The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1920–1922

GA 277c — 19 August 1922, Oxford

Address on Eurythmy

Program for the performance

Ladies and gentlemen!

Yesterday, I took the liberty of saying a few words about eurythmy in order to explain this special art form. Today, I do not wish to say anything more about this art form. I would have to repeat what I said yesterday before the second part of today's performance. The first part includes a performance with children who have been learning eurythmy here for a short time. And here I would like to say a few words about the pedagogical and didactic aspects of eurythmy.

First and foremost – and this must always be emphasized – eurythmy is not meant to be a dance art, but it is meant to be an art form. However, since it consists of a real, visible language that is drawn out of the healthy organization of the human being, it can also be trained in such a way that it can be used as a kind of spiritual gymnastics in teaching and education, and we introduced eurythmy as a compulsory subject alongside gymnastics when the Waldorf School in Stuttgart was founded. Now, after several years of running the Waldorf School, it is clear what great educational and didactic value eurythmy has.

Firstly, it has special significance in that it aids all language teaching. It is always the case that children find their way into this visible language as a matter of course, with pleasure and inner satisfaction, as if it were something that follows from the human organism – just as very young children find their way into spoken language and singing. As children find their way into this visible language, they feel the essence of language in the human organism. And from there, an understanding of what needs to be taught to children in school in terms of actual spoken language also shines through.

But then eurythmy is a special aid for training the will. In this respect, people will probably judge more impartially than they do today, when ordinary gymnastics, I would say physical gymnastics, is somewhat overrated. I don't want to say anything here about this physical gymnastics, which is based on the laws of physiology – I fully acknowledge it. I just want to say, as an example, that once, when I was giving an introductory talk on eurythmy and its pedagogical and didactic aspects in our Free Waldorf School methodology at the Goetheanum, I experienced the strange thing that a very famous contemporary physiologist, who listened to these words, in which I also said that I fully recognize gymnastics, but that eurythmy as animated gymnastics is an important completion of what can be achieved through physical gymnastics only in a one-sided way, said to me: So you see gymnastics as an educational tool? As a physiologist, I consider it barbaric.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, as I said, these are not my words, but those of a famous contemporary physiologist. And after all, even if we accept ordinary gymnastics in Waldorf schools as a physical educational tool, we also consider eurythmy to be a spiritual, mental form of exercise. And as such [an educational tool], it is particularly effective for the will, for the initiative of the will. It is possible to influence the child's soul because, with every movement the child makes, it feels at the same time how it is active in its whole being, with body, soul, and spirit, how every single physical movement it makes at the same time evokes an inner soul and spiritual movement. The child feels, in a sense, how body, soul, and spirit come together, how they are connected in this eurythmic-spiritual exercise.

And then, dear friends, it may seem paradoxical to you, but it is true, especially in a higher culture such as that of the Western world today, that with ordinary spoken language one can, of course, speak the truth as well as untruth. People can become untruthful, they can become liars – easily, especially in spoken language. In the visible language of eurythmy, one cannot lie. This has been proven by experience. Therefore, as I said, eurythmy is at the same time a means of education in truthfulness. It is not easy for a person, it is not easy for a child, to lie in the visible language of eurythmy.

I have thus indicated one aspect in which eurythmy can be used in child education. I would like to note one more thing: Often one has to deal with a child who has this or that deficiency in the soul, in the spirit, or in the body. Usually the teachers at the Stuttgart Waldorf School come to me and say: This child has this or that soul or physical defect. In such cases, it is only necessary to intuitively recognize, with a certain supersensible power of seeing, with a certain power of vision, what eurythmic exercises, or eurythmy-like exercises, should be prescribed for this particular child. And indeed, we have sometimes achieved surprising results in improving physical or mental defects when we were able to recommend special eurythmy exercises for the child and when these were carried out by our teachers at the Waldorf School. As I said, eurythmy must then be trained in its pedagogical and didactic aspects.

It is primarily an art, but it can also be put at the service of education and teaching. Finally, I would just like to mention that the children you will see in the first part of today's performance have only been learning eurythmy for a short time, so we ask for your special indulgence. The teachers here have only been able to teach these children in a few lessons. And when we arrived here, we added a few numbers to today's program as improvisations. So, ladies and gentlemen, you should not expect perfection in this children's performance, but rather — as we asked for your indulgence for the other performance — something that is in the early stages of development, but in such a way that you can recognize the principle, the essence. I think this will also be evident in this children's performance in the first part of today's program. After a break, we will demonstrate what eurythmy will be like as an art form.