The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1912–1918

GA 277a — Dornach

Notes on the Development of Eurythmy

Compiled from Tatiana Kisseleff: “Eurythmy – Memories”; “From the Eurythmy Work”; Notebook 1913/14 with entries and additions by Rudolf Steiner

Tatiana Kisseleff was invited to Dornach by Rudolf Steiner and Marie von Sivers to establish eurythmy work there from March 1914 onwards. The following documents her memories relating to the specific work of eurythmy, as well as pages from her notebook containing entries and additions in Rudolf Steiner's handwriting. Rudolf Steiner's additions are printed in italics below to distinguish them clearly from Tatiana Kisseleff's own notes. The note by Rudolf Steiner printed on p. 221 probably also originates from this work context.

On March 30, 1914, I traveled to Dornach. [...] Immediately after my arrival in Dornach, I began to look for a room for eurythmy lessons; I couldn't find anything and was almost in despair when one day, while talking about my difficulties in the village, I was advised to take a look at the rooms in the village restaurant “Jura.” [... ] Indeed, there was a large room with two small side rooms and an old, out-of-tune piano. For 30 francs a month, all of this was made available to me, every day from early morning until late evening, except Saturday afternoons and all day Sunday [...]

As early as 1914, a few months after the work began, Dr. Steiner took eurythmy under her wing, and it is to her that this art owes its rapid growth and the diversity of its development. In August/September of that year, eurythmy work took place every morning in two rooms of the Villa Hansi, where Dr. and Mrs. Steiner lived. Dr. Steiner, myself, and occasionally Miss Waller [...] took part in this work. Dr. Steiner checked our movements from time to time and gave us various new instructions each time. The book Die Grundelemente der Eurythmie (The Basic Elements of Eurythmy), published by Annemarie Dubach-Donath, contains much of what was added to the first Basel course during this work. Once, Dr. Steiner took my eurythmy notebook with him for a few days and added supplements, explanations, and new elements to it. [...]

During this work at Villa Hansi, Rudolf Steiner pointed out the peculiarities of eurythmy in the Russian language. He said that the Russian and German languages relate to each other in such a way that the sound with which the German word begins is in many cases the last sound in the corresponding Russian word, and vice versa. This is the case, for example, in the words Gott and Bog (God); there is a certain relationship between t and b.

Rudolf Steiner also spoke of the “star dances” of humanity in earlier epochs and said that there had been manifold, complicated dances according to the laws of the fixed and changing stars, where each planet followed its own orbit, distinct from the others. These dances also depicted solar and other eclipses, as well as many other things. He added that he wanted to revive and rebuild these dances when he had time for it.

Rudolf Steiner made this remark during an exercise session in which Marie Steiner, M. E. Waller, and I participated. We gained an idea of what he meant through exercises he had us perform in spiral movements in the room. He recited verses based on specific sounds, different for each figure. One figure represented the sun (M. Steiner), another the earth (M. E. Waller), and the third the moon (T. Kisseleff).

This was the first star dance we received from Rudolf Steiner. [...] Here is the form as I recorded it according to Rudolf Steiner's instructions.

Rudolf Steiner recited himself. They were magnificent, highly differentiated verses that he created immediately as he spoke. Unfortunately, we did not write down these verses. [...] The first Star Dance, which came into being at Villa Hansi at that time, was performed only once – on the day it was created.

Miss Lory Smits gave me and others eurythmy lessons in 1913 at the “Haus Meer” in Düsseldorf. The notes for sounds and forms in my eurythmy notebook correspond to these lessons. During my eurythmy work with Mrs. Marie Steiner-v. Sivers at the end of the summer of 1914 at Villa Hansi in Dornach [-], Rudolf Steiner examined my movements – vowels and consonants – asked for my eurythmy notebook, kept it for a few days, and returned it to me with his corrections and other notes he had added.

[Rudolf Steiner's additions in the transcription are in italics and separated by //. The deletions and underlinings are also in his handwriting.]

Vowels. Always express something inner (learn to feel:)
A Defense. Hands bent upward // Arms at an angle / Arms still with hands. / Fear that fights back.
E Crossing. Amazement (Awe Fear + Disgust)
Ä Legs placed behind each other, hands
I Every stretch // - experiencing oneself in oneself
Au every touch // oppression // of one's own body
O Every curve of the limbs coming together. Loving embrace // admiration
U Every upward turn // both hands expressing parallel / amazement
Au Jumping up or stamping the limbs // Jump with subsequent ground contact
Ei Every movement of the whole body / Feeling “how lovely,”

Eu with hands placed on the heart (or pointing at him with the other hand) // with hand on the heart and arm pointing
Ö Round dance and jump from one point to the center. Also a jerk // to the side
Ü Dancing past each other. Past each other. Back of the hand (also feet next to each other)

Ü Amazement with joy

Rudolf Steiner told me verbally about the sound u that I do not always have to turn upwards. u can just as well be performed downwards or forwards or sideways. The main thing is to keep the arms and hands parallel.

