# The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1918–1920

## GA 277b — 24 February 1919, Zurich

### 4. Eurythmy Performance

*The first public eurythmy performance should have taken place in Zurich and was originally planned for October 1918, but was canceled by the authorities (see the documents on p. 44f.). Instead, it took place on February 24, 1919, carefully prepared by Rudolf Steiner with texts for the announcement in the newspaper and a text for the program booklet. Further public performances followed in 1919 in Winterthur, Stuttgart, Mannheim, Dresden and Bern, as well as public performances at the Goetheanum.*

The art of movement known as eurythmy, which has so far only been practiced in a small circle, has its starting point in Goethe's view that all art is the revelation of hidden natural laws that would otherwise remain hidden. This idea can be combined with another, also from Goethe. In every single human organ, one finds a lawful expression of the human form as a whole. Every single limb of the human being is, so to speak, a human being in miniature, just as – in Goethean terms – a plant leaf is a plant in miniature. One can turn this idea around and see in the human being an overall expression of what one of his organs represents. In the larynx and the organs connected with it for speech and song, movements are carried out or even only intended through these activities, and these reveal themselves in sounds or combinations of sounds, while they themselves remain unobserved in ordinary life. It is not so much these movements themselves as the intentions of the movements that are to be realized in eurythmy through the movements of the whole body. The whole human being should make visible, in movement and posture, what imperceptibly takes place in the formation of sounds and tones in a single organ system. Through the movements of the limbs, what takes place in the larynx and neighboring organs when speaking and singing is revealed. Through movement in space and in the forms and movements of groups, what lives in sound and speech through the human soul is depicted. Thus, something is created through this eurythmic art of movement, in the creation of which the impulses that have worked in the development of all art forms have prevailed. All arbitrary mimicry or pantomime, all symbolization of the soul through movements is excluded; expression is achieved through a lawful inner connection, as in music. Eurythmy should lead back to the source of dance as an art form, from which it has, however, become far removed over time. It aims to do this in the sense of a truly modern concept of art, not by imitating or merely restoring an ancient form. It is in the nature of things that the art of eurythmy is connected to the musical. The musical accompaniments to the eurythmy performances that arise in the course of the presentation were provided by van der Pals. What is now being presented as eurythmy is a beginning; the intentions associated with this art will no doubt develop further. However, they should be seen as a start.

*Program for the performance in Zurich, February 24, 1919*


Dear attendees!

Allow me to say a few words about our performance. This is all the more necessary because, as I may say from the outset, this performance is not about some already completed art form, but about a will, perhaps I could even say: about the basis for a will. And in this sense, I ask you to still perceive and accept our attempt today. We certainly do not want to compete in any way with any dance art form that appears similar to ours or anything of the sort. We know very well that in all these neighboring arts, people are able to present infinitely more perfect performances than we are able to do in our specific field. But for us it is not at all a matter of giving something that already exists in some other form. It is a special form of art, brought forth through movements of the human body, through mutual movements and positions of personalities distributed in groups.

The whole meaning of our eurythmic art is based on Goethe's world view, and specifically on those parts of Goethe's world view that, when absorbed into one's artistic perception, appear to be the most profound and perhaps the most fruitful for the future of artistic development.

Although it may seem theoretical, I would like to say a few words in this regard to explain the groups depicted. It is well known that Goethe was not only active as an artist, but also had deep - unfortunately one cannot say scientific today - science-like insights into the weaving and essence of all natural processes and conditions. And one need only recall how Goethe arrived at the idea of regarding each individual plant organ as a transformation of the other plant organs that occur in the same being, one link of a natural being as a metamorphosis of the other link, but then again the whole plant - and so also transferred to higher organic beings, animals and humans, to see the whole being as a comprehensive metamorphosis of the individual meaningful links. That is what Goethe came to.

If we immerse ourselves in the intuition that lies in this insight into nature, it is possible to translate this insight into artistic feeling and artistic form. This has been attempted here in our eurythmic art for certain artistically designed movements of the human body itself. And this is to be achieved by first observing what Goethe observed in terms of form, and then artistically transforming it into movement.

To summarize, if I want to express what our intention is in this eurythmic art, I would like to say: the whole human being should become a metamorphosis of a single organ, an outstanding and significant organ, the larynx. Just as the human larynx expresses through speech, through sound, that which lives in the soul, so it is possible that if one intuitively grasps the forces that are active in the larynx and its neighboring organs when forming sounds, when forming tones, then one can implement these forces in the movement patterns of the whole human organism. The whole human organism can, so to speak, become a visible larynx, provided that we clearly realize that what the human larynx expresses in words, in sound, in harmony, in the of the sounds and tones, is only the disposition for certain movements within the air masses themselves, in which, after all, that which is word and tone actually comes to its sensory-physical expression.

So I would like to say: We try to express through the whole human organism that which, as a form of creation, sends the movement of the human larynx into an air mass.

Then, what resonates in sound and speech as a mood of the soul, as an inner feeling, what resonates in the artistic shaping of speech in rhythm, in rhyme, in alliteration, in assonance and so on , is to be expressed by forming groups whose individual members add rhythm, purely inner soul mood, weaving of feeling and the like to what the individual personality expresses through its movements.

We have avoided, absolutely avoided, anything that could be merely a momentary expression of what is going on in the soul. Just as our larynx does not express what is going on in the soul in some random, invented movement, but rather in the way in which there is a lawfulness in the larynx in the sequence of sounds and tones, so here in this eurythmic art there is a lawfulness in the sequence of movement. All facial expressions and forms of expression that are merely gestures should be avoided. And I would ask you to regard all facial expressions that appear today as an imperfection that still exists in our art form. We are still not as far along as we would like.

As you can see from these words, our eurythmic art still differs from other similar art forms in that the whole human body is in motion, not just the legs. I would like to say: here, to an outstanding degree, it is not the legs that are used to unfold a dance-like art of movement, but rather the human arms are the main organs for this art of movement.

In this way, we are attempting to demonstrate in our eurythmic art, in a very specific area, the impulse that lies in the Goethean worldview. Anyone who wishes to judge us fairly today must accept what we have to offer as only a very first beginning, which, as a beginning, can only be imperfect. However, they must also bear in mind that our habits of artistic reception are opposed to what actually works as the most essential in our eurythmic art. Here nothing is a momentary expression, but everything is subject to an inner lawfulness, which is based on an intuitive study of the movement possibilities of the human organism, just as in music itself the succession of tones is subject to a lawfulness, just as in speaking, in making verse, the succession of sounds and words is subject to a very specific lawfulness, so that nothing can arise from momentary arbitrariness in this eurythmic art, but when two people, who are perhaps very different in their individuality, present something in eurythmic art, or when two different groups present something, then the diversity can only go as far as the diversity of interpretation between different piano players playing one and the same Beethoven sonata. It is therefore important that everything subjective, everything arbitrary, be excluded from our eurythmic art.

In allowing myself to say a few words in advance, I ask you to recognize that you are well aware that this is just the beginning, a very modest beginning in our eurythmic art, which we believe is capable of further perfection. And so we ask you to take what we can present with all the forbearance possible in such matters. If you treat us in this way, we hope that after this first attempt our strength will grow and that we – or perhaps others – will one day be able to achieve something better in this field of art forms than we already can.