ADAPTING RUDOLF STEINER’S

ZWOELF STIMMUNGEN (TWELVE

MOODS): INSIGHTS FROM

REWORKING A GROUP

EURYTHMY TO A SOLO

PERFORMANCE

Maria Luisa Hoffmann

BSc, Dipl. Eurythmy, Dipl. Eurythmy Therapy

Supervisors: Rachel Pedro and Dr Jennifer Roche

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Education Research

Centre for Learning Innovation

Faculty of Creative Industries

Queensland University of Technology

2018

i

Keywords

Eurythmy, art of movement, practice-led research, Rudolf Steiner, cosmology,

Zodiac, Spiritual Science.

ii

Abstract

The purpose of this practice-led-research is the study of the advantages and

disadvantages of adapting the cosmological poem Zwoelf Stimmungen (Twelve

Moods) by Rudolf Steiner from group to solo practice in Eurythmy, focussing on the

insights that emerged during the process. These include insights into the art itself and

into the specific stages of the practice embedded in the Eurythmy creative process.

This poem is fundamental for any eurythmist but the great number of eurythmists

needed for its group presentation deters some Eurythmy training schools from its

study, to the impoverishment of the art. Using qualitative research together with the

particular approach of the creative process for Eurythmy, an example is presented for

the solo practice/performance of the poem. This study concluded that one of the main

purposes of practicing the poem Zwolf Stimmungen as a solo, is the acquisition of

necessary skills and body suppleness needed for Eurythmy movement combined with

strengthening of the connection to the peripheral source of this movement. It also

concluded that the artistic value of the solo performance is secondary to its capacity

for training the practitioner whereas in the group presentation of the poem the artistic

value is primary.

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Table of Contents Keywords ............................................................................................................ i

Abstract ............................................................................................................. ii

List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................ v

Statement of Original Authorship .................................................................. vi

Acknowledgements ......................................................................................... vii

Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................ 9

1.1 Background ........................................................................................................ 12

1.2 Context ............................................................................................................... 13

1.3 Purpose ............................................................................................................... 15

1.4 Significance, Scope and Definitions ................................................................... 16

1.5 Thesis Outline ..................................................................................................... 18

Chapter 2: Literature Review ..................................................................... 20

2.1 Historical Background ........................................................................................ 20

2.2 Topic 1 – Eurythmy and Art ............................................................................... 21

2.3 Topic 2 – Inquiries that Transformed the Arts of Movement ............................. 23

2.3.1 Dance and the World of Imagination ................................................................. 24

2.3.2 Dance and the “in between” World .................................................................... 27

2.3.3 Dance/Movement and Cartesian Thinking ......................................................... 29

2.3.4 Dance and the Concept of “living body” ............................................................ 30

2.4 Topic 3 – Aspects of the Methodology .............................................................. 32

iv

2.4.1 Artistic and Supersensible Rrocesses................................................................. 32

2.4.2 Characteristics of the Stages of the Practice ...................................................... 33

2.5 Summary and Implications ................................................................................ 37

Chapter 3: Creative Process ........................................................................ 39

3.1 Methodology and Research Design ................................................................... 39

3.1.1 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 39

3.1.2 Structure of the Practice ..................................................................................... 46

3.1.3 The Journaling of the Pratice ............................................................................. 52

3.1.4 The Reflective Practice ...................................................................................... 53

3.1.5 Focus Groups ..................................................................................................... 54

3.1.6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 55

Chapter 4: Analysis ...................................................................................... 57

4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 57

4.1.1 Rhythm .............................................................................................................. 59

4.1.2 Leading Forms ................................................................................................... 63

4.1.3 Gestures ............................................................................................................. 70

4.1.4 The Framing of the Poem as a Whole ................................................................ 72

4.2 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 75

Chapter 5: Findings and Conclusions ........................................................ 79

Bibliography .................................................................................................... 83

Appendices ....................................................................................................... 97

v

List of Abbreviations

DMT Dance Movement Therapy

AM Authentic Movement

BMC Body-Mind Centering

vi

Statement of Original Authorship

The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet

requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the

best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously

published or written by another person except where due reference is made.

Signature: QUT Verified Signature

Date; June 2018

vii

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the diligent help of my supervisors, Dr Jennifer

Roche and Rachel Pedro, who guided my research with interest and honesty. I much

appreciate also the centres that provided a free space for me to practice eurythmy

daily: Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School and Steiner House in Sydney.

I want to give special thanks to the speech artist Domenica Conte who agreed

from the beginning of the journey to speak the poem for me. I would also like to

acknowledge my two main eurythmy teachers: Birgith Lugosi who introduced me to

the world of artistic eurythmy and Lili Reinitzer through whom I encountered the

depths of the esoteric side of this art of movement.

9

Chapter 1: Introduction

(The poem Zwoelf Stimmungen)… is the evangelium of the eurythmist.

Alice Fels (1986, 52).

The art of eurythmy, developed by Rudolf Steiner (from now on referred to as

Steiner), remains under-represented within mainstream academic institutions of the

current and the previous century. In my opinion this situation is a remnant of the

traditional division between exoteric knowledge – easily accessible and spread out

into the general community – and esoteric, or hidden knowledge, kept in mystery

centres (schools where students where initiated into a primordial wisdom, for

example the Temple of Ephesus) and accessible only to selected groups. I propose

that this project, which uses my expertise as a eurythmist for practice-led research,

will be an opportunity to bring those two worlds closer together. During my four

years of training as a eurythmist in Australia, I had a short encounter with a poem

that subsequently I have come to recognize as one of the greatest poems given by its

creator, Steiner. He presented it, in the year 1915, to the community of eurythmists,

with the intention that the poem should be learnt by heart in order for eurythmists to

get closer to the source of their movements. However, through my years working as

a eurythmist in Australia and Switzerland I have not come across any single

colleague who was able to remember the poem by heart, though I am aware in many

other cases it could be otherwise. Neither I nor my fellow students became aware in

our training of our responsibility, as eurythmists, for keeping the poem alive in us

and so fulfilling the intention for which it was created. I decided to carry out research

on this observation.

The objective was, while engaging consciously in the practice for the creation

of a eurythmy expression of the poem, to become aware of the different stages of the

creative process. Steiner compared those stages with the steps required to access

supersensible knowledge, meaning the knowledge for which we still require the

development of new faculties (Steiner 2013, para. 1-6). The cosmological poem

Zwoelf Stimmungen contains in 84 lines, the whole evolutionary process of the

10

humans being created as experienced by Steiner (please refer to appendix A, p. 95).

Therefore, the creation of a eurythmy form for a solo, for such a poem, was a great

responsability. The original presentation requires the presence of 19 eurythmists on

stage, for which Steiner gave specific indications (Steiner 1947, para. 2).1 The virtual

impossibility of gathering such a large number of eurythmists in Australia to present

this work, together with a desire to reinstate the importance of the poem within the

community of eurythmists, contributed to the design of a solo performance process

for the poem. The purpose was not to create a free, original version but to try to get

as close as possible to it, through being conscious of what Steiner intended to present

to the world with 19 performers as reflected in some literature connected to the work

of the early eurythmists and to his own words and through my personal interpretation

of the original artistic presentation of the poem. This involved an examination of

some advantages and disadvantages of the solo performance process that revealed

themselves during the practice. For this I studied all the literature on the poem I

could access. Some examples are: Steiner’s introduction to the poem in 1915

(Steiner, 2012), the notes by Tatiana Kisseleff in her book (Kisseleff 1982, 118-19)

and the notes by speech artist Marie Steiner and first eurythmist Lory Maier-Smits

(1982, 70-74). I have previously also seen the poem being performed, according to

the original indications given by Steiner, in German at the Goetheanum in 2006 and

in English through a private video recording of a performance in England in 2010

entitled Cosmic Verse.

Some of the issues I dealt with during the research were specific to the artistic

expression/movement being explored in the practice; these were the issues related to

the creative process for eurythmy expression. Through the process of contextualizing

the art of eurythmy in my literature review, I became aware of the lack of

representation of eurythmy in academic literature. This lack extended to the poem

1 I will refer to those Steiner original guidelines as indications instead of instructions as his

intention was that all of his suggestions should be verified by the practitioner and not be taken as external

instructions.

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itself, even within the literature dedicated to Eurythmy themes. These gaps in the

literature concern the basic nature of Eurythmy as an art and its relation to other

dance/movement forms. While there was a conference dedicated to the hundred

years’ anniversary of the creation of the poem held at the Goetheanum in 2015

(Dornach, Switzerland), unfortunately, my endeavour to get access to the content of

the conference papers, lectures and/or workshops, in order to explore the ways

current eurythmist are working with the poem, was not successful (Appendix B, p.

103). Through the literature review I investigated eurythmy in relation to the main

cultural questions at the time of its birth at the beginning of the twentieth century. By

then industrialization had already alienated a large part of the population from nature

and brought feelings of loneliness and separation leading the artists to inquire about

the reality of their own existence and their surroundings (Gardner 1980, 806-807).

This inquiry was reflected in the many experimental and new forms of art as the

previous more Romantic art forms weakened. Behind that rich artistic experimental

activity lay the basic question: What is art? (Barrett 2002, 279-286). This question is

still of enormous interest for the understanding of eurythmy. That moment in history

gave birth to a deep transformation of the inner questions that motivate all art,

including the art of movement (Barrett 2002, 279-286). This research explores some

of the questions aroused within the world of dance and some of the different styles of

art movement and therapeutic movement that emerged out of what originally seemed

to be common inquiries, as presented in Chapter 2. Due to the nature of the study,

which explores an art of movement, I have chosen to engage in a practice-led

research project instead of purely theoretical research. Furthermore, the nature of

eurythmy, born out of a particular epistemology, Spiritual Science, created by Steiner

himself, required an exploration of the methodology that complements that

epistemology and that forms the core of this research (Steiner 1981, 29-31). The use

of that methodology led, through the practice, to the sensing or inner listening of the

correct movements and gestures that correspond to the making visible of the poem.

This methodology, which has been developed through indications given by Steiner,

is not specific to eurythmy but applies to all artistic, scientific and supersensible

work. This wide application it is due to the fact that it consists basically of training

in a transformation of the inner attitude of the researcher. Here I have presented it as

my personal interpretation.

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In the first section of this chapter I outline the background to the proposed

research question. In the second section I indicate the context of this proposed

research within the current state of the world of eurythmy, and in the third, the

purposes for which this project was undertaken. In section four I indicate the possible

significance of the research, together with an explanation of some of the most

important terms used in this thesis. In the last paragraph I provide an outline of the

remaining chapters of the thesis.

1.1 BACKGROUND

The poem Zwoelf Stimmungen marked the beginning of a new stage of the

development of the art of eurythmy, which was initiated by Steiner only three years

before, in 1912. During these first three years the young eurythmists who gathered to

engage themselves in the practice of this new art, were presented with exercises, like

moving poetic alliterations, created by Steiner in order to help them to feel

incarnated, down-to-earth and strong in their will (Steiner 1965, 13). These exercises

are still in practice today as the current eurythmy schools follow the steps of the

original training under direct Steiner indications. The type of movement they

practiced in those first three years, which is still practiced for certain poems, belongs

to what is called the Dionysian2 element of eurythmy (Steiner 1982, 19-44). This is

movement that has its source in the eurythmist’s own initiative, in their own will,

which is then manifested out into the world. With the Zwoelf Stimmungen Steiner

introduced a movement with a source that is not in the will of the eurythmist but in

the periphery, in the zodiac signs and planets from which, he indicates, comes the

activity of the sounds the eurythmist makes visible, and towards which she should

2 This term was used by Steiner mainly in his book Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom where he

refers to the origin of the Greek tragedies in human nature which on the one hand bind people to the Earth’s

pleasures giving inner impulses for outer action (Dionysian element) and on the other hand lift people up to the

great mysteries of the cosmos from where they feel called (Apollonian element). He also uses these terms in his

Creative Speech course in relation to the inner nature of different rhythms.

13

remain open through the movement. It is only a hundred years since the indications

for these movements were given but, through my practice, I have observed that the

diversification of styles of eurythmy, the different focuses in different schools and

the lack of written and widespread studies on the topic, has weakened the knowledge

of some of those fundamental indications. This situation has been recognised by the

eurythmist Lili Reitnitzer and encouraged her to write her book Eurythmische Gesten

(2010) where she presents some of the stages of the development of the art in relation

to the different types of eurythmy movement. I was extremely lucky to have worked

for several years in Europe under her artistic direction. Lili Reinitzer worked with the

eurythmist Annemarie Dubach-Donath (who lived in Steiner’s time) who is the

author of one of the most important reference books for the practice of Eurythmy,

Basic Elements of Eurythmy (2000). Reinitzer compiled the exercises specified by

her teacher in order to develop a technique for the practice and artistic movement of

those different types of eurythmy movement. The practice of these exercises,

together with the inspirations on the content of the poem written by Dr Hedwig

Erasmy in her book Cosmic and Human Evolution (2003), form a fundamental aspect

of the background to this thesis. The latter book comments on the importance of

eurythmy artistic expression in relation to the Zwoelf Stimmungen with its main

theme being the phenomenological description of her observations of all types of

natural phenomena and their relation to the cosmic activity of the creative processes

expressed by the poem (Erasmy 2003).

1.2 CONTEXT

As Eurythmy is now more than a hundred years old and there has been quite a

lot of growth and activity in the field we can see a certain proliferation of books

being published dealing with this art. Some of these publications are: Wer sich

bewegt, kommt zu sich selbst: Eurythmie für jeden (When moving we come to

ourselves: Eurythmy for everyone) (Sivan Karnieli 2016), Konsonanten und Vokale:

Rudolf Steiners Charakteristika für die Eurythmie (Consonants and vowels:

Characterization of Rudolf Steiner for Eurythmy) (Werner Barfod 2014), Eurythmie:

Skizze einer Neuen Kunst (Eurythmy: Sketch of a New Art) (Ursula Zimmermann

2013), Das Wesen der Eurythmie: Vergangenheitswurzeln und Zukunftswirklichkeit

(The Being of Eurythmy: Past Roots and Future Realities) (Michael Debus 2015),

14

Eurythmy and the Impulse of Dance (Marjorie Raffe, Cecil Harwood, Marguerite

Lundgren 2014), and Speech - Invisible Creation in the Air. Vortices and the Enigma

of Speech Sounds (Serge Maintier and Catherine Creeger 2016), amongst others.

Meanwhile in academic institutions this art is under-represented and scarcely

recognized as an art. A sign that confirms this observation is the lack of literature on

eurythmy on the shelves of the libraries of academic institutions. Secondly, still

today, many of the classical resources which contain the reflections of the

eurythmists who worked directly under the artistic direction of Marie Steiner

(through her daily supervision of the students’ speech and eurythmy work) and

Rudolf Steiner have not yet been translated into English. Furthermore, there has not

been much research due to the esoteric nature of eurythmy which requires a

transformation of the capacities of perception, the perception of the inner life, which

the eurythmist endeavours to acquire through the creative practice of the art itself. In

my experience all of the above have led to a big separation between the different

schools of eurythmy, for example in the different approaches they take to what it

means to move etherically, movement pertaining to a non-physical world active on

all living processes, with most following the style of a few leading personalities

carrying a personal understanding of the art. While this may seem positive and

normal for the art form, the issues mentioned above have only exacerbated a natural

growth process in human cultural life, leading to the division of eurythmy into

different schools of thought which have had great communication problems in the

past. Lately there is a common growing desire to meet and listen to each other’s

ways of practising eurythmy.