It should be noted that later on, the movement of the whole body was no longer performed in this way for the double sound ei. Already in the early years of the development of eurythmy, he no longer approved of this movement, but emphasized the movement of the arms and hands.

iu / uii (Vussisch)

In the adjacent sound [upper drawing], i is connected to j.

Especially when eurythmizing poems in Russian, which has many ei and other related diphthongs (ai, oi, u1), we were not allowed to move our whole bodies and had to express these double sounds exclusively through the special movement of our arms and hands.

On blank pages between my notes on the familiar series of ordinary consonants, Rudolf Steiner wrote the above sequence and explanations:

B / M / D / N / R / L / G / CH / F / S / H / T / the person seeking protection / becoming agitated / and calming down again.—

B — Protection in something / this makes you strong | M. / and able to / penetrate
B the other. / M — my attempt to enter / D — myself.
When you do B M D in succession, feel: / With him there I am

For example, he wrote down the sequence of 12 consonants at that time: b, m, d, n, r, l, g, ch, s, h, t [...]. To explain this grouping of consonants, he said something like the following: Everything is actually contained in this; if one were to work on these 12 sounds correctly in eurythmy, then he would not need to give us his lectures. However, one could also pronounce these sounds as they follow one another without eurythmizing them.

II. Group. Have a calming effect
D Reaction to a calm external influence // [I must through] // This through you.

B as something in the hand have // take // which in turn has an effect on the body // (I am protected by something)

I do not direct a breath of the Highest /
Russian = Ch or H // Ch like fanning oneself with the wind

II. Group. Have an exciting stimulating effect:
L Becoming aware of the freedom to develop / (L can never be done with your feet) / Lukewarm throughout life. // Related I
M Feeling // as if in the air // in something / inside / Ordinary walking movement or bending the hands up and down - as if walking through the wind // (i.e. pushing the air back) // Encouraging.
N_ Being temporarily connected // fleetingly grasping touching // Not just no.
P Envelopment (feeling of being enveloped by something, e.g. when one wants to suggest dancing in a hut ( / Praising with whistling // in three

W Like a long U; so deep that there is no movement. Also wave motion // vocalic<.p>

Serpentine after 2 / inside from 1 / outside: / First conclusion — with hands planted on hips. / Eu — hands placed on heart. Hygienic strong attachment of the ego for people prone to paleness.
Exercises in anapests
1. Me and you. / Me and you / You and me / Me and you / Are we / You and me/ You and me. / Against envy and false ambition // against vanity and egoism. —
2. We. Old Dionysian exercise / Joy in shared existence. // Desire to be together. // 4 steps forward; 4 steps back - Say “we” every second step

He Worship // that one shows to a being, // to the deity. The illuminator of the clouds / He illuminates / He shines through / He glows through / He warms through / Me too. // To develop the feeling and mood of worship and gain peace.

You You / Only when wisdom [...]// To cultivate healthy cheerfulness. Russian sounds

You. / Sensation of all humanity / a. / b. Just as a path leads from every point in a circle to the center, so a path always leads you back from every error to God. // To cultivate inner harmony.

Spiral from the inside out. / What I did / What I suffered / What I thought / What I am / Like a fire / That smolders / Like a song / That fades away. // Message of strength

3 types of jumps. / 1. Ö - within the form, to the center of the form 1 2./ 2. U - pointing upwards. 1 2. / 3. Äu Touching the floor again after a jump is the main thing. / The jump is always a dissonance. Different types of jumps: u - jumping up from the floor, 1 2 — the u movement at 1;

ü — can also be expressed by a jump with the feet as close together as possible // ö — a jump to the center of the form or a jerk to the side // äu — a jump in which the second moment, the contact with the floor, is important

Praying penitent begged
at the confessional /
The lord / The lady /
The servant / The maid /
The little Pinkerl
Pinkerl in the //
We Wiagn

V Lovely (right foot forward).
VI Intimate (very soft).
VII Solemn
VIII Solemn in profile [Drawing by Rudolf Steiner]
IX Sad.

Pious // Hana folds
ink //
Devotion // raised
folded hands //
Devotion // flat
hands with head bowed
placed on chest

B M I W R (a) W (u)
D N R L
G(I) Ch
F S
B M D N R L