the entire foot in a quarter circle behind the left foot (with a strong step). // Remove the right foot from the left foot and turn it in a quarter circle behind the left foot.

Tension

Tension = Place the tip of the toe in a quarter circle behind the left foot.

I understand something

I understand something = Stand on the right foot, left foot sideways, quarter turn forward. // Place the entire left foot in a quarter turn in front of the right foot (lightly).

Justification, I justify something

I justify something = The same with a strong step. // Now step strongly with the left foot. // Place the entire left foot in a quarter turn in front of the right foot (firmly).

Assertion

Assertion = The whole left foot in a quarter arc in front of the right (with a strong stance, emphatically).

Relaxation, release

Relaxation, release of feelings = The tip in a quarter arc, quarter circle in front of the right. // The same, standing on tiptoes.

Memory

Everything that is memory = squat. (Example: “And you usually liked to see me,” Mephisto in “Prologue in Heaven”)

Overview of foot position

right courage, activity / front (toe tip: exciting
standing on the right, suffering, weakness on the left / back (toe tip = calming)
Persistent calm strength
Contentment Cheerfulness / front toe tip Sympathy
Resting, discontent Seriousness / back toe tip Antipathy / standing I understand something / Strong appearance: Reasoning / toe tip: Solution Disgust, lack of understanding, strong appearance, denial / toe tip — Tension
Squat: memory

Hearing, seeing, feeling expressed through body and limb movement

The preserved documents do not provide any information on how the “movements of the body” on the one hand and the “movements of the limbs” on the other are to be understood. The editors of GA 277a ‘1965’ have provided an interpretation that may have originated from tradition and is therefore also documented here.

Where you want to make concrete, abstract, temporal words, etc., divide them according to: (1.) Hearing - (2.) Seeing - (3.) Feeling. // Concrete, abstract nouns, etc. should be divided according to what you hear, what you see, what you feel. // In poems with many verbs, it is good to make sure that you classify them according to what you hear, see, and feel.

1. Everything related to hearing. // Heard: large movements of the body and limbs.

2. Everything related to seeing. // Seen: small body movements, but large limb movements. // Smaller body movements, but larger limb movements. // Smaller body movements, but large limb movements.

3. Everything that can be felt. // Felt: both body and limb movements measured, smaller. // Both body and limb movements measured.

The fact that small body movements and large limb movements are made during “seeing” creates the impression of the visionary; practiced in “Die Kapelle der unschuldigen Kindlein” (C. F. Meyer). Each last line of the stanza as a “vision.” “New Year's Bells” (C. F. Meyer) to practice the representation of what is heard.

Movements of the body (= forms) and limbs (= sounds)

Text example for the division into hearing, seeing, feeling

The following section documents the information on the division into hearing, seeing, and feeling in the example text from the “Prologue in Heaven.” Deviating notes by Lory Maier-Smits [LMS:] and Marie Steiner [MSt:] are indicated by the corresponding abbreviations.

The most beautiful example:

From: Johann Wolfgang Goethe, “Faust,” Prologue in Heaven, V. 243-270 Raphael:
The sun resounds in the old way Great bodily movement, great limb movement
In brotherly spheres, competitive singing,
And its prescribed journey
It completes with a thunderous roar.
Its sight gives strength to the angels, passes into what has happened
When no one can fathom it;
The incomprehensibly lofty works Are glorious as on the first day. [LMS:] Isn't feeling “incomprehensible,” yet it calls for an inner experience? Gabriel:
And quickly and incomprehensibly quickly Everything upon seeing [MSt Nb 138: hearing]
The splendor of the earth revolves around;
The brightness of paradise alternates
With deep, shuddering night;
The sea foams in broad rivers [MSt Nb 138:]Schen [LMS:] Here, analogous to “And storms rage in competition,” hearing could be perceived.
At the deep base of the rocks,
And rock and sea are swept away Face [See]
In eternally rapid spherical motion. Michael:
And storms rage in competition, Hearing From the sea to the land, from the land to the sea,
And furiously form a chain Of the deepest effect all around.
There blazes a flashing devastation [MSt Nb 161:] Seen
The path before the thunderclap; Hearing [LMS:] Perhaps the word “thunderclap” could be made into “hearing,” then the transition to “feeling” would be particularly impressive.
But your messengers, Lord, revere [feeling]
The gentle passing of your day. To three:
The sight gives strength to the angels [MSt Nb 138:] Seeing [LMS:] quicker transition to feeling Since no one can fathom you,
And all your lofty works
Are glorious as on the first day.

[Another example of “hearing-seeing-feeling”]

Friedrich Lienhard: “Abendrot” (Evening Red) I long for a homeland (feeling) that has no earthly boundaries!
Out of human misery, I long for an eternal heavenly city.
The evening glow shines bright and clear, (Seeing) the spring murmurs gently in the Wasgenwald forest. (Hearing)
How quickly my earthly day passed (feeling) and all my daily work, how quickly!
O come, you universal night, which knows no earthly measure,
From whose depths star after star (seeing) shines down on our tiny little star!
I am not tired from the day's work, and yet I am weary of the day —
I long for your vastness, you boundless heavenly city!

[Example of foot position, foot placement]

From: Johann Wolfgang Goethe, “Faust,” Study, V. 1538-1544 I am the spirit that always denies! [Negation]
And rightly so; for everything that comes into being [Reason]
Is worth being destroyed;
Therefore, it would be better if nothing came into being. [Negation]
So everything that you call sin, [Antipathy]
Destruction, in short, evil,
Is my true element. [Sympathy]