The poem proposed for the research is a key element in the formation of any

eurythmist, as it brings with it a type of movement specific to eurythmy, the

Apollonian or etheric movement, which has its source is in the periphery (cosmic

Zodiac and planets) and to which the eurythmist responds. This artistic movement

can be observed also in the living processes of nature which are triggered by cosmic

activities. For example, one may consider the most basic and common awareness of

the influence of the seasons, determined by the relative position of the Sun

(periphery) in relation to the Earth (centre) and nature to the different living activities

that are triggered by planetary activities. The proposed research will deal with the

issues referred to in relationship to the methodology of the specific epistemology,

15

Spiritual Science, on which eurythmy is based. Spiritual Science uses the capacities

acquired by humans through the path it has been cultivating in the last centuries to be

able to access supersensible realms for which we have not yet grown the necessary

faculties of perception (Steiner 2017). As will be indicated in the following chapters

this methodology, with its phenomenological and practice-led approach, clearly fits

within the broader practice-led research methodology currently used for qualitative

research in academic fields. The aim of the presentation of the Spiritual Science

methodology is to contribute to the manifold methodological approaches and the

specific methods used in academic research.

1.3 PURPOSE

The main purpose of my research is to contribute to the literature on the

general nature and practice of eurythmy. To achieve this, I have researched key

aspects of the eurythmy practice, and explored the questions that arose during the

artistic process for the study of the following question on the Zwoelf Stimmungen:

“How can the poem be adapted from group to solo practice/performance and what

are the insights that emerge from this process?” I have created a eurythmy example

for practice /performance, for what is a fundamental poem in the training and in the

professional life of all eurythmists. Through this creative process I will clarify the

different stages of the methodology used in the research and the methods used in

those different stages that constitute the methodology.

The objective is to inquire into the historical background of eurythmy and

identify key qualities that it embodies. This is further contextualised through

identifying the way this art relates to other forms of dance/movement therapy born at

the same time as eurythmy or since that time, and which carry similar deep inquiries.

The exploration into the nature of eurythmy will lead to the exposition of the

common methods applied in its creative process. The aim of this research is to offer

an example for the solo practice of the poem. This example will be created following

at times a common and at other times a more personal understanding of the

methodology for the eurythmy creative process, and following, as much as possible,

the indications given for the original form of the poem. This aim has informed all the

other inquiries and objectives of this research, by extending out into the community

the wealth of knowledge contained in eurythmy processes. Furthermore, the research

16

aims to explore and deepen the understanding of the methodology created by Steiner

which I have applied according to my personal understanding of the creative process

for eurythmy.

The overall purpose of the research is to contribute to bridging the enormous

gap between academia and the world of eurythmy. In the same way that the

Cartesian division of the human constitution into the duality of body/mind is

becoming redundant through new ways of thinking (Juntunen & Hyvönen 2004, 199-

214), I propose that the division between exoteric (related to what can be commonly

grasped) and esoteric (related to what is of a hidden nature and accessible only

through inner transformation) requires further research.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE, SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

The significance of this research is manifold. This research will provide a link

between academia and eurythmy, addressing a gap in the literature, in relation to its

practice and its artistic creative process, thus adding to general knowledge and

culture. Apart from that and, more concretely, I will create an example for the

individual eurythmy practice of the poem or for the public eurythmy solo

presentation. The solo form could be of interest in eurythmy schools that have a

reduced number of students to encourage the eurythmists to keep up the regular

practice of the poem and so fulfil the reason for which the poem was created in the

first place. The significance embedded in the methodology for the creative eurythmy

process is its implicit union of the scientific, phenomenological and artistic practice-

led approaches within it. This approach will be used within the practice-led research

methodology.

Apart from the limitation of not being successful in accessing previous

resources from the conference in 2015 already mentioned, I see the main limitation

of this research being the researcher’s own subjective position. The Spiritual Science

methodology requires the development of inner capacities that most of us are just

starting to develop. These are new capacities of perception of the inner life that lead

to the need for new ways of thinking and, finally, to changes in society. The esoteric

nature of eurythmy is partly due to its methodology that contributes to these inner

transformations during the practice itself. I am aware that the results and conclusions

17

here presented are individualistic though the goal of the methodology is to be able to

carry the universal into expression through the personal.

The following is a list of definitions of some of the most important terms used

in this thesis. For my research I have clarified the meaning of these concepts in

relation to Steiner’s philosophy.

Apollonian and Dionysian: Opposite forces active within the human being. For

eurythmy these mean two different types of movements. Dionysian movement is

triggered from the inner activity of the eurythmist and Apollonian movement is

called forth on the eurythmist by the periphery (Reitnitzer 2010, 63-70).

Archetype: The original basic all-encompassing creative idea of anything that

exists in the sensible physical world in manifold forms (Steiner 1994, 123-131).

Leading form: The form that indicates the direction wherefrom the impulse for

the movement of the eurythmist originates in the Apollonian movement.

Periphery: Cosmic space surrounding the Earth. In this paper it refers mainly to

the zodiacal and planetary spaces.

Reality: That which is supersensibly active in everything we call living nature

creating the outside Maya, which is a temporal, physical counterpart of the reality

(Steiner 1985, 23-38). What is normally called ‘reality’ is what Steiner calls the

‘outside world’. What Steiner means by reality is what is hidden and actively

working from within, creating the external appearances of things.

Soul: The ever-changing, becoming, interrelated human capacities of thinking,

feeling and willing with which we commonly identify as individuals (Steiner 1994,

28-29).

Supersensible: That which is not yet perceptible by our current and most

common sensorial activity. It is commonly through the practice of the different arts

that we open inner sensibility and capacities for that world.

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Truth: According to Heidegger (1992, 265) “truth (uncoveredness) is

something that must always first be wrested from entities. Entities get snatched out

of their hiddenness”. Steiner (1983, 37) says that “truth is something we experience

in our most inward being – and yet it liberates us increasingly from ourselves”.

World of Imagination/etheric world: this is a nonphysical, not sensible, world

of activity which is behind the physical, sensible, living processes of the world. It is a

world made basically of supersensible movement and colour (Steiner 1994, 33-37).

Through the indications given by Steiner in the creation of the art of Eurythmy this

world of imagination is made visible, offering human culture the possibility of

deepening its knowledge in relation to all living processes. I will use both names

indistinctly because Steiner (1996, 11-12 ) mentions that in one of his main books he

uses the term ‘imaginative world’ for the ‘world that arises on the horizon of one’s

consciousness’, commonly referred to as the etheric world. The knowledge necessary

for this world is only the first step for a spiritual researcher, meaning imaginative

knowledge.

1.5 THESIS OUTLINE

In Chapter 2, I present the literature review where I explore the background to

the birth of eurythmy and other art of movement/movement therapies and the main

cultural and socio-economic conditions which led to their emergence. It also includes

considerations on some particular aspects of the practice of eurythmy. Following

this, Chapter 3 contains a more detailed exposition of the different methods used for

the collection of data for this qualitative research. Chapter 4 focuses on an analysis of

the data and some key conclusions. In the last chapter, Chapter 5, I present the

findings and conclusions of the research.

19

20

Chapter 2: Literature Review

The creation of works of art is the creation of the world.

Kandinsky (1964, 35).

This chapter begins with a short historical background to the research question

which is followed by a literature reviews that is divided into four sections. The first

section is an inquiry into the nature of art at the time of the birth of eurythmy. The

second section deals with the new inquiries into the inner life of artists at the

beginning of twentieth century and the relationship of eurythmy to other dance

movements, or related cultural forms, which were also born out of them. The third

section is an introduction to specific mood qualities required for the application of

the proper methodology used in the eurythmy practice. The last section highlights the

implications revealed by the literature and will develop the basic ideas for this

research.

2.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

For this research it was important to explore the evolving concept of the nature

of art in relation to the epistemology of eurythmy, as it would influence the

methodology to be implemented in the practice. The general question on the nature

of ‘reality’ and, with it, of the reality explored by art, became preeminent in the

cultural changes that took place at the beginning of the twentieth century in Europe,

the time of the birth of the art of eurythmy. As society at the time felt at a loss,

having severed its close relationship to nature through industrialization, the use of

unconscious impulses for the artistic expression became widespread (Gardner 1980,

806-807).

In reference in particular to painting, the psychologist Carl Jung used the term

‘the imaginative paintings’ for some of the new styles born at that time (Jung 1964,

257). The term ‘imagination’ is also of great interest for eurythmy as this art makes

21

visible the ‘world of imagination’ as characterized by its creator Rudolf

Steiner. This coincidence inspired me to investigate the relationship of eurythmy to

other dance/therapy movement arts born with the renewal of the arts that took place

at the time, and which lasted for a couple of decades: were there common roots,

common inner inquiries shared by the creators of eurythmy and those arts?

2.2 TOPIC 1 – EURYTHMY AND ART

The first topic of the literature review describes the inner nature of eurythmy in

relation to the new ways art was being conceptualized at the beginning of the

twentieth century, the time of its birth. This literature review begins by addressing

this fundamental question on the reality of art as it was understood by a few of the

most influential personalities of those times, and by Steiner, in order to clarify

differences and/or similarities.

According to philosophers of art Heidegger (1889-1976) and Danto (1924-

2013) the question of what art is has been abandoned by the artist whose main task

has become now to present works of art and through them to present questions to the

audience (Dronsfield 2005, 153). Developing this thought Dronsfield, a

contemporary art researcher, indicates that the task of answering the crucial question

of what art is has been left nowadays to the philosopher. Under this circumstance

another basic question arises, and comes to the fore: if the artist cannot answer what

art is, how can the artist be fully aware of the nature of the work being created? The

painter Barbara Bolt (2004, 5) plays with the words “artworks” and “works of art”,

noticing that the latter leads to a greater polemic than the former. She proposes that

the excessive focus on producing “artworks” has weakened the concept of process as

a “work of art”. Bolt (2004, 59-62) is also aware of the critical question for all types

of art when they are considered not in their representational nature but in their

‘revealing’ character, a concept she derives from Heidegger’s concept of ‘aletheia’

(truth). Heidegger himself aligns with this same concept of art maintained in classical

literature since Aristotle mentioned that the aim of art was to depict not the outward

appearance of things but their inward significance (Bekker lines 1451b1, 5).

Goethe (Schwenk 1965, Appendix p. 80) recognized that pure artistic

expression is called upon when nature opens her secrets to the human being. In other

22

words, any artistic expression is for Goethe an attempt to reveal what nature hides

and what otherwise will remain unknown. In Heidegger’s words (2006, 23), “The

artwork opens up in its own way the being of beings”. He also concurred with

Goethe’s observation when he noted that “art is the becoming and happening of

truth” – a truth that for Heidegger is bound by “being and time” (Heidegger 1996,

196-208). We can understand here that in reference to the truth being bounded by

“being and time” he was pointing to nature and with the words “becoming and

happening of truth” to the processes hidden in the creation of nature. Steiner (2013,

para. 2) aligns with these ideas when he suggests that all art must be rooted in the

living, in nature, not in the spiritual-abstract or in the world of ideas where we cannot

hold onto reality and truth. Steiner indicates that art is not an exact copy of nature but

a revelation of what hides behind its external physical appearance. In his lecture on

the sources of artistic imagination (Steiner 2013, para. 8-10) he mentioned that these

sources are the same as the sources of supersensible knowledge. Here he indicated

that in both cases and so in the practice of art, “feeling and willing must fill the soul

while memory and external sensorial perception are discarded”, which is similar to a

“feeling and willing that has turned inwards”. Through this inner process we become

deeply engaged with the element we are holding in the creative process. This

engagement is experienced as a kind of light or thought. Emil du Bois-Reymond

(1818-1896), German physician and physiologist, explained that there is an abyss

between the inner life of the human being and the outer life of nature (Bois-Reymond

1903, para. 8). Steiner (2013, para. 38-39) recognizes that to build a bridge between

these two worlds is the task of any artistic work or practice that endeavours to bring

more consciousness into its expressiveness. By contrast, as Jung explored his concept

of imagination he engaged himself more with the limitations created by this abyss.

Through the practice of art, he noted, through diving into a movement inspired by

our inner unconscious life, we engage in the world of fantasy or imagination that

lives within us and that will remain, like dreams, connected to reality in

consciousness only through interpretation and will only occasionally be accessible

with clear consciousness (Jung 1964, 257).

As a consequence of this crucial question on the real nature of art, and in

particular on the real nature of the art of movement/dance, at the beginning of the

twentieth century a split took place from the old naturalistic ways of expression to

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give birth to a multiplicity of new explorative styles. Here it is necessary to

emphasize the importance in the eurythmy ‘style’ (and in all artistic expressions

based on the same epistemology) of a total separation between the artistic (of a

revealing nature) and the representation in art of moralistic, didactic and/or social

awareness issues. By this are meant works whose main goal is to use art to raise

consciousness of relevant social issues of our time, works similar to Kurt Jooss’s

well-known artwork The Green Table (premiered on the 3rd July, 1932), or works

engaging in representing spiritual themes, works such as those by the well-known

artist Ruth St. Denis. In reference to this point the painter Kandinsky (1977, 1-4),

who published his book Concerning the Spirit in Art the same year Steiner created

eurythmy (1912), suggested that the dramatic changes occurring at that time were the

beginning of a new awakening of human and artistic consciousness after the years of

materialism had brought an immense sense of negativity to the artist and the

community in general. For him an art that deals with recreating feelings that are

already felt at a particular time and place (that means an art on social or didactic

issues attached to a particular historical moment) is a “barren art” (Kandinsky 1977,

3-5). In his article entitled Reminiscences, Kandinsky (1964, 30) indicated that it was

thanks to his inclination towards the hidden, the esoteric, that he was able to explore

what was, from his perspective, an unbound, ‘freer and more universal type of art’.

2.3 TOPIC 2 – INQUIRIES THAT TRANSFORMED THE ARTS OF

MOVEMENT

This second topic of the literature review looks into some of the inner inquiries

into art explored by the main personalities who triggered, at the beginning of the

twentieth century, the possibility that the art of dance could free itself from its

naturalistic, Cartesian and abstract ways of expression. This includes classical ballet

of the late 1900s, where the movements are largely formed, fixed and mirrored

externally in comparison to in eurythmy. Emphasis will be given to indicate how

these inquiries were, simultaneously, dealt with artistically by the creator of

eurythmy.

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2.3.1 Dance and the World of Imagination

At the beginning of the twentieth century we find that a type of psychotherapy

session became the inspiration for a dance movement therapy (DMT) that later

influenced modern dance practices such as Authentic Movement (AM). This origin

points to a clear split from the traditional practices that informed the art of movement

in general until the end of the 19th century. DMT reveals the unconsciousness of the

performer who moves with closed eyes as she is being observed by a witness who

later will report verbally what has been observed. This is similar to a psychological

session but is carried out through using movement. AM is rooted in the concept of

‘active imagination’ meditation developed between 1913 and 1916 by the

psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) (Wyman-McGinty 2007, 222, 235 & 238). Jung

himself indicated that this type of meditation has the risk of taking the person too far

away from reality (1991, 49). Meanwhile eurythmy is rooted in the concept of the

‘world of imagination’, as conceived by its creator Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925).

Steiner claimed that we can have access into that non-physical world through rational

and conscious exercises that, strengthening our souls, allow us to reach imaginative

consciousness, a consciousness that opens us to a new world that contains the

archetypes of the physical world that surrounds us. To be consciously active in this

world in a way that opens our souls to new types of perceptions requires the

acquisition of a new way of thinking which he called “imaginative/living thinking”

(Steiner 2003, paras. 4-5)3. Through the eurythmy training the eurythmist endeavours

to acquire a new capacity, to become a bridge between these two worlds: the physical

world and this supersensible/world of imagination. In a similar way the AM ‘dancer’

becomes a link between the conscious and the unconscious realms (Goldhahn 2009,

55). Goldhahn suggests that through AM a new type of thinking, a thinking able to

conceptualize the surging experiences of the ‘dancer’, will help to express the sense

of beingness embedded in us (2009, 55). She reaches this conclusion as she

integrates AM with Levin’s concept of “primordial choreography” (Levin 1985, 104-

3 In the large collection of works by Steiner they are innumerable references to this topic.

25

8) and notes that the participants of AM are aware of the limitation of language to

express and communicate what was experienced inwardly during the observation of

the dance (2009, 55). In eurythmy the movement is consciously enhanced as all

movements are consciously guided by the performer to be an expression of the world

of imagination, the world of the hidden nature of sound which they are revealing.

