# The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1920–1922

## GA 277c — 2 July 1922, Dornach

### Eurythmy Address

*The performance took place in the dome room of the Goetheanum. Children from Dornach and the surrounding area were specially invited.*

“Göttermahl” (Feast of the Gods) by C. F. Meyer with music by Leopold van der Pals  
“Hochländisch” by J. W. v. Goethe  
“Spring” by Rudolf Steiner with music by Leopold van der Pals  
“Summer Picture” by Friedrich Hebbel  
‘Memory’ by Anton Bruckner  
“Sturmesmythe” by Nikolaus Lenau  
Evoe with music by Max Schuurman  
“Die sterbende Meduse” (The Dying Medusa) by C. F. Meyer  
“Der Zwölf-Elf” (The Twelve-Eleven) by Christian Morgenstern  
Scherzo by Franz Schubert  
Aria by S. Bach  
“Beherzigung” by J. W. v. Goethe  
“Ländliches Lied” by Robert Schumann  
“Das Butterbrotpapier” by Christian Morgenstern  
Satirical prelude with music by Leopold van der Pals  
“Im Reich der Interpunktionen” by Christian Morgenstern

Minuet by L. van Beethoven

Ladies and gentlemen!

As always before our eurythmic experiments, allow me to introduce our performance with a few words. This is not to explain the artistic aspect, because art must explain itself through direct observation. And today in particular, it must be evident that what is presented here on stage can be understood through direct observation, for we would like to point out that we are delighted to welcome such a large group of children today, who can of course only form an impression based on what they see directly.

What is seen here from the stage should not be something dance-like, should not be something mimetic at all, but rather a truly visible language that is the means of our artistic revelation. Just as the vocal apparatus, the larynx, and the other organs of speech in the human body become the means of expression of the soul in spoken and vocal language, so too can the whole human being be used as a means of artistic linguistic expression by setting its limbs in motion or by setting groups of people in motion. Then this very means of expression becomes a visible language.

Nothing you will see here in a hand movement or an apparent gesture is in any way arbitrary or merely invented. Nor is what appears here as movement something invented, just as the sound a or the sound e or the sound z is not something invented, but something that comes from the whole nature of the human being. In the same way, through sensory-supersensory observation, it is recognized which movements from human nature are necessary as a real means of expression, for example, for this or that sound that can be sung or spoken. And from such movements, that which is artistically understood as eurythmy is then composed.

This results in an art form that could be called a moving sculpture. Just as sculpture expresses, one might say, the human silence through the stillness of the limbs, eurythmy expresses human speech and singing through the moving human limbs or even through moving groups of people. And when watching such a eurythmic performance, it is not important to relate the individual gestures and movements to this or that, but rather to acquire a feeling, a sensation for the sequence of movements, just as in music one must acquire a feeling for the sequence of tones.

In this way, eurythmy truly becomes something that can stand alongside the old arts as a new art form. And one gains the opportunity to express artistically through this moving language what is spoken as poetry on the one hand, [and also] to sing what is presented musically in this way, I would say through moving tones, through sounding tones. For one can sing in this moving language of eurythmy just as one can sing through the language of sound. Only one must of course be clear that if, in recitation or declamation, that which occurs in the art of eurythmy occurs at the same time, then one must recite and declaim differently than one likes to do today. Today, people prefer to recite in an unartistic way, so that they actually only emphasize the prose content of the poem. But that cannot be done here; instead, the secret eurythmy that already lies within the poetic language must be sought. For in fact, an invisible eurythmic element underlies all real poetry, and every real poet knows this. Schiller did not first have the prose content of his poems, but rather an indefinite melody, the musical, the pictorial; and only then did he string together what was the real prose content.

Those who can truly enjoy art will also enjoy the art of eurythmy, the art as it is presented in such a eurythmic performance. This characterizes in just a few words how eurythmy should work as an art form.

There are other aspects through which eurythmy aims to work. First of all, there is what I would call the medical-hygienic aspect. Because all the movements performed here originate from the healthy human organism, from the healthy human body, they can also be translated into movements that have a healing effect on the sick body. And we have already been able to establish a special needs class at the Waldorf School in Stuttgart with this intention in mind. The movements performed here on stage as art are not the same, but are slightly modified movements that are designed to have a healing effect on the human organism.

The third element in eurythmy is the pedagogical-didactic aspect. At the Waldorf School in Stuttgart, founded by Emil Molt and directed by me, we have introduced eurythmy as a compulsory subject for all school classes, from the lowest elementary school class to the highest classes, in addition to gymnastics. This eurythmy is absolutely necessary in educational terms; it is what I would call an animated, spiritualized form of gymnastics. While ordinary gymnastics actually only deals with the body and its movements, eurythmy deals with the body, soul, and spirit. And the fact that it also provides something significant for the child in terms of education and teaching is evident from the way children, when introduced to eurythmy in the right way, learn this visible language with the same naturalness with which they learn childish language in their younger years. In this way, the child learns tonal language, spoken language, with the same naturalness. Children find their way into eurythmy through play, so that one can say: the years in which eurythmy has been taught as a subject in Waldorf schools have already proven that eurythmy is also an exceptionally good educational and teaching tool.

Here on stage, you will see various things presented in eurythmic forms, poetry, and music. I would just like to emphasize that eurythmy is particularly well suited to representing things of a more spiritual nature. In this regard, I would like to point out the final number of the first part of our performance before the intermission, which depicts Perseus facing the dying Medusa. The dying Medusa is, of course, familiar from Greek mythology: she represents everything that humanity once imagined in ancient times, when people were still half in the realm of fantasy and exposed to many errors. And in Perseus, a strong personality is portrayed who liberated humanity, one might say, from what weighed on people like an incubus, like ancient fantastical ideas. This fight against old errors, erroneous ideas, nebulous ideas, which are nevertheless as dangerous to humans as a snake – hence the snake head of Medusa [and] this fight against old, nebulous ideas that lead to errors by the hero Perseus – will be depicted in the last piece before the intermission. Then there will be an intermission, and finally all kinds of things, including humorous ones, will be presented.

That is what I wanted to say in advance to help you understand our eurythmy. I must say today, as always, that we are only at the beginning of this eurythmic art, but that we are aware that it will become more and more perfect, because it makes use of the most perfect tool that art can have, the human being himself and his moving body. While other arts make use of external tools, eurythmy – imperfect as it still is today, but capable of immeasurable perfection – must say to itself: the human being is the most perfect expression of nature. And that is why, even if we still have to ask for indulgence today because of its imperfect beginnings, we can nevertheless give ourselves over to hope, since we make use of the human being and his inner laws – that is, the most significant thing that we encounter in the human being in this respect – that it will one day stand alongside the more perfect sister arts, which are already commonplace today, as an equally perfect art.

And in this sense, we can also hope that young people in particular will be effectively impressed by these animated, artistically animated human bodies, which can actually express all the secrets of the world, which can also express the secrets of the world in a special way through poetry and music.