Thus eurythmy is founded on a phenomenological process; the “world of

imagination” does not have the ontological character of a belief system or an idealist

philosophy. The organs of perception necessary are clearly not the physical sense

organs but “spiritual eyes” in the sense meant in Goethean phenomenology – “eyes”

of insight, organs of imaginative thinking (Tantillo, 2002, 37). The limitations here

are due to the capacities of the eurythmist to engage inwardly and consciously with

the movement/sound that is being moved/practiced.

Another concept shared by AM and eurythmy is that of ‘being moved and

moving’ (Adler 2002, xii). AM relates the concept of being moved to the

unconscious origin of the movement from within in which the practitioner feels

passive and responsive to an unknown inner activity, and the concept of moving to

the expression of an inner experience of conscious natural activity in which the

practitioner feels active and able to command the movement (Whitehouse 1963, 51-

57). In eurythmy the same concepts are related to the qualities of the space we are

moving in; we are ‘being moved’ in an imaginative/etheric space – where the

impulse of the movements proceeds from the periphery, from the cosmos – and we

are ‘moving’ in connection with an Euclidean4 space where the impulse for the

4 The Euclidean space is based on a point defined by its situation in relation to the three

perpendicularly intercepting planes that define space. Meanwhile the Counterspace/etheric space has

as its basic expression a plane. “Nature reveals before our very eyes the kind of space in which the

plane, not the point, is primary…..What kind of ‘force,’ then, will be at work in the negative-

Euclidean realm? The clear conclusion is that the primary force of such a space will be levitational,

suctional” (Whicher 2013, 8).

26

movements proceeds from the centre, from the eurythmist her or himself (Reinitzer

2010, 84-90).

Both art forms use nature images in their work; AM in order to express the

unconscious processes and movements experienced and eurythmy to relate the

activity of the imaginative world to physical phenomena where it lives ‘enchanted’

or fixed. This use of natural images is also the basis of the practice of another

modern style of DMT: Ideokinesis. This DMT was inspired by Mabel Todd (1880-

1956). In this art the practitioner inspires the movement itself through the use of the

power of imaging, which means through the power of thought, through the nervous

system. In this way she controls the physiology of her own body in such a way that

mind and body can relate harmoniously (Todd 1937, 3). The movement becomes a

conscious and orderly balance between the nervous system or mental state and the

motor-skeletal structure of the body.

In AM the unconscious life of the participant, according to the dance therapist

Joan Chodorow, reinforces the individuality of the participant within a collective

(Goldhahn 2009, 60). This means that the collective is based on individualized

unconsciousness. I will contrast this with the following words from the Philosophical

Fragments written by the father of all philosophers on the concept of the Logos (the

Word), the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (5th century BC): “We should

let ourselves be guided by what is common to all. Yet, although the Logos is

common to all, most men live as if each of them had a private intelligence of his

own” (Butler-Bowdon 2013, 132-136). The claim is that eurythmy makes visible the

Logos, the creative activity hidden in the word, hidden in the sounds of human

speech (which are largely the same for all spoken languages) and it follows that the

eurythmy movement is collective and conscious leading to a collective imaginative

consciousness – consciousness of the activity in the realities pertaining to the world

of imagination. This claim is not for an epistemic privilege or absolutist ontological

position. As already indicated in Section 2.3.1, the knowledge claim on which

eurythmy rests is phenomenological and is dependent on an inner seeing. It speaks of

seeing the creative activity hidden in the word common to all languages as a

perception in a sense similar to the “truth-seeing” of mathematics which is not a

physical perception but a form of pure thinking (Amrine, 1988, 39). Following this

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phenomenological approach, through the training the eurythmist seeks to perceive

and become conscious of the inner activity of each of the universal sounds of speech,

by which I mean all vowels and consonants.

On another issue Goldhalm questions the concept of ‘authenticity’ in the name

of AM as different witnesses of the movement would be right in having different

opinions in relations to the observed movement (2009, 57). The authenticity of

eurythmy is based on its epistemology, Spiritual Science, developed by Steiner also

at the beginning of last century. This epistemology, as already mentioned, is

fundamentally phenomenological in that it uses the current capacities of clear,

rational thinking developed by humanity to strengthen the inner powers of perception

of the individual. Thus, the authenticity of any eurythmy movement will depend

upon that inner capacity of perception of the eurythmist, upon her ‘authenticity’.

Goldhalm mentions that it could be said that AM is trying to reach to the “source of

movement” (2009, 58). This source is also what eurythmy is trying to express in its

own particular way, through revealing the activity of the Logos.

Though the aim of Jung – to “prevent the public from believing in obscure

words of power” (Wilhelm 1962, 128) – and Steiner have some similarities, these

two thinkers followed different paths towards a same goal: the understanding of the

world of imagination. These paths can be explored through the practice of the arts of

movement born out of their work. In the book The Creative Process by Ghiselin

there is a reference to what is basically the same polarity that worked between

Steiner and Jung, that of the role of consciousness and unconsciousness in art (1985,

5-7). Ghiselin notes that some artists, for instance the Romantic novelists Shelly and

Blake and modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan, see their creative process as

spontaneous, involuntary, automatic, as emerging from the unconscious process

within them, while others, such as Anton Chekhov, see their artistic practice as a

conscious process. In Chekhov’s own words: “only a lunatic would say that creation

is automatic” (Ghiselin 1985, 6).

2.3.2 Dance and the “in between” World

At the same time as Steiner and Jung, and in the same part of Europe –

Switzerland and Germany mainly – the influential and renowned educator and artist

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of movement Rudolf von Laban, who, like Jung (Conrad 1985, 1-29), was deeply

interested in mysticism and Eastern knowledge (Bradley 2009, 3, 73), came into

prominence. An important aspect of his work in relation to Eurythmy is his work

with the concept of the “in between” of movements (46-47) which Steiner called the

“house of the spirit” or the world of reality (Steiner 1985, 23-38). Laban, noticed

Bradley (2009, 48), was not interested in the popular idea of ‘body language’ in

finished positions in the art of movement, but in the inner process that induces the

change of position in the dancer. He considered that the maturity of an artist could be

measured by her capacity for sharing that inner and invisible activity, the invisible

cause of the change, with the audience. Laban maintains the idea that space is not

empty but full of creative rhythmical movements which are constantly shaping the

living forms of nature, adding to this that most animals, children and certain human

communities, are able to access that world (Thornton 1971, 28). Steiner aligns with

this concept of creative space of Laban but widens it as he was able to penetrate

consciously into it, meaning he was able to reach into the invisible realm of creative

movements which he called the etheric world and/or the world of imagination, to

which all human beings have access if they engage in the process of strengthening

their inner life (Steiner 2017, para. 11). He then related this world of imagination to

the inner hidden activity that takes place in human speech (2005, 30). Out of this

insight he was able to start developing, in 1912, a new artistic impulse through the

creation of Eurythmy. Laban meanwhile, through the similar concept of living space,

engaged himself in a deep analysis of human physical movement in order to help

bring awareness of movement to the dancer and through this to reach an artistic

understanding of nature (Thornton 1971, 41). Laban’s insight was his awareness that

we are able to get glimpses of the rhythms present in the forms of nature. He reached

this awareness through his fundamental concept of effort in the movement, the key

for the metamorphosis of movement, and through how effort affects space, weight,

time and flow (Thornton 1971, 25-32). Laban thought movement was essential for

education as a means of self-exploration and integration with nature (Thornton 1971,

57). In a way which accords with Laban and Steiner the Japanese philosopher Keiji

Nishitani (1900-1990) indicates that in the practice of art we search for the root, for

the origin of natural phenomena – which for Laban was the content of his concept of

“effort” – and it involves reaching into the “profound mobility of imagination” in a

state of active patience and surrendering oneself openly to the process (Visser 2011,

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3). These concepts were registered as follows by visual artist and poet Rick Visser

(2003, 3): “…in Nishitani’s view, art is an undertaking …a fundamental tendency to

get in touch with the original nature of phenomena” and is “a knowledge that has

been opened up from within, one that involves the production of primal images from

the ground where both self and world are opened up in immediacy, the locus of the

profound mobility of imagination”.

2.3.3 Dance/Movement and Cartesian Thinking

Another great influence on the world of dance, mainly rhythm, coming from

the same era as the above-mentioned pioneers, is the work of Emile Jacques-

Dalcroze (1865-1950), musician, educator and creator of Eurythmics in 1903. This

artist encountered in his students a certain apathy and lack of inner movement in

relation to rhythm in music. He blamed this apathy on the Cartesian ways of Western

thinking at the time, as it divided human beings’ body and mind. This way of

thinking created in education a division into two separated types of knowing: body-

concrete-experimental and mind-conceptual-abstract (Juntunen & Hyvönen 2004,

199). The first term refers to the knowing acquired through experiences we access

engaging in bodily activities and the latter, to the Knowing acquired by engaging in

our inner mental life. Through the introduction of body movements in the teaching of

music, eurythmics, he found a way to resolve that division. This approach to

knowing and teaching was supported by the philosopher Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961)

who emphasised the idea of “knowing the world through the body” (1962, 281, 309).

It coincides with Steiner’s pedagogical indications of “head, heart, and hand” (Easton

1997, 87-92), the engagement of the whole human being in the process of learning.

Dalcroze considered that movements made unconsciously cannot become part of an

art as they lack “order and harmony” (1930, 36), qualities that require the presence of

a conscious ego. Movements should be practiced until they seem effortless, supple

and at the same time lack any feeling of being automatic, suggested Dalcroze (1930,

184-5). Steiner and Dalcroze gave great importance to the use of rhythm by the

Greeks for whom this was an “act of faith” (Dalcroze 1930, 188). Even the naming

of the arts they created reflects this interest. Dalcroze considered that the performing

arts could not improve until musicians learn to understand human movement and

dancers learn the laws of musical rhythm (1930, 186). Eurythmics originally

attracted renowned dancers like Laban and Mary Wigman, both of whom later left

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Dalcroze to follow Laban’s more organic movement principles (Spector 1990, 207-

8). The human activity in which Dalcroze’s movement was rooted is thinking – a

clear thinking that is able to appreciate the sensitivity and the feelings aroused by a

musical composition and stimulates imaginations to guide the movement of the body

(Dalcroze 1930, 184). Meanwhile for Steiner, rhythm is the element in art and nature

that carries life and is fundamental to any living expression (Hauschka 1985, 61).

Through this relationship to rhythm, and music in general, Dalcroze and Steiner

engaged, independently of each other and both holding a non-Cartesian approach, in

what Nishitani would call the process of reaching for the “fundamental imagination”

(Visser 2011, 3-4) of the phenomena involved in all the elements of music and in the

musical creative process. This awareness of the compulsion of the elements of art,

makes us become aware of their inner necessity (Visser 2011, 3-4). “Inner

necessity”, said Kandinsky, “calls forth a longing, an inner compulsion” (1994, 235).

2.3.4 Dance and the Concept of “living body”

A more recent simultaneous emergence of two expressions of the art of

movement happened in the 1970s. Connected with Laban, as a Laban Movement

Analyst, Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen founded in 1973 a somatic and movement

therapy practice that she called Body-Mind Centering (BMC) (Eddy 2002, 51).

Eddy, certified movement analyst, indicates that this work was quite independent

from the work of Thomas Hanna, creator at the same time (the beginning of the

1970s) of the movement therapy which he named Somatics and that now embraces

many different modalities (Eddy 2002, 51-53). Cohen, adds Eddy, recognises that her

main inspiration came from her Eastern practices, mainly through the practice of the

healing Japanese art Setai, Life-Force Movement. According to Eddy (2002, 53) the

main characteristic of BMC is the introduction of a path that allows an active

awareness of our inner organs through the use of sound, touch and movement. The

three branches of eurythmy – artistic, therapeutic and pedagogical – which reveal the

formative forces active in the human organs (that is, the creative movements of the

already-mentioned etheric world, a similar concept to the Life-Force Movement) also

focus on the inner awareness of movements and gestures of the practitioner. This is

done through the gestures that unveil the activity of the inner nature of sound itself

and which the therapeutic eurythmists also use for healing purposes (Kirchner-

Bockholt 1977, 9-10). Eddy indicates similarities between the work of Cohen and

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another modern dancer, Sondra Fraleigh (creator of the “Shin Somatics which

combines Feldenkrais, craniosacral therapy, effective communication, Japanese

Butoh, Yoga and Zen meditation” (Wozny, 2010)), both pioneering new ways of

somatic movement which incidentally did not name the approach after themselves, in

the way of Feldenkrais, Laban, Alexander and others (2002, 50). Likewise, the name

of eurythmy which means beautiful/harmonious rhythm, refers to the nature of the

movement, not to the name of its creator. Fraleigh’s dedication to Butoh connects her

to Cohen through their common interest in the richness and depth of Japanese art.

Butoh is a form of dance founded in 1959 by Hijitaka Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo

(Fraleigh, 2010, 2, 11). Fraleigh works with the metamorphosis-alchemic-

shamanistic forces of Butoh, with its healing forces and with the concept of “body

that becomes”, exploring through dance a “community body” that can be read by the

audience (Fraleigh 2010, 1, 2). She mentions that Butoh is based on the dancer’s

‘‘conscious change and empathic embodiment’’ with other bodies, the environment

and/or the spirit through which it must form a ‘‘the community body’’ in order for

the dance to have healing effect for the dancer, the community and the world (Brown

2012, 176-77). Fraleigh (2010, 14, 17) indicates that in Butoh the dancer is guided,

initially, by the movements of the teacher until she reaches the universal knowledge

that will directly inform her movement. Following this we could say that Butoh is a

type of universal true movement (as it could be said of any other art movement

rooted in the revelation of a universal human process) in the sense that the

knowledge taps into a common unique source of knowledge. In the same way, in the

process of learning the gestures through the indications of Steiner, the creative

activities/movements hidden in the common/universal sounds of human speech in

eurythmy, we learn a new universal speech of gestures and movements, as the sounds

are also universal, common to the languages spoken by human beings in every

human culture. As Fraleigh (2010, 13, 17) indicates, Butoh, in its movement, relates

to nature in a conceptual way – political, ecological and so forth. Meanwhile

Eurythmy relates to nature in a creational, ontological way, as it recreates the active

processes of the Creation (Steiner 2005, 28-31).

To understand the essence of the word Somatics we need to approach the work

of its creator, Thomas Hanna. Hanna (1988, 20) suggests that the concept of the

human body we normally use is that of an observable object we look at from the

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outside as a third party. Meanwhile, he adds, the concept of soma or ‘living body’

means something perceptible only from within and, as a logical consequence, we are

somas only to ourselves. This concept of ‘living body’ is similar to the ‘life body’ or

etheric body suggested by Steiner (Steiner 1994, 35). This is the body of the

archetypes of all living forms, including the archetype of the human living nature,

which metamorphoses through the human larynx in human speech (Steiner 1983, 3-

5). This is the body revealed by the art of eurythmy. For Hanna problems in the soma

are due to the way in which we have formed or forced the soma, due to the

movements we have forgotten and the movements we are holding on to; he called

this muscular-positional-functional deformation of the soma a “sensory-motor

amnesia” (Hanna 1988, xiii). To resolve this functional amnesia Hanna created

somatic exercises that would concentrate on giving awareness to the muscular

system. For some years now the somatic therapeutic approaches that developed out

of the original have been used in dance classes in order to improve posture, prevent

injuries, and to bring awareness of the physiology of the soma within the movement.

Martha Eddy noted that a dance is somatic when it includes awareness of the body,

awareness of the feelings and awareness of the learning that arouses in the inner life

of the soma (2002, 119). She also indicates that the great variety of styles of somatic

movements contain “emotional, psychological, and even spiritual components”

(Enghauser 2007, para. 3). Eurythmy evokes a further layer of awareness as, in the

creative process, the practitioner engages her awareness through the inner sense of

balance and the inwardly directed sense of hearing in order that the outer movement

is in accordance with the inner activity triggered by the audible sound (personal

communication with eurythmy teacher Lili Reitnitzer 2008).

2.4 TOPIC 3 – ASPECTS OF THE METHODOLOGY

• Objectivity, Inner Listening and Surrender/Emptiness as Stages of the

Practice of Eurythmy

2.4.1 Artistic and Supersensible Processes

Spiritual science bases all of its research on the understanding that nature is the

expression of a creative supersensible reality, generically called spirit world, which

reveals itself to us in symbols through all the phenomena of nature (Steiner 1951, 7).

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The task of art and the goal of the creative process lies, for Spiritual science, in

developing the ability to perceive that hidden world and in finding the right artistic

expression to reveal it to the human community. Spiritual science recognizes that

hidden world as the world of imagination or etheric world – a world that contains the

archetypes of all natural forms (Steiner 1994, 149-151). As a consequence, the

artistic creative process coincides with processes used for supersensible quests.

These creative processes are nourished by inner transformation – the transformation

mainly of habits and patterns of personal behaviour as well as by an outer and inner

dedication to the elements of the art being practiced for the artistic expression. These

are the prerequisites for nature to share its hidden truths which according to Goethe

will remain otherwise unknown (Schwenk 1965, Appendix p. 80). The visual artist

Visser indicates that though the idea has largely been rejected by modern culture,

according to Kandinsky “an artist must not only train his eye but also his or her soul”

(2011, 4).

2.4.2 Characteristics of the Stages of the Practice

2.4.2.1 Stage 1: On Objectivity – Phenomenological Contextualization

Eurythmy is the result of the supersensible phenomenological inquiry taken by

Steiner in relation to the supersensible origin of speech and musical sound. Through

eurythmy the human body active in movement/gesture endeavours to make sensible,

visible, the supersensible nature of sound that otherwise could only be heard or seen

as symbol through all forms of nature (Steiner 2005, 28-31). The first stage of the

creative process in eurythmy is a deep understanding of the general literature of the

art in question, classical and contemporary, and, in particular, on the literature

containing the indications of Steiner on each element to be considered for the

creative process. To this is added a phenomenological contextualization of the item

being practiced. Here I refer to phenomenology in the same sense as the

phenomenologist Kevin Hemberg in his book on phenomenology and objectivity

(2006). Hemberg mentions that as a science of the essential, the phenomenology

founded by Husserl (1859-1938), intends to be Objective, meaning “universal and

necessary” (2006, 7-8). The capitalization of the O is to indicate that the results of

phenomenological studies are there, in the “real” world, for all. For Hemberg

reaching the Objectivity through this approach, an Objectivity that relates truth,

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evidence and knowledge, we reach those aspects of the phenomena. I am aware that

this concept is controversial in terms of postmodern conceptions of epistemic

relativity and subjectivity. It must be reiterated that eurythmy is not founded on a

system of belief but a phenomenological process, so that the degree of Objectivity

will depend on the capacities of perception of the onlooker (in just the same way we

speak of capacities of “seeing” in relation to the pure thinking of mathematical and

scientific truth).

In the eurythmy creative process the clear and thorough phenomenological

contextualization of each element gives strength and sustains the following stages of

the creative process.

2.4.2.2 Stage 2: Inner Listening – Developing Faculties of Perception

Through the practice of eurythmy we strengthen our capacities for an inner

listening that would allow the sensing of a subtle inner body, our personal body of

formative forces active in our own life processes, our etheric body. The dancer

Sandra Reeve (2011) explored in her book the nine different bodies she was able to

recognize as present during her work as dancer depending on the lens she looked

through (body object, subject, phenomenological, somatic, contextual,

interdependent, environmental, cultural and ecological). These bodies interweave

depending on the particular practice (Reeve 2011, 1). She also mentions that there

are more aspects of the body than the nine she indicated in her book (2011, 53-56).

Based on the creative process of eurythmy we could incorporate, through a particular

awareness in the movement, at least two more bodies to the ones she mentioned: our

sensorial body which is transformed during the creative process and our etheric body,

the supersensible body in us and in nature which originates in the periphery and that

we endeavour to make visible. This is the body which we perceive otherwise only as

sensible through the elements of poetry or as symbols in nature. To be aware of and

to develop an inner ear for the processes taking place in these bodies during the

practice adds consciousness to the creative process. Steiner offers a rich possibility of

deepening this study through his work on the human senses and their relation to the

different arts (2002, para. 1-29). He indicates that the human body is composed of 12

35

senses: four physical or will senses (touch, life, movement, balance), four soul-

feeling senses (smell, taste, sight, warmth), and four spiritual-thinking senses

(hearing, word-sense, thought, ego-sense). For him the artistic experience, in its

creation and in its observation, involves a transformation and an enhancement, a

heightening of the common capacities of the senses of the human body (Steiner

1916, para. 13, 16). According to one of my teachers of eurythmy the main senses

engaged in the creative process in the art of Eurythmy are the inner sense of balance

and the thinking-related sense of hearing (Lili Reinitzer, eurythmy teacher personal

communication, 2008). It is interesting to note that conventional science places the

sense of balance in the same organ as the organ of hearing. Soesman in his

phenomenological study of the twelve senses, points out that the inner sense of

balance supports our physical-earthly nature, as an unconscious vessel, in order to

allow us to reach the opposite realm, the supersensible realm, through the sense of

hearing which takes us into the depths of the outer world (1998, 112). The sense of

hearing contrasts with the sense of sight, as with the latter we only meet the external

image of the hidden reality, remaining only on the surface of the sensible world.

While this may sound esoteric it clarifies the inner activity involved that starts at the

end of the second stage of the creative process which cannot be expressed otherwise,

except with qualitative expressions.

2.4.2.3 Stage 3: Surrender / Emptiness and Inner Listening.

The concept of emptiness, though it is nowadays mainly explored as a

psychological issue that affects a great part of the population, could also be explored

within artistic, philosophical and theological terms (Hazell 1982, 2). Hazell adds that

although as an experience emptiness is hard to grasp, the French philosopher and

writer Paul Sartre maintains that it is part of the acquisition of “consciousness,

freedom and choice” as these capacities allow inner reflection which creates a

separation between the object/phenomena which is the subject of reflection and the

being doing the reflecting (1982, 17). Sartre considers that without that separation we

will turn into unconscious beings all wrapped up within ourselves (Hazell 1982, 17-

19). Now, the question is whether we are able or not to build a bridge between that

outer world and the inner consciousness. According to Nishitani, in the practice of

art, at the creative moment of the artistic practice, we inhabit with our inner life the

36

place of an absolute emptiness where we become purely receptive. At this stage of

emptiness, when the main inner life during the practice is focused in an inner

listening, we emerge into the absolute nothingness where truth/god/the Absolute

resides. This leads to an inner transformation through the trigger act of surrender that

transforms into the experience of emptiness (Visser 2011, 3-6).

2.4.2.4 Stage 4: Act of Creation – Union of the Universal and the Personal.

The quest in the creative process of eurythmy is neither about self-expression

through the poem being moved nor about presenting some impressions of the

meaning of the poem through movement. At this final stage of the creative process

the inner life of the practitioner during the practice is in an active artistic prayer

similar in nature to the prayer of Judith Wright (2016, sect. Five Senses) in her poem

Moth:

O overcome me, Power and Truth;

Transmute my ignorance, burn it bare;

So that against your flame, not I

But all that is not You, may die.

As it is expressed in this poem this stage of the process involves a deep inner

activity of letting go of the already known and personal and a reaching out to the

unknown reality of the universality of the element one has been engaged with in the

practice. This mood of the practice is the prayer itself.

This sense of reaching into a hidden truth-reality, which comes to the

encounter of the practitioner as an inner echo of her dedication to the practice, has

kept recurring in the epistemologies of great philosophers and artists during the

history of humanity: Goethe, Steiner, Kandinsky, Heidegger and others. Kandinsky,

for example, declares that this quest for truth is the main ingredient of all artistic

process, “the driving force of the creative process”, to which he adds that this

necessity makes the artistic process sacred (Kandinsky 1977, 35).

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Nishitani unites the three last stages of the practice when he explains that on

hearing the sound of “an object in the outer world” there is revealed in us through the

sensation produced in our inner life an image of the object. He follows this up by

saying that on hearing a sound we sense the Logos (Word as creative activity) and

while the image of the Logos is realized through that inner sensation activated by the

hearing, this image possesses an “unqualified universality” (Shoto 2017, 79-80) that

transcends the particular sensation. As we tune through inner listening to the inner

nature of things, their hidden reality, their truth and as such their inner necessity and

the god in them, becomes accessible to human knowledge as the image of their

unqualified universality to be made visible through the individuality of the

practitioner. The universality of the sound can be realized through the fact that the

sounds of speech are universal. Here we are engaging in bringing that universality

through to the activity inherent in the sound itself. This is an artistic and spiritual

experience that can only be expressed through an artistic creation.

2.5 SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, and through the new inner life

quests that artists were involved with during their artistic processes, a gap developed

between the exoteric – the naturalistic artistic interests of the past – and the more

esoteric new artistic tendencies, the tendencies interested in revealing the inner,

personal aspects of creation (Gardner 1980, 806-807). The birth of eurythmy, which

concerns itself with the making visible of the hidden processes in nature, fits (with its

own particular twist) with the times she was born into. The twist I am referring to is

the fact that the goal of eurythmy is not concerned with making visible the inner life

of the artist but the esoteric inner nature of sound. However, the stages of the practice

of eurythmy don’t reject the naturistic or exoteric study of the past but integrates it as

the foundation for its artistic expression, creating a phenomenological framework

that gives direct support for the different stages of the practice. As we advance into

the last two stages of the practice we encounter more difficulties to express the

processes with exoteric clarity due to our predominantly intellectual, logical way of

thinking. We are still in the process of developing, through art itself, the sensibility in

our organs of perception, our senses, to be able to penetrate into the hidden processes

we come across through the artistic process. In this research I followed the stages

38

indicated above, in order for the artistic results to be as close to the universal truth as

I am able to reach at this moment.

39

Chapter 3: Creative Process

From our heart’s pureness springs a

Yearning tender.

Unto an unknown being, lofty, blameless,

In gratefulness unchallenged to surrender,

Unriddling for ourselves the every-

nameless

In pious awe.

Goethe (Steiner, 2017, para. 32).

3.1 METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN

3.1.1 Methodology

As the research question for this project addresses an art of movement,

eurythmy (a style of movement that involves ‘singing’ with the whole body as we go

about making visible the activity hidden in sound, the activity in our larynx, through

its movement), a particular type of research was selected, practice-led-research with

its specific methodologies, to support the creation of a eurythmy expression for the

cosmological poem Zwoelf Stimmungen (Twelve Moods) and the observation and

description of the creative process involved in the creation of this work. According to

professor of Art and Design Chris Rust and professor of Visual Arts Judith Mottram

there have been a wide variety of opinions in relation to the main interest behind a

practice-led research project. For some this resides in the body of knowledge

reflected in the documentation of the process followed during the practice for the

creation of an art work/work of art; for others it resides in the work produced (2007,

12). This situation led them to adopt the following basic definition of practice-led

research as, “Research in which the professional and/or creative practices of art,

design or architecture play an instrumental part in an inquiry” (2007, 10). For them

the main characteristic of practice-led research is the fact that it must include a clear

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explanation of the method through which the practice is used to work out the inquiry.

Here the inquiry is about the way the creative practice takes place to resolve the

research question within the particular art of eurythmy.

Researcher of practice-led research methods, Linda Candy, indicates that, “The

primary focus of the research is to advance knowledge about practice, or to advance

knowledge within practice” (2006, 1). The main difference between a practice-led

research project and normal practice leading to an artistic outcome is the way the

knowledge acquired about the practice is made available to the wider research

community though even in the case of a practice-led research the clear expression of

the inner processes involved in the artistic creation may not be as systematic as in

other non-artistic researches (Candy 2006, 2). Candy notices that practice-led

research formed part of an opening of the Australian academic system to creative

practice as research, when it was introduced in 1984. This new vision, adds Candy,

consisted of the realisation that for the development of a certain type of research the

way practice was used was fundamental. As a consequence what became clear was

the importance of researching the practice itself through the use of “a continuous

reflection upon the practice and on the informing of practice which results” (Candy

2006, 4). The evaluation of practice-led research is based upon the artwork produced

to resolve the inquiry as well as on the clarity of the expression of the methods used

during the practice. The criteria for the examination of my practice-led research

(50% - 50%) reflects a balanced interest in the knowledge acquired about the practice

and the artistic understanding and final expression created to resolve the original

question presented and worked out through the practice. The English Research

professor Stephen Scrivener (Candy 2006, 9) states that “the art object doesn’t

embody a form of knowledge”. However, in his article on artistic perspectives,

Professor of Art Education Graeme Sullivan disagrees with Scrivener when he notes

that the notion of art explored by some artists implies its use to develop new ideas

and knowledge and that this process is the most relevant feature of practice-led

research (2009, 43). I consider that the artwork produced through my practice-led

research is a contribution to knowledge as it can bring a new viewpoint on the

practice of eurythmy from the practitioner’s perspective.

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According to Sullivan (2009, 50) the researcher of a practice-led research

project engages in three basic types of ‘sub-practices’ during the practice: conceptual

practices (when thinking processes on the practice are involved), dialectical

practices (when one is engaged in the feeling processes experienced during the

practice) and contextual practices (when one is engaged with information on the art

being practiced, techniques, or on others’ points of view on the theme of the

practice). This research involves qualitative data collection methods, specifically

recollections of the inner life of the artist in the process of the creation of the

movement as well as subjective/personal interpretations of members of the lay

eurythmy community. Although there is no fixed set of methods to which the

researcher of a practice-led research project must conform for the data collection, for

my research I employed some of the most common methods used for this type of

research: personal journaling of the practice or recollections of the routine of the

practice, reflective practice or elaboration on questions and answers that emerged

during the practice, and focus groups.

Through my experience as a eurythmist I recognized the need to clarify the

relevant stages I used through the practice and which according to my understanding

are specific to most other types of research that follow the epistemological

orientation of Spiritual Science. I am not aware of any other previous detailed

presentation of those stages in relation to the practice of eurythmy. Neither am I

aware whether the specific practice-led research methodology I used for this research

is part of any eurythmy training in the way it is expressed here. It is through my

experience as an eurythmist that I have come to understand this as embedded within

the process in which the practice takes place during the eurythmy creation.

As eurythmy was born out of the epistemological pathway of knowledge

indicated above, some specific approaches or refinements were required in the way

the practice was implemented. Through them the particular concept of art belonging

to that epistemology was taken into consideration; this is art as a revelation of

something hidden beyond the world of the senses. One of the refinements I

implemented from practice-led research included the incorporation, as an

introduction, of a phenomenological contextualization of the body of knowledge on

the content of the poem and on the elements about to be practiced (mainly: rhythm,

42

leading form and gesture). This knowledge was primarily sourced through the

writings of Steiner himself and research done by others that adhere to his

methodology of investigation, Spiritual Science. I qualify this contextualization as

phenomenological to indicate that its main goal was to reach an objective sense of

truth of each phenomenon, apart from the gathering of information related to it that

could be considered later in the practice. According to the phenomenologist

philosopher Merleau-Ponty (1962, xxiii), “the phenomenological world is not the

bringing to explicit expression of a pre-existing being, but the laying down of being.

Philosophy is not the reflection of a pre-existing truth, but, like art, the act of

bringing, truth into being”. I called this introduction to the practice the objective

phenomenological phase through which I endeavoured to inwardly experience each

phenomenon through the help of the various aspects explored in its contextualization.

Through this process I was trying to reach an inner understanding, an

experience of the essence of the phenomenon, its inner truth, as experienced by a

community of individuals that allowed me to access the phenomenon as a reality in

the world of ideas outside myself. The rest of the creative process also had a

phenomenological character and it was supported by this introductory phase. Here,

the term phenomenology coincides with the aim for which it was created by Edmund

Husserl; namely, it refers to any study that is able to present the object of study as if

the object itself would have been able to explain itself (Seaman 1998, 2). Seaman

also indicates that: “Phenomenology is a science of beginnings that demands a

thorough, in-depth study of the phenomenon, which must be seen and described as

clearly as possible” (1998, 2). Spiritual Science adheres to this concept of

phenomenology as a science.

Through the collection of concrete historical facts, objective events that took

place in the past, be they written, oral, indications, instructions or any kind of known

structure about the element being practiced (rhythm, leading form, sound/gesture),

this, as a phenomenon, as a tangible reality, became an experienced objective reality,

as independent as I was able to free myself consciously from of my subjective,

conscious or unconscious, impressions (for instance, whether or not I enjoyed the

rhythm, my feelings in relation to the content of the poem and so forth). The dance

professor Sondra Fraleigh confers a similar value on phenomenological study when

43

she writes that “this is at best an effort to remove bias and preconception from

consciousness” (Fraleigh 1991, 12). The grade of objectivity of this first stage of the

research, the objective phenomenological conceptualization of the phenomenon,

depended on my own capacity to see when the element of the poem being studied

was left to ‘speak by itself’, was expressed as a real experience or when the

characterization presupposed a theory on the phenomenon. This capacity is acquired

by the regular practice of phenomenology through which we make a conscious

commitment to let the phenomena be free from any hypothesis or preconceived

theories. In the practice this acquired capacity helps to sense the change from Stage

2, practice under my own initiative based on previous experience, to Stage 3, practice

as surrender, as inner listening to the necessity of the movement.

Although the refined research methodology I used was not based on a

theoretical experimental study, its first stage, the phenomenological

contextualization, the unfiltered gathering of as much information possible in relation

to any of the elements being practiced, had some of the qualities of a scientific study:

objectivity and the possibility of its results being reproduced by any other researcher

at any time if focussed on the same premises. This introduction was later filtered in a

more subjective way through focussing and choosing to work with the aspects of the

acquired information that were more relevant for the aspect of the poem I decided to

work with. This filtration was done with total clear logical thinking which at times

supported the practice with its results while at other times the clarity was reached

through the practice itself, which in principle is a more subjective aspect of the

phenomenological approach. It is important to comment on the objectivity of the

introduction of each element of the research, as the goal of the eurythmy artistic

process is to reach a true artistic expression. Steiner (2017, para. 7) indicates that it is

through logical thinking, which is objective, that we develop an inner sense of truth.

This implies that through the phenomenological contextualisation of the elements

about to be practiced, facts that had nothing to do with any personal, subjective

interests and as such objective and able to be understood through logical thinking, I

acquired a sense for the truth of that element. The following explanation of ‘truth’ by

Steiner (1963, 7) is fundamental for the refinements to the research methodology I

introduced for this research:

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… truth is not, as is usually assumed, an ideal reflection of something real, but is a

product of the human spirit, created by an activity which is free {not bounded to my interests};

this product would exist nowhere if we did not create it ourselves. The object of knowledge is not

to repeat in conceptual form something which already exists, but rather to create a completely

new sphere, which when combined with the world given to our senses constitutes complete

reality. Thus man's highest activity, his spiritual creativeness, is an organic part of the universal

world process.

For the general introduction to Zwoelf Stimmungen, this objective phase

included researching the biography of the author (Rudolf Steiner), the historical

background of the poem, the study of the poem’s conceptual content, and the

gathering of any type of video recorded work or research done relating to the poem.

All this information became part of the journal to be easily accessible at any moment

during the practice, as it comprised its main objective framework. The aim of this

objective study was to free myself from any type of personal attachments to it. The

poem needed to be free in me for me to be able to be truthful to it. Through this

initial phase of the methodology I recognized the poem’s own identity to which I

strived to be true to during the whole creative process. Later the analysis took place

through a combination of inner reflection on the information that then was applied

and sensed in the practice through the growing faculty of inner participation in the

movement or vice versa, by a practice based on the same inner participation and

further reflection on what was thus sensed. This was done with a constant awareness

of the sense of truthfulness to the poem as an inner attitude and determination to let

go of my personal inclinations so that the universal in it could be expressed through

my personal characteristics. This union of the universal and the individual is, as I

understand it, the moment of creation.

Another aspect of phenomenological study is suggested by the

phenomenological philosopher Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) (1962, xix-xxii) when he

refers to the subjective and objective approaches working together in this method of

study. The objective approach explores the concept of a phenomenon in relation to

other previous ideas that already exist about it in the world. The subjective approach

attached to it is due to the personal need that humans have to give meaning to all

phenomena. Steiner also points out that the phenomenological approach he called

Goethean Science, on which he bases his Spiritual Science, unites both a scientific

45

and an artistic outlook on the phenomena (Hoekstra 2017, 329, 343). The following

poetic quote from Goethe points in a similar direction: “He to whom Nature begins

to reveal her open secret will feel an irresistible yearning for her [sic] most worthy

interpreter, Art” (Schwenk 1965, Appendix p. 80). Steiner is adhering to this idea

when he talks about art as the expression of the inner truth of things (1984, 3). In the

main body of my practice I used a free-of-judgement observation similar to an inner

listening, free from any pre-conceived personal theory about the phenomena, the

movement or expression being practiced. It was based only on the sense of its truth

acquired through the previous phenomenological contextualization, so that the

phenomenon would “begin to reveal her”(Schwenk 1965, Appendix p. 80) inner truth

now as an inner personal experience that I tried to recognize as mirroring the original

sense of truth. This sensing takes place through the human beings engaging

themselves in their own supersensible nature, the nature of their inner lives. This

process forms part of the stages of the practice I used for my research.

The main phase of the research, the artistic-subjective phase, was based on the

daily practice of an element of the poem and on the inner questioning and listening

that came along with it. This phase targeted one of the main questions of what the

dancer Edward Warburton (2011, 70) calls the “enacting of dance”, the doing of

dance. This question goes as follows: “What do dancers experience when they

experience dance?” For my research, where the dance is a singing with the body, I

changed the question into: “What do eurythmists experience when they experience

eurythmy?” The stages of this experiencing were reflected regularly in the journal as

a method of collecting the qualitative data that in its totality contained the journey of

the creative process. This journey moved from recognizing the object of research (the

poem Zwoelf Stimmungen) objectively as an external phenomenon of sounds,

grammar and concepts to being able to sense its objective activity through

movement. By the objective activity of the poem revealed to me through the practice

I mean something similar to what Nishitani called the “unqualified universality” that

transcends the particular sensation (Shoto 2017, 79-80). The degree of my capacity

to inwardly sense the truth of the movements, their necessity, their inner hidden

nature, and make them visible through the eurythmy expression, was the measure of

my success.

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The following sections explain how the data collection methods were applied

in this project. Firstly, there is a description of the way in which I structured the

practice. This is followed by three sections containing descriptions of the way the

journaling, reflective practice, and focus group data collection methods were applied.

3.1.2 Structure of the Practice

The practice of eurythmy was not like a laboratory practice, a place for testing

theories about movements and gestures out of which one deduces a final expression.

Neither was the practice based on fantasy-filled thoughts, nor on the practitioner’s

unconscious life. The eurythmy practice was rooted in a meditative life that gave

depth to the trustful dedication to the practice and to the understanding of the study

of the phenomena, the elements of the art of eurythmy – rhythm, leading forms, and

gestures of the sounds of speech. The goal of this process is to strengthen the inner

life of the practitioner and to deepen the connection with the elements of the practice.

This prepares the practitioner to be able to be totally engaged in the movements in an

attitude of inner listening. This attitude is closer to a sensing than to a reflecting

process. The eurythmy movements that originally sprang from the indications given

by Steiner now need to become specific, through the practice, to reveal the particular

characteristics of the poem under research.

The foundation of the practice was a daily 20-minute meditation. This took

place in the mornings or before the practice in the studio. Most of these meditations

did not require any outer movement; it was a supersensible/invisible activity through

which I guided my own thoughts to hold a verse, a single word or a single idea

within the verse. Like the invisible root of a plant, it was nourishment for the soul, a

purely inner activity. The theme of the meditation was the creative word, the Logos,

because through eurythmy we are making visible the creative activity of sound

(Logos) as active through all of nature’s gestures and processes, including those of

humans. Schwenk (1965, 130) says that through the naming of the things of the

world by means of the larynx in speech we make audible the formative forces, the

activity hidden in the creation of the object being named, the Logos in it. In

eurythmy the eurythmist becomes a larynx making visible that creative activity

hidden in speech. Through the meditation I sought to develop an inner capacity that

would allow me to hear/feel inwardly when my outer movements and my gestures

47

were in resonance with the activity of the sounding word. This is an inner sensing

activity and is not associated with any other type of sensorial activities, like chanting

or such like. Steiner himself gave two meditations for speech eurythmy. They were

written in his book Eurythmy as Visible Speech (2005, 152, 159) and students of

eurythmy are encouraged to work with them. One of the meditations included

definite body positions indicated by him, with each position accompanied by a

particular thought. The other meditation was a verse to be used privately, a type of

mantra, building inner images that develop into an inner sense for the task of

eurythmy. To these two meditations I added meditations on each line of the poem I

was working with. I held the line in my thought in different ways: focusing on

concepts, focusing on sounds, focusing on rhythm, then I released the thought and

later I proceeded with the practice that now was ‘informed’ with an inward

supersensible activity prevenient from the meditation.

In relation to this inner hearing/sensing Steiner (1983, 55) pointed to the fact

that feeling, inner hearing, is the root of logic. Even in common language we say ‘I

have a feeling for something’ when we reach an inner sense, the instinctive

understanding or the inner logic of something. This, continues Steiner, is the root of

our cognitive reasoning and without it we could never feel an inner certainty when

engaging ourselves in our daily lives. This practice responded to the need in

eurythmy to metamorphose the life of the soul – thinking, feeling and willing – into

an inwardly sensed movement. Through the devotion and love for the work, shown

through the time I dedicated to the practice, I grew in reverence for the Logos,

eurythmy, nature and the gift of my body. This meditative routine supported

intimately all stages of the research.

The main body of the practice was the practical exploration of the elements of

Eurythmy in the poem Zwoelf Stimmungen. For this task I used a local studio. I

endeavoured to practice alone for three hours, three or four days per week. Most

Fridays I met with the reciter of the poem in a studio. We worked together for up to

three hours to make sure that she was aware of the data I was collecting during the

practice and thus would be able to bring the rhythms, moods, character and dynamic

of sounds, lines, stanzas and the whole poem into agreement between the speaker and

the eurythmist. The way I distributed the time of the practice was as follows:

48

1. Warming up exercises in order to be present in my body as well as

concentration exercises, and exercises to tune the body for eurythmy. Some of these

exercises were given by Steiner, i.e., copper rod exercises (exercises carried out with

the help of, normally, 80cm long copper rods, given to ‘tune’ the body as this is the

instrument for the eurythmy movement), while others have been developed as a body

of practice by different eurythmists and schools of eurythmy, or were self-created for

my own personal needs for the practice. Normally I took 15 minutes for these

exercises.

2. Practice of general elements of eurythmy: rhythm, leading forms, sound

gestures and the movement dynamic for the whole poem. As for the warming up

exercises, there is also a certain body of practice for the general elements but often I

modified them to be applied to the needs of my particular study. It involved

movement of my body in space, a body that showed visibly the activity of a

particular rhythm, sound, mood, colour and direction of the impulse of the movement

(Apollonian or Dionysian). One of the objectives of the research was the creation of

a eurythmy expression for the poem Zwoelf Stimmungen that could be used as a

warm-up exercise for some of the elements of eurythmy. The practice of these

elements took approximately 20 minutes of the daily practice.

3. Main practice. After deciding on the rhythm of the poem, the movement for

the practice of the poem was first created through the study of the grammatical

structure of each line of the poem. Though the guidelines for this process are based

on the indications given by Steiner, this may be interpreted as similar to the way a

musician, following certain given musical structures and using certain given tones, is

creative in the composition of a musical piece. The data collected during this part of

the practice formed the most relevant content of the journal and reflective practice

for the practical purpose of realising the aims of the research. However, and as

previously indicated, all the other sections of the practice were there to inform the

process of the research, either through an improvement of the techniques of the art or

through the more subtle inward work of the meditation and the phenomenological

observation.

4. Taking final notes about the routine of the practice and reflections on the

practice itself. No computer was used in the studio as I found I was able to be more

49

expressive and freer when gathering notes on paper on the movements, forms,

gestures and so forth explored during the practice. All the data collected during

pauses in the practice and the final resolutions, indicating the way I wanted to keep

exploring the elements, was written in a small diary. This made it possible to keep a

clear continuity along the consecutive sessions of the practice. It allowed me to

record the main diversions and the temporal or final conclusions I took along the way

and the reflections that led me from one into the other. It also reflected my moods

towards the process, the practice, the progress toward my own capacity to continue

the research. These notes gave the sense of the total process being a long search into

the reality of the poem Zwoelf Stimmungen.

The approach to the practice of the poem was from the whole to the parts; after

practicing the whole line of a stanza or the whole stanza I recognised the element that

still needed to be addressed in the practice: rhythm, leading form, gesture/sound or

movement dynamic. This practice was maintained for as long as needed; that is, for

one or multiple sessions. This second stage of the practice was guided mainly by the

recognition of the different expressions that required improvement and by the need to

include in them the previous phenomenological observations. These movements still

carried a certain roughness and emptiness as far as artistic expression is concerned. It

was not until the third stage of the practice that my inner feeling/hearing was sensing

the truth, the flow, the easiness, a clarity/certainty felt in the movement from within

as if a ‘light’ was coming from the movement itself. This is similar to the normal

experience of ‘inner light’ or enlightenment we feel when we finally understand

something that required an inner effort to unravel. It is at this moment that the

movement became/felt artistic. Previously the movement was still carried by my own

initiative, through my own will put into the movement, and as such was not yet

artistic or able to listen to the true hidden nature of the element being practiced. At

this third stage of the practice, where the movement carried an inner listening attitude

through the gesture of surrender and emptiness/nothingness, the practice became

harder. This led me to many inner reflections on the nature of the creative process in

relation to the capacities of our sensorial body which still remain unanswered due to

their supersensible and intricate character. In this stage of the practice I was aware of

being in an inner state where one feels totally present only as a sense organ, as if the

whole organism had acquired a sensorial, feeling nature that is engaged in receiving

50

feedback on the nature on the movement and/or gesture being explored. At this stage,

I deliberately put my clear logical thinking to sleep and through the active sensing of

the movement of the body I tried to reach into another type of sensitive perceptive

consciousness that does not belong to logic and neither to any organic or

subconscious state of mind but to the sound being practiced, the element being

moved eurythmically. In this way, as a eurythmist, I endeavoured to become a

sensitive vessel open to receive the ‘reality’ of any element in a particular poem. A

main concern of any eurythmy practice is not to use our own will in the movement

but to learn and practice hearing the inner will of the element being studied, its

‘inner necessity’. This term comes to us from Goethe (Steiner 2016) when he

remarked that in relation to works of art, that “whenever there is necessity there is

god”. The sense of the inner feeling for the movement developed with the practice. It

was a ‘hearing the inner necessity’ of a particular gesture. This was a long journey

that required the capacity of surrender. Sondra Fraleigh (1991, 14) comments on her

own experience on this issue in the following description:

As I step back from my own processes to better understand them, I confess to giving myself up to a quest and questioning with a kind of blind faith that something in me already knows the answers, if I can somehow get out of my own way (remove my conditioning) long enough to glance them.

After this work with each element I brought the worked-out element again into

the whole. These elements of the study were as already mentioned: rhythm, leading

form, sounds/gestures, mood, dynamic and colour. They interpenetrated each other.

As the process of study grew, previously practiced elements were modified as

required. This task was repeated as many times as necessary, always being very

careful not to make any movements in an automatic way. All movements and

gestures were to be full of consciousness at any time. This meant that the movements

were never to be done automatically as could happen while doing gymnastics,

classical ballet or in any type of external repetitive/routine movements in which the

inner life doesn’t necessarily need to be involved to create movement. In eurythmy

all the aspects of the human soul – thinking, feeling and willing or our capacity for

movement and consciously directed action – are engaged in becoming the particular

sound the body is expressing through the gesture. I had pauses between repetitions of

exercises in order to reflect on the practice and collect data so that the practice would

51

follow a progressive and cohesive path and in order to register possibilities of

movement based on the known facts about the element being practiced that could be

alternatives to the aspect of the element I was already considering for the practice.

Times of active rest during the practice allowed inner supersensible processes to take

place, including the strengthening of the capacity of inner sensing. These were

moments when it seemed as if a sense of nothingness, a sense of emptiness invaded

my feeling life, moments when I felt confronted by a black, cold, rigid and silent

threshold which I was not yet allowed to cross.

Sometimes when the practice seemed not to be going anywhere I ‘played’ with

the elements using other media. This ‘playing’ can help to widen the connection with

the element, to see it in another dimension. At times I used painting to express in

colour the feelings experienced through the movement. I did this for the study of

rhythm as a eurythmy element; for example, the contracting movements were felt

and expressed as dark colours while the expanding movements felt like an opening to

the light and were expressed through lighter colours, and some movements felt deep-

rooted for which a hue of violet or indigo tones were chosen. I explored how these

colours blended within a line or within the whole stanza. They were basic sketches of

the movement of the different rhythms in colour which are embedded in the dynamic

of the movement. At times I used basic poetry for reflecting on the practice while

other times I used a quiet inner visualization in the studio where the practice took

place. I sat looking at the space where I moved and I imagined myself in the practice.

I did this mainly when I was having difficulties finding/feeling the quality of the

movement speaking in me. Through the surrender to the expression of the creative

power of the sounds in the practice one is able eventually, and hopefully, to

experience the thoughtful movement as an inner subtle perception of the

supersensible reality. During the process of reaching the artistic experience there was

a feeling of building oneself anew which at times creates extreme uncertainty and

restlessness. Distress and healing were both part of the inquiry. The transforming

power was the creative process itself. The title of the book by Irving Stone The

Agony and the Ecstasy (1987) about the life of Michelangelo seems to me to capture

the wild swing of feelings undergone within the creative process.

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3.1.3 The Journaling of the Pratice

The research journal is one of the data collection/creation methods used in

practice-led research. According to artist researcher Bowen the journal “provides

background and context for additional questions” (2009, 4), as well as gathering all

the different phases through which the journey of the research went and thus

supplying clear data on the creative process. Meanwhile researcher Nimkulrat notes

that the journal makes “the artistic experience accessible and discussable in the

context of the discipline inquiry” (2007, sect. 2.2.1). My journal contains a summary

of the way I conducted the practice and of the evolution of the partial results obtained

along the path. As previously indicated, it also contains an introductory section with

the phenomenological contextualization of the element to be practiced which I

refered to for inspiration, clarity, validation and/or refutation. The practice of each

element was always a journey which started with a totally clear picture of what I

wanted to achieve; a full engagement in the outer expression of the movement and

lots of enthusiasm in the practice. This characterised the first two stages of the

practice: the pure objective phenomenological study and the more subjective

phenomenological stage of the practice of the elements. These two stages helped to

build a framework for the development of the sense faculties involved in eurythmy

process. In the journal this was reflected in clear statements about what was practiced

that day and indications about how to follow up the practice. This beginning was

generally well organized and reasoned. Then, at times, it was hard to reflect the

stillness of the process as I kept repeating the same routine not knowing which

direction to take. In hindsight I realized those hours have a deepening effect out of

which something yet unknown emerged if I persisted and trusted. These times also

made for a stronger body memorization of the movements. At those times there was

little registered, only reflections. In contrast, sometimes I would have too much to

express as I was trying to record those seemingly sudden new inspirations, new

relations that were felt with the movements. The journal contains those reflections

on the numerous questions, changes in direction and ideas that emerged during the

practice. These two – practice and the reflections – were naturally closely linked. The

collection of data through the reflective practice is discussed in the following section.

53

3.1.4 The Reflective Practice

This method consisted of identifying the questions that arose through the

practice of the different phases of the research, the paths I took to deal with them, as

well as the feelings, what I learned from them and how I managed them. Gillie

Bolton (2014, 3) suggests that reflective practice is a “state of mind, an ongoing

attitude to work and life”. Further on (2014, 6) she mentions that “this practice helps

us to accept uncertainty”; it also allows us to know ourselves better as practitioner in

relation to our art. The following are reflective thoughts that arose for me during

different phases of the research:

• Should the poem be researched in English or in its original language,

German? In which element of the poem are those two languages most

differentiated?

• How do the contextual review and meditation inform the movement?

• How can the sounds and concepts of the poem become inner

perceptions? What is the path to explore this question?

• What does it mean to be creative in eurythmy? Why is the process so

frustrating at times? How can I enjoy or at least feel positive at those

times?

• How does one bind and at the same time make visible in the artistic

expression the different characteristics of each line of the poem?

The reflections, some of which still remain as questions, always led to more

practice of the element involved and/or a deeper phenomenological study on the

element. Some reflections related to specification given by Steiner on the practice

and exploration of an element. Steiner often didn’t explain the reasons for the

indications given by him. He left it to the eurythmist to develop this understanding as

they deepen their practice. These reflections are essential for the development of

eurythmy. Other reflections were due to the cosmological content of the poem. Each

line of the poem can be seen in innumerable aspects and so to value the quality of

each of the grammatical elements was very difficult. This made the practice of the

leading form extremely long as I kept trying different possibilities of valuing those

qualities. Finally I decided to create the leading form based on reasons coming from

the journal and the reflections I was collecting during the practice that revealed a

54

particular expression as more relevant than others. This meant that anyone else could

create different leading forms if they were looking at the meaning of the grammatical

elements of speech in the poem from another point of view. For instance, taking into

consideration the cosmological aspect of the poem, it is hard to ascertain when in a

verb the time factor is relevant for the movement or not, or whether the will aspect

carried by the verb is active or passive. All these factors would change the direction

of the movement of that grammatical element, its leading form. This realization

helped the process to move on to integrate the next element of the research of the

poem into the movement.

3.1.5 Focus Groups

The focus group method of collecting/creating data consists normally in

presenting to a selected group of people, expert and/or non-experts on the topic of the

research, some of the questions pertaining to the creative process in order to receive

feedback and apply their contributions. In order to use a focus group I obtained

University Ethical Clearance for the project. I had four participants, all of whom had

a strong interest in the arts. They all understood eurythmy as an art and three of them

attend lay eurythmy classes regularly. I chose a group with these characteristics

because I was interested to know about the effect of the presentation on a non-expert

audience and because the few eurythmist who live in Sydney are extremely busy and

were unable to commit to such an activity. As the participants were not experts in

Eurythmy it was very challenging for them to be able to contribute with certainty

through their personal observations. Some of the questions were designed to

investigate how far a lay audience was able to recognize different qualities and

nuances of the eurythmic expression of the main elements of the practice that by

their nature were already decided on through both study and practice. Other

questions were calling for contributions to new explorations in the practice of aspects

still being researched and others wanted to explore the validation or reaction to some

of the decisions already taken along the research (see Appendix D (p.119) for the

questionnaires for the different sessions). To this effect I presented them with the

different possibilities of expression I was exploring for the presentation of the poem

as a solo performer. The whole process took a month as we met on four consecutive

Monday evenings. Each session lasted for one hour and fifteen minutes on average

and was related to one of the elements of the eurythmy research process: the first

55

week the theme was rhythm, the second leading forms, the third gestures/sounds and

the fourth was about the presentation of the poem as a unity, on colour for costume

and on the stage lights. Each session consisted of four or five questions that were

introduced in advance of the presentation of the movement that they needed to

comment on. The sessions were recorded, transcribed, and then analysed. The

demonstrations of the eurythmy movements that were presented to the participants

were also videotaped to form part of the qualitative data to be analysed. I analysed

the personal comments offered by the participants and I classified the answers in

connection to the element they related to. I compared their answers with what is

already known in the art of eurythmy, with what had come to be a concern during the

research and was being worked out or with what had already being clarified through

the practice. I used the answers for explorations in the practice and /or to be included

as part of the movement.

3.1.6 Conclusion

In this chapter I presented the research methodology used for my research

which is practice-led with a phenomenological character, as it is based on an

objective look into the phenomena being researched first as external and later as a

sensing of the phenomena from within through the practice. Then I introduced the

routine of the practice: routine exercises to keep the body supple for the movement

as well as meditative exercises needed to develop the necessary inner faculties for the

task of inner sensing. To this I added some comments on the common methods for

the collection/creation of data employed for the research.

A video recording of the solo presentation/practice also forms part of this

research (please view the video recording through VLC or Quick Time player). Two

unpredicted factors affected the quality of the sound recording: the voice of the

reciter was projected into a big empty hall and a hard wind blowing on the day made

the roof rattle. For this recording I was grateful to welcome two helpers. One helped

with the lighting of the stage and was in charge of the lights-control board and the

other helped with all that was required for the video recording.

56

57

Chapter 4: Analysis

Man’s word is God in man.

Tennyson (2017, line 8).

4.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents my analysis of the data collected/created through the

reflective journal of the practice, my reflections on the practice and the focus group.

This analysis supported the task of decision-making present at each step of the

eurythmy creative process. As this process consisted of the study of four clear and

differentiated elements of the poem, all of which required a first stage of data

collection (previously referred to as objective phenomenological contextualization)

and a further stage of creative decision-making, I have subdivided this chapter into

four sections dedicated to each of the elements of the study of the poem: rhythms,

leading forms, sounds/gestures and the poem as a whole.

Though these elements were initially practiced separately for clarity they add

to and interweave with each other. The rhythm of the poem carries all the other

elements, the leading forms carry the sounds with their nuances and dynamic, and the

whole poem is carried by all the elements acting as a unity. This is the reason why it

is a common eurythmy practice to follow this order when studying most poems.

Though the study of the rhythm is the first encounter with the poem for the practice,

it was preceded by a phenomenological contextualization of the content of the poem,

as explained in Chapter 3. By the time the practice of the last element took place, the

expression of the poem as a whole and the results of the previous practices of the

other elements were inter-woven with each other to form the final eurythmy

expression of the poem.

The practice of each element was divided, also for clarity, into four different

stages that could interpenetrate each other, as described in Section 1.4. In the present

chapter, when I say ‘I felt’ or ‘I heard’ the movement, I am referring to the third

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stage of the practice. Here, what is meant is a well-informed feeling or inner listening

educated through the two previous stages of the practice: the contextualization of the

poem and a clearly framed practice based on previous eurythmy experiences and on

the body of knowledge of the art itself. By the third stage, and supported by the

previous practice, I engaged in the inner listening of the movement instead of a more

intentional forming of the movement. With this inner listening one surrenders oneself

to the movement/gesture/sound, trying to hear the nuances it brings within the

context of the poem. By this stage, rooted in the inner feelings of surrender and

emptiness, the character of the practice changed into outer quietness in the movement

and a stronger inner awareness. It comprised moments of doubt, questioning, and

feelings of incapacity, at times verging upon depression. Reading the, at times

extreme, feelings expressed in the journal, it was clear that the whole creative

process was held together at that time by the love for the practice itself, the love for

the process, love that fed me with the unlimited hope and trust which was needed to

keep going. The data collected at these times is closer to an inner questioning, more

intimate, poetic and expressive. In this phase the number of Spanish sentences in the

journal increased (my mother tongue) as the inner silence increased. The fourth and

last stage of the practice always comes with a feeling of gratitude, inwardness and

light. With time and patient practice, the movement seemed to start to ‘to talk’ back

and the pages of the journal rejoiced with it. Now that the right movement for each

sound was ‘heard’ as answering back to my strivings during the practice, the

movement felt deeper, more aware and ‘with light/consciousness’. The doubts slowly

disappeared and the objective aspect of the poem was felt again, now through the

movement, through its new creative expression, through eurythmy. This was a real

deed of unconditional love for the poem itself through the creative process, where the

clear knowing of the first phase – through which the poem became free from my

subjectivity in order to develop an inner sense for the truth – combined with the

practice and turned this into an inner listening process for that sense which now was

trying to be felt as coming from the movement itself. Out of this process data was

registered in the journal and in my movement memory body. I am aware that at all

stages the results of this process depend totally upon the inner development and the

experience of the art of the practitioner.

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4.1.1 Rhythm

This practice started after I read as much literature originating from Steiner as

I could find on the Zodiac and the Planets, as these are the characters speaking

through the poem. The importance of that study is that the dynamics (degrees of

loudness, of effort, of changes) and mood (degrees of speed, flow) of the movement

should reflect the nature of the characters speaking through the poem. In the

original presentation of the poem the eurythmists were placed as in the actual

cosmos with twelve planets in an outer circle divided into twelve equal sections

each under each sign of the Zodiac. From there they ‘spoke’ through the eurythmy

gestures corresponding to the sounding consonants of the poem but remaining

constantly in the same position. Similarly, eurythmy gestures of the sounding

vowels were also made in situ by seven eurythmists that as planets formed a lineal

radius of the Zodiac circle with the Moon in the centre and a sign of the Zodiac in

the periphery. In between the stanzas of the poem this line of seven planets (Moon,

Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) rotate along the Zodiac always

keeping their relative position as a radius. This is the main simple rhythm expressed

by that original presentation and consists of eleven repetitions of the similar

rotating movement around the still Zodiac circle, one at the end of each stanza; a

rotation of 30 degrees moved by the planets which always keep their relative

position. At the same time the Sun eurythmist moves the 390 degrees round the

whole circle and to the next Zodiac sign. All movements are done in a clockwise

direction. This is the cosmic rhythm of what appears like a cosmic clock. For a solo

presentation it was impossible to present such a clock, as it requires the presence on

the stage of 19 eurythmists. This was definitely a disadvantage since the

cosmological aspect of the poem with the constant presence on stage of all

characters involved in the process of creation gives a powerful impression.

Through the practice of the rhythm I recognized that the way I could create

the rhythm depended finally on the depth of my understanding of the poem, on

how I understood the nature of the cosmic characters speaking through the poem.

My only reference to the original rhythm used by Steiner for the recitation of the

poem was that the poem was based on a balanced rhythm called amphibrachs

(short-long-short) which happened to be the rhythm of most of the active verbs in

the poem. Appendix C (p.105) contains a deeper study of this rhythm. Through

60

reflection on the practice of the rhythms of each line and through deepening my

understanding of the content of the poem, it was manifested that there is not one

sun but twelve different suns, and the same happens with the planets, as the

activity of each planet depends on which sign of the Zodiac the sun is passing

through. This gave clarity to the recognition of whether, at any point in the poem,

an Apollonian or Dionysian rhythm wanted to be expressed. Upon reflection and

continuous practice I felt that the rhythm to be used should include impulsive

rhythms (Dionysian) for the lines of the stanzas of the Zodiac signs that were

creative calls for action, and withdrawing rhythms (Apollonian) for the ones

sharing knowledge/consciousness of the relations between diverse creative cosmic

activities. The rhythm that I finally created for this poem was one of many other

possibilities that depended on the particular aspect of the content of the poem I felt

was important to be carried in the rhythm, be this an impulse of the will,

inwardness/thought or a balance between both of them. Refer to Appendix C

(p.105). I would have liked to hear the original rhythm recited in Steiner’s times

(which I was not able to get access to); however I felt that this not knowing in

advance led to a more intense practice due to the innumerable possibilities of

arranging the rhythm. This was rewarded by the lengthy and rich practice of the

element of rhythm itself, the “carrier of life” (Hauschka 1985, 61). This practice

also helped with the memorization of the content of the poem.

In most music, rhythm is clearly identifiable while in poetry it requires a

deep sensibility through the process of listening. Zwoelf Stimmungen is often

recited by a choir of male and female voices that speak either in unison or in male

or female voices for the alternating stanzas, though I could not find information on

how the poem was recited for the original eurythmy presentation. For this research

I decided as a priority to work from the beginning with the reciter, with whom I

was able to meet weekly, in order to develop a mutual inward listening. For this

task I was blessed with the collaboration of a speaker who, coming from a

background in drama training which emphasised the conceptual content of the text

in the recitation, was open to reciting with a focus on the sounds themselves and

giving each line a musical rhythm, independent from the content, through the

strengthening of the first stressed syllable and a softening of the last syllable of

each line, just as if they were musical bars. This musical speaking of the cosmos

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was also recognized by Goethe when he said: “The Sun sings out, in ancient mode,

His note among his brother-spheres” (2003, lines 243-244). In Zwoelf Stimmungen

the creative activity of the Zodiac and Planets, their activity as creators, as ‘gods’

reflected in each line of the poem, also sung the creation and thus their wilful

creative thought/force/deed contained a sign of their feeling life5. The rhythm in

which the poem is recited is independent of the numbers of eurythmists

moving/singing the poem; it depends exclusively upon the way one is able to

interpret the inner structure of the poem.

One of the highlights of my practice of rhythm came from one of the first

eurythmists, Alice Fels (Siegloch 1993, 127), as she describes how Steiner read

the poem for the first time:

The words of the stars of every single line are sounded ... in a powerful heavenly symphony… as Rudolf Steiner read for the first time the poem Zwoelf Stimmungen in the white hall on the south of the Goetheanum whose walls and ceiling covered with maple and birch wood had a unique acoustic resonance; the tender spring-becoming mood of the beginning: “Arise, O Shining Light…” gradually increased to the mighty crescendo-highest point of the stanza of Leo, then went into the calmed inwardness of the sign of Virgo.

The reciter and I practiced different possibilities for creating a dynamic in

the recitation of the whole poem. To start with we were not comfortable with

simply following Steiner’s approach (as we understood it with the emphasis

previously mentioned on his first reading of the poem to the eurythmists) without

any specific reason for doing so. After a few months, when we had penetrated

through the practice to the essence of the activity originating from each sign of the

Zodiac, it was clear that the crescendo from the first stanza, Aries to Leo, was

5 The feeling life can be expressed artistically also through colour and musical pitch. The

emotional expression in a song is normally more subtle and expressive than in everyday speech.

Poetry contains elements of music as, traditionally, it is composed of rhythms.

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evident through the cosmic creative journey that takes place in the poem between

those Zodiac signs. Leo with its creative call to engage in the world of senses

contained in the concepts carried in the poem, with its ‘fire enthusiasm’ eurythmy

gesture, became the pivoting sign for the dynamic (degrees of the intensity of the

speech: crescendo, decrescendo and so forth) of the movement and the recitation.

When the different options for the rhythm of the poem were presented through

movement in the first focus group session it revealed that rhythm, the root of our life

processes (expansion and contraction), was the element of the poem that the lay

participants responded to most readily. They were able to sense the effect of

Apollonian and Dionysian rhythms on themselves, mainly in their breathing: “My

breathing definitely felt different” (F1). They also related the rhythmical movements

to daily routines: “I had lots of images related to everyday activities” (M1). Further

in the session when I moved the rhythm of two opposite signs of the Zodiac, they

were able to recognize the rhythm in Leo as “fire expanding” (F1), “life force” (F1),

“shape of building, of strength”, and Aquarius in the following terms: “openness in

the conclusion of the gesture” (M1), “gesture of being of service, servitude” (M1),

and “it hasn’t got the concluding definition of Leo” (F1). When the participants were

presented with the rhythm of one of the Zodiac signs, Virgo, in English and in

German, they commented that the English was “more of a cosmic sense” (M1),

“outer” and that the German was “earthly” (M2) and “grounded” (F2), and they

concluded that there was a “big difference between both languages in the rhythm”

(F1). I decided that the importance of keeping the rhythm of the original language of

the poem was more relevant than translating the text. The sensibility the participants

expressed towards this element validated my interest to resolve the rhythm in such a

way that each rhythmical line would reveal the nature of the content/meaning that it

carries, this being either an invitation to action, movement, transformation, a

revelation of a deed inviting its contemplation/thought or the evocation of a feeling.

The final decision about the rhythm to be recited was one of the hardest elements to

fix as the meaning of each line of the poem can be considered from many different

angles. Another factor that affects the rhythm could be the considerations on the sign

of the Zodiac through which the planets are speaking. This factor was also sensed by

the participants, as noted above, and thus validated the practice I was following.

These validations of the results of the practice indicated to me that the different

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movements ‘speak’ to the audience, creating different experiences that even though

remaining somehow unconscious in their nature, were felt as realities. This gave me

a strong sense of responsibility for what I was presenting and for remaining always

truthful to what the art of Eurythmy wants to reveal in general and in Zwoelf

Stimmungen in particular.

Appendix C (p.105) consists of notes gathered during the practice of this first

element of the research of the creative process of eurythmy. In it can be seen how in

this study I went from the more general knowledge of rhythm which included

Steiner’s indication of the concepts associated with rhythm, to the presentation of

some of the ways the rhythms were practiced, to be able, finally, to present the

version of the rhythm created through the practice for the poem.

4.1.2 Leading Forms

As defined in section 1.4, leading forms is the term used in eurythmy for the

forms, normally drawn on paper and moved by the eurythmist, that indicate the

direction wherefrom the impulse for the movement of the eurythmist originates in the

Apollonian movement. The leading forms are basically composed of a combination

of the basic forms of nature: straight lines, curves, double curves (waves), angles and

so forth.

The eurythmist moves

these forms not with the feet

(these just follow) but with her

shoulders and with her inner

awareness of the periphery, the

Zodiac from where, according

to Steiner, the creative activity

of each sign, which

corresponds to a human sound,

Leading form for Aries

64

reaches the Earth in a supersensible way6.

The real physical

movement in eurythmy can be

minimal or expansive

depending on the nature of the

poem. In one of my trainings I

learned that the shoulder of the

eurythmist needs to be relaxed

in the direction towards the

periphery she is moved from

and away from the centre of the

movement and tense with the

opposite shoulder. In this way

we say we are open in the

direction of the periphery, of

the Zodiac circle, that is active,

calling us to the movement and

thus we move the leading form

of the poem.

In this way if a group of eurythmists move the same form, all of them should

have the same openness in the same direction of their bodies. Steiner was able to

experience within himself the direction in the periphery wherefrom the activity

created by the specific character of the elements of grammar (verbs, nouns,

adjectives, prepositions, adverbs and so forth) moves us (Steiner 2005, 145-150).

6 Scientists are aware of the influence of the different planets to the life processes on the Earth

(Kranich 1984, 13). Steiner claims that the sounds of the speech, through which we are able to name

the creation, correspond in a precise way to those cosmic forces.

Leading form for Gemini

Leading form for Taurus

65

This Apollonian, ethereal, movement triggered from the periphery, was introduced

into eurythmy through Zwoelf Stimmungen. The pure Apollonian movement or

leading form is not based, like the Dionysian, on the rhythm of the poem but on the

movements that correspond to its grammatical elements.

This fact was also

considered in relation to the

translation of the poem into

English. The second focus

group session, which focused

on the creation of the leading

forms, showed that when

exposed to an Apollonian

movement the participants

made comments like: “almost

as if the centre of the will had

been abducted” (M2), “more

movement in the air” (M1),

and “changing focus” (F2).

Meanwhile, when expressing

what they felt when presented

with the Dionysian movement,

their comments were: “very

determined, being

driven…very focussed” (F2),

“sensed in the body, moving body in the direction” (M1), and “very focussed”

(F1). However, it was very hard for them to experience any difference between the

movement of the leading forms of the same stanza, Virgo, when moved in English

or in German.

We came to the conclusion that this must be due to the fact that both

languages have the same origin and such similar grammars. This meant that the

decision not to translate due to rhythm changes was not supported by the

grammatical differences between languages. Their comments on their

Leading form for Leo

Leading form for Virgo

66

experiencing of the differences

between the Apollonian and

Dionysian movements made clear

the need for a more conscious

work, in training, practice, and

performances, in order to

penetrate the characteristics of

these opposite types of

movement. In the solo

presentation the use of the

Apollonian leading forms is one

of the most outstanding

differences in relation to the

original. The comments of the

focus group participants gave

validation to the time dedicated to

the exploration and practice of

this movement which, as far as I

know, is specific to eurythmy.

I was aware through the

study of the phenomena of leading

forms as an introduction to the

practice that there are two

Apollonian forms that came from

the eurythmists who worked

directly with Steiner: a form for

Cancer stanza and a form for

Aquarius stanza. These are shown

in the book by Reinitzer (2010,

152-154) as exercises for the practice of colour, as expressed in eurythmy through

the positions of the hands in relation to the lower arms, and for the practice for

forming the gestures of the sounds in the different body zones: above the head,

middle region or towards the Earth.

Leading form for Scorpio

Leading form for Sagittarius

Leading form for Capricorn

67

As in the original

eurythmy form, the sounds

were made while the 19

eurythmists were standing, with

no leading form required, no

movement in space; all the

gestures were, in my opinion,

creative thoughts, not the

creative activity itself. Creative

activity or will activity is based

on movement, while stillness is

more a kind of reflection, more

a representation of a thought

process. The solo practice I

created departed again from

that original expression at this

stage of the practice, as I was in

the process of practicing and

creating the leading forms for

the twelve stanzas. With this

the stage became again an

etheric/ living/moving space

full of movement and colour,

making visible the world of

imagination in its task of

creating forms in living

processes. And so, in the forms

for the solo practice, the

gestures/sounds became an

activity, not just an image or

thought of the activity. I

realized that in the original presentation the stage could be a different realm of

existence from the one expressed though the solo practice; the lack of movement in

Leading form for Libra

Leading form for Pisces

Leading form for Cancer (by A. Dubach)

68

space seemed to mean a realm

where the thought of the

beings at rest is creative. An

analogy is useful for

explaining this concept: in

one realm architects are

designing a building, while in

another the builders are

actively building. This

Apollonian movement created

by Steiner developed out of the question on the nature of ‘reality’ which emerged in

society at the beginning of the twentieth century and that developed interests in

worlds active beyond the visible, in the nature of the world of imagination/fantasy, as

mentioned in Chapter 1. This inquiry, through the work of Steiner, invited an

opening to the world of supersensible creative forces, the etheric/imaginative world

active in all processes of nature.

Here follows a summary of the practice of the leading forms and the questions

that arose during reflection and noted in my journal, divided into two sections:

1. Study and practice of the specific character/nature of the grammatical

elements in the poem. This step is necessary in order to practice the movements:

straight lines, curves, double curves, angles and so forth given by Steiner to express

the different nuances of the grammatical elements: verbs, nouns, adjectives and so

forth. Starting from the very first word of the poem, ‘erstehe’ (arise), the following

question emerged: which character of this word is more relevant for this poem: the

call to the activity of arising, the time required by the process of arising, or both of

them? Each possible nuance implies a different movement. The resolution to this

lengthy process, word by word, was always given by engaging myself first with the

understanding of the deep meaning of the content of the poem, line by line, based in

the previous study done on the activity of the Zodiac signs and planets. This study

informed the practice in order to explore through movement the different nuances of

the possible interpretation of the meaning of each word. This is due to the

cosmological pictures that are expressed through the words in the poem. In the case

Leading form for Aquarius (by A. Dubach)

69

of the word ‘erstehe’ I finally came to the conclusion through an inner listening to

the movement that the straight movement backwards, being moved directly from

behind, felt stronger, more wilful than moving backwards to the sides, in order to

incorporate the time factor as indicated by Steiner for those type of verbs. That

wilfulness was what I felt that this word, this verb, this grammatical element of the

poem wanted to communicate at that point. I did not reject the other options as

wrong but as options that reveal other possible aspects of the word.

2. Exploring the directions of the movements of the grammatical element. In his

indications for Apollonian movement Steiner doesn’t refer to what is expressed with

the movement along the plane right-left, as for example in the angular movement for

condition-nouns (width, height, etc.), a convex angle towards the front of the stage.

The question that emerged in the practice was: What is the significance of starting on

the left and finishing on the right or vice versa? Is that plane of movement not

relevant in the Apollonian movement? If that plane represents the feeling realm,

according to Steiner’s indications, inwardness going to the left and outwardness to

the right, is this fact of no relevance for that movement? I practiced the different

angular movements for nouns, the time-related verbs as the diagonal lines to front

and back of the stage, and the arch movement for spirit and abstract nouns in both

directions. Though the right and left plane is obviously embedded in the movement

itself, it was hard to feel the relevance of the position at the beginning and end of the

movement. For instance, in relation to the nouns ‘Wirken’ (activity) and ‘Werden’

(becoming, growth), with their convex angular movement to the front, as indicated

by Steiner for conditional nouns the question arose: Are they bound to a particular

direction? Each word of the poem was thus practiced until the well-informed

movement resounded inwardly through inner listening and with the intention/will of

the eurythmist surrendered to the movement itself. I worked out all the words of the

poem in this manner in order to create the leading forms for the movement of each of

the 84 lines of the poem.

This extensive practice that is required for the creation of the leading forms

and the embodiment of the etheric movement, the movement triggered by the

periphery wherefrom the sounds originate, also helped with the necessary

memorization of the poem for the practice of the following element of the creative

70

process. One advantage of the solo practice/performance of the poem is the intensive

practice of the etheric movement that was introduced with the poem itself in the

world of Eurythmy and through which the movement of the eurythmists takes place

only after she has consciously opened herself to the impulse coming from the

periphery. This practice is essential for the truthfulness of the expression of the

Apollonian Eurythmy movement which forms the basis of the most advanced

Eurythmy expressions including tone/music eurythmy. In my experience the

awareness of the importance of the characteristics of this movement has been lost in

some of the eurythmy trainings. The main limitation I encountered in the creation of

the leading forms was due to the difficulties in resolving the questions indicated

above, as they have a deep hidden/esoteric nature.

4.1.3 Gestures

This element of the study is the one that defines eurythmy most clearly:

making visible the hidden activity in the sounds of speech and/or music. As the

sounds of the poem in German reveal the creative activity of the process of cosmic

creation, I decided that to bring the truth of the eurythmy expression of that creation I

would research the poem in its original language. Later the third focus group session

aligned with this decision as when they were presented with the eurythmy in German

and in English of the Virgo stanza, they all agreed that the German words had more

form in them than the English.

One of the main questions that I worked with and reflected on here was the

reason for the sounds for certain stanzas being formed above the head, others in front

of the middle realm of the body and others towards the Earth. I practiced the

positions for the sounds indicated by Steiner for the different signs of the Zodiac for

this poem that were given for the original form. These zones show the relation of the

human soul to each sign of the Zodiac. Moving along this cosmic circle, in the signs

from Aries to Cancer, the content of the stanzas of the poem reveal the creation of

the inner light of consciousness in the human being that allow us through our

thinking to relate to those creative worlds. Here the eurythmy gestures/sounds were

formed over the head. The stanzas of the signs from Leo to Scorpio express that their

creative activity is in relation to our inner life of feeling; here the sounds are formed

in the middle zone. Finally, the content of the stanzas of the signs from Sagittarius to

71

Pisces refer to the capacity of the human, received from those signs, through which

humans are able to be actively engaged in the world. Here the sounds are formed in

the lower zone of the body towards the Earth. It was obvious in the practice that in

the forming of the gestures of the sounds I should follow these indications as I

moved along the Zodiac. This understanding came through the reflection on the

practice of those indications. This clear understanding of the differentiation of the

stanzas through the location of the forming of the sounds was impossible for the

participants of the focus groups but they all agreed that the different positions for the

sounds indicate an inner dynamic which felt right.

The structure of the poem is such that each of the seven lines of each stanza

correspond to each of the planets in the following order: Sun, Venus, Mercury, Mars,

Jupiter, Saturn and Moon. In the original form the seven eurythmists-planets moved

the gestures of the vowels of their corresponding line in the stanza and thus it was

visually clear which planet was speaking. In order to also make this differentiation

clear in the solo exercise and as a practice of the hand-gestures for colours, I

introduced the corresponding colour hand gesture for each planet: white – Sun, green

– Venus, yellow – Mercury, red – Mars, orange – Jupiter, blue – Saturn and purple –

Moon as indicated by Steiner. These colours reveal the nature/characteristics of each

planet; for instance the blue for Saturn is due to the understanding reached by Steiner

through Spiritual Science that the ‘mission’ of that planet is to keep the memory of

cosmic events of the creation (2003, para. 11). This activity requires an

inward/reflective quality, a mood of “deep contemplation” (Steiner 2005, 119) or in

other words, a blue mood. At a human level this is similar to our capacity for holding

memories that need a going inwards, a blue mood of our soul, to bring them back to

consciousness. In the session with the focus groups I presented one of the stanzas,

Aries, with and without the addition of the corresponding colour hand gestures. All

of the participants agreed that the hand positions made the stanza more dynamic and

expressive although again they couldn’t be specific about it: “hard to know as there

are other movements but definitely it feels that something is changing” (M1). Again

this sensibility and the associated responsibility encouraged me to keep working out

all the questions that the practice of speech sounds were raising; for instance, all

routine/learned movements that were not based on a clear understanding. In the

practice it was hard to express some of the colours in the different zones; for

72

instance, white in the lower zone wanted to uplift the gestures and make them softer

and lighter. As previously indicated, the sounds formed in the original version of the

poem have a totally different character to the sounds formed during the solo

practice/presentation as the stage with 19 eurythmists reveals a different aspect of the

content of the poem. Depending on the aspect wanting to be revealed both the

original and/or the solo could be relevant.

4.1.4 The Framing of the Poem as a Whole

After practicing the poem as it was recited for the original form given by

Steiner for the 19 eurythmists (which means, 7 planetary lines for each of the 12

signs of the Zodiac) I practiced the alternative he gave in his original lecture when he

first presented the poem (Steiner 2012, para. 4-6). This recitation of the poem

presents the creative activity of each planet as they move along the Zodiac expressed

through the 7 stanzas of 12 lines each. During the practice and the reflection upon

this issue it became clear that the original recitation brought more unity and meaning

to the activity of the planets. This activity is inspired by the Sun speech/call on the

first line of each of the twelve stanzas of the Zodiac. When the impulse of the line of

the Sun was not present directly (as is the case when reading the poem as 7 stanzas of

twelve lines) the activity/call of the planets along each of the twelve signs of the

Zodiac felt dispersed and lacked depth unless I was able to inwardly remember the

Sun impulse for each of the twelve lines. It required a deep penetration of the poem

to be able to hold each of the twelve Sun impulses hidden behind the consecutive

lines of activity of each planet as they move in front of each Zodiac sign. In order to

make the creation process revealed through the poem more interconnected I opted to

work with the poem as it was originally recited. I was aware that the reading of the

poem as seven stanzas of twelve lines presents clearly the twelve different

aspect/activities of each planet, depending on their position in the Zodiac.

In his introduction to the

original eurythmy presentation of

the poem Steiner brought the Moon

to the centre of the stage as the

centre from which all the cosmic

creative activity is sent down into

Leading form for introduction to zodiac

73

the Earth. After the Moon each planet comes into the stage together with two signs of

the Zodiac until they form the complete Zodiac circle outside and the radial planetary

line linking the Moon in the centre to the Zodiac in the periphery. As this was

impossible for a solo presentation I resolved to introduce the Zodiac signs and their

activities, the gestures for the consonants, along two consecutive outside circles.

Through the first I presented the gestures for each sign of the Zodiac, remaining still

for a moment as I made this gesture. The Zodiac signs are static as they keep their

relative position constantly in the circle against the more dynamic movements of the

planets. The second circle was more active and I made the gestures corresponding to

the consonant sounds as the creative activity forthcoming from each sign. Through

this I presented 12 of the characters involved in the poem. From there I passed on to

introducing each stanza. Various alternatives of this beginning were presented to the

study group in the fourth session. The most surprising comment was to hear that they

felt the slow circle was already too

fast: “I would have enjoyed

observing longer the gesture for each

sign” (M1), “it doesn’t feel slow as

the gestures are so intriguing” (F1),

“don’t worry about people getting

bored” (M1). They wanted the

movement to be kept longer for

them, to have a stronger impression

of the gesture. This comment was

very satisfying as it meant they

wanted to more deeply experience

the eurythmist’s gesture/movement.

In the practice I was aware of these

observations which allowed me to

hold the movement and gestures in a

calmer, stronger and deeper manner.

As the poem was recited in German, and to indicate the content of the poem

without using a lengthy introductory speech, I moved in eurythmy the following line

mentioned by Steiner in the lecture given with the poem: “The Word weaves through

74

the world and the world-formation holds the Word fast” (2012, para. 9). To complete

the shaping of the poem for a presentation I started the programme with the first line

of the gospel of St. John which also refers to the Word – the Logos (cosmic creative

activity): “In the beginning was the Word”. Through these additions I did not pretend

to be didactic but to make the presentation whole, making it more alive and complete

for the audience and for myself as all its parts reflected what I experienced through

the practice as supportive realities on the theme of creation. The poem could be

worked through from many other different angles and I am aware that I have just

touched its surface.

Up until here all of the above can be part of a regular practice. However for the

presentation it was also necessary to choose the colour for the dress and the veil of

the eurythmist. After much reflecting on the issue and moving the poem with veils

and dresses in different colours I decided that white, the colour associated with the

Sun in eurythmy, was the best for this presentation. A strong factor that contributed

to this decision was that in the poem the Sun is the giver of the impulse for action to

the rest of the planets. When I presented this question to the focus group participants

after moving excerpts in other colours, they agreed the white gave less weight and

definition to the movements, making them freer. The last task was to set up the stage

lights of the hall where the presentation was going to take place. The lights were set

for theatre and I was not able to fill up the stage with lights from all directions as the

stage is supposed to look for a eurythmy presentation. Even so, I followed the

indications of Steiner for the original version as much as could.

Leading form for introduction to each stanza

75

4.2 CONCLUSION

Through the process undertaken to resolve the inquiry of this research project –

adapting Rudolf Steiner’s Zwoelf Stimmungen: Insights from Reworking a Group

Eurythmy to a Solo Performance – I have been able to penetrate and present with

some understanding some of the aspects of the creative process of the art of

eurythmy and thereby contribute to the literature on this art. This understanding was

generated through the working out of the inquiries raised in the practice. I was also

able to create an artistic example for the solo expression for the poem that can be

used for practice or for public presentation. Through this process I was able to value

the particular artistic contributions of both the original and the solo presentation. Out

of these contributions I emphasise that the solo presentation must be given to the

practice of the etheric/Apollonian movement. This solo presentation has already been

performed in public on several occasions, something which would have been

impossible if it had required the participation of the 19 eurythmists of the original.

During this research project I focused on the conscious activity of the inner

listening of the gesture/movement as I was trying to feel/hear the ‘true’ eurythmy

expression of the poem. This inner listening capacity creates what Steiner describes

as a kind of new ‘sense organ’ through which the eurythmist grows in her art. This is

for me the basic goal of the creative process. This listening to the inner movement,

this developing of this new inner sensorial organ, is a quality that must be developed

individually through the many different stages of the practice and through dedication

to it, if we want the art of eurythmy to develop in the future. Any teacher can only

indicate the path for the art; they cannot walk the path for us. The methodology for

the practice-led research of the creative process of eurythmy calls for a great love for

the art itself. This is proven by the dedication to its practice and the use of the

appropriate methods which are needed for the strengthening of the awareness of the

inner life of the practitioner. These consist of specific kinds of concentration,

meditative and observation exercises indicated by Steiner. The practice and these

exercises go hand in hand, complement and enhance other methods, including

keeping a journal of the process, the reflective practice and the use of focus groups.

The lack and the difficulty of a proper growth in this direction is one of the main

hindrances that I can see limits the desired truthfulness and universality striven for

76

during the research project. Without that depth of the inner life of the practitioner the

eurythmy movement could become superficial, subjective and weak. The

recommendation for further research on the topic focuses in the same direction: I

would suggest the need to penetrate into the mysterious aspects of existence that

were explored by Steiner in order to bring its artistic indications into a clear and

truthful expression through the movement and into an understanding that is able to be

communicated to the general public.

I hope that this research on the Zwoelf Stimmungen can inspire many other

works of eurythmy on this theme, creating other forms for the poem’s practice, and

indeed, for other themes. The regular practice of the solo form would support the

mission for which the poem was created: for the eurythmist to get closer to the

periphery as source of her movement. This solo practice with its cosmic motives and

the Apollonian movements leads the eurythmist closer to the etheric or imaginative

world, bringing lightness in the movement of the eurythmist. These are some of the

advantages of the solo practice that I hope can spread mainly amongst the eurythmy

schools with a low number of students. Further research could penetrate even deeper

into the nature of the inner process required for eurythmy as well as in the mysteries

hidden in the cosmological content of the poem all of which will contribute to the

enrichment of the eurythmy expression.

Through the sessions with the focus group, the participants and I realized the

widespread lack of sensitivity that most of us suffer from that prevents us from

expressing consciously the effect of artistic experiences on the inner life: “of course I

see that the movement is different but I have no idea why” (F1), “it has been quite

hard to go through the questions as I was feeling a little lost about how to answer

them” (M1), indicating that it was hard to bring to words, to consciousness, what was

inwardly experienced through the movement. This observation means that there is a

need for artistic work to be researched and explored in order to develop new

organs/senses of inner and outer perception. These new senses will enable the

practitioner to get closer to a more authentic artistic expression and the audience to

engage with more consciousness in the subtle experiences that the artistic expression

produces in their inner lives. A consequence of this could be, it is hoped, a bridge

77

between the esoteric (inner experiences) and exoteric (outer experiences) aspects of

life.

79

Chapter 5: Findings and Conclusions

It is in changing that things find repose.

Heraclitus Fragments (Harris 2017, Fr.23).

In some of the outcomes indicated in the following section as the results of this

research I see a punctuated expression, a frozen, rigid and fixed ending of a process

that until the moment it was written and recorded kept invariably changing. These

outcomes are sensible, dead, and unchangeable. Meanwhile there are other outcomes,

the ones that can’t be recorded. These will continue growing in myself and in any

eurythmist, audience member or other person, whenever they experience this

research. I will refer to them as supersensible outcomes. Though aware that this

division, consciously or unconsciously, is the case in most research, I want to bring it

to the fore as one of my objectives was to bridge what is exoteric, sensible, and what

is esoteric, less obvious, more hidden and requiring an inner transformation to be

accessed. As already mentioned in this paper, during the whole research process the

sensible and supersensible formed part of the creative process and its methodology.

These two aspects of life are part of the eurythmy creation because through this art

we make sensible, visible in the movement/gesture something that otherwise will

remain hidden in the supersensible, hidden activity of speech.

In the solo practice the extended work with the sounds of the poem in a

particular zone of the body and the use of the line by line hand-gesture changes for

the expression of the colours of the planet, gives a rich awareness of basic practices

that give nuances and dynamic to the gestures. This solo practice could be a unique

exercise to master the Apollonian, etheric, movement as this is the foundation for

moving forms of more advanced eurythmy: the standard and tone eurythmy forms.

The effect of the solo practice of the poem for any student of eurythmy and/or

practitioner should be of great benefit as they would be able to contemplate in

movement, through the regular practice of the 84 lines of the poem with Apollonian

movement, their relationship to the periphery. As a consequence these people would

contribute to a more refined Apollonian/etheric movement for all other eurythmy

80

work in the future as well as being able to recognize the activity coming from the

periphery in a closer way, keeping the poem alive in them. As already mentioned, the

movement of the original version for 19 eurythmists does not require the intense

practice of the Apollonian movement that the solo does, as the gestures for the

sounds are done while the characters speaking in the poem (Zodiac and Planets)

remain still. On the other hand, for the audience it could be that the dynamic of the

19 eurythmists and their movements of the cosmic clock are more easily accessible,

providing for a richer experience. Apart from the intense work with the Apollonian

type of movement there was a long process of working with colour as, line by line

while forming the sounds, I changed the position of my hands to differentiate the

qualities of the planets. This aspect of the solo practice, if taken in this way, is also a

great advantage as it add nuances and dynamics that belong to the poem.

The many hours of practice of eurythmy that this research has required and the

need for deepening the understanding of the eurythmy creative process would have

hardly been possible for me under other circumstances than this research. This is due

to the commitment to the research and to the need of presenting the process in a clear

and academic way for members of the community. A deeper relation to and respect

for the art of eurythmy, for the poem Zwoelf Stimmungen, and for the wider

community of practitioners of all kinds of art of movement and movement therapies,

is also the outcome of this research. The long practice of this cosmological poem has

provided me with a closer connection to the pure Apollonian forms that, by their

nature, feel somewhat harsh with their many sudden changes of direction and

geometrical structure, and clear and cold quality, like pure light. The content of the

poem, a modern cosmology experienced by Steiner, widens for me the single

concepts I was given in my training when introduced to Steiner’s indications for the

gestures of the signs of the Zodiac. As the Apollonian movement is the basic

movement for the various evolutionary phases of the eurythmy movement, this

research will also reinforce the lightness of the movement of further eurythmy

projects.

Through this engagement with eurythmy and the hidden world of imagination

that it reveals, a need is felt for a change in our thinking pattern as is suggested by

Marguerite McKenna in her thesis Eurythmy and the Cultivation of Living Thinking

81

(2010, 29-39). She indicates that the development of a richer inner life through the

strengthening of the life of senses allows one to receive the now still-hidden realities

of the etheric/imaginative world. Through accommodating these new perceptions

into our life of concepts and our general cultural life there emerge new thought

forms. This new type of thinking will create an impulse that could renew other

aspects of our cultural lives.

And now, going into more tangible outcomes and as a researcher, I hope this

thesis will contribute to the body of academic literature on eurythmy and thus will be

accessible also to centres for eurythmy training. Through the literature review I

contextualized various notions on the nature of eurythmy and its relation to other

art/therapy movements as a much needed introduction to the theme of the research as

well as an introduction to the specific phenomenological-artistic practice-led research

methodology that I followed for the creative process. I indicated the reason for its

specific character in the epistemology in which eurythmy is rooted, Spiritual Science,

and I characterized some of the basic concepts of this epistemology that were

relevant for the research: the nature of art, the world of imagination and so forth.

These were the main frameworks supporting my study of the poem. The proposed

eurythmy forms for a solo practice/performance of the poem have been created,

performed and recorded as part of the research. I have also described, in the analysis

of the process, the advantages and disadvantages revealed between the natures of the

solo presentation and its original form for 19 eurythmists (Chapter 4).

As already mentioned, this research could inspire single eurythmists to

maintain the content of the poem of research conscious in them creating a routine to

practice it as a regular exercise. This practice could also be encouraged in the

eurythmy training. My task has been to elaborate on the relevance of the poem for all

eurythmists even if they practice solo or in groups that can’t practice the original

version for its artistic presentation and give an example for engaging artistically with

the poem as a solo eurythmist. The work can be presented (it has already be

presented) in eurythmy days, eurythmy conferences and so forth.

The reflective practice applied in this research has enriched and made the

whole process involved in eurythmy creation a more conscious journey. Normally

we have a set technique or approach to this journey with no question of what is

82

supporting it. This penetration makes the practice deeper, richer and the results take

along a new hue of expressivity, consciousness and truth.

Through a conscious application of the phenomenological stages of

Goetheanistic observation this research offers a more conscious path to the journey

of creation to contemporary practitioners of eurythmy. As previously mentioned, this

approach, though basic for all Spiritual Science research, hasn’t been described in

detail before, as far as I can ascertain, for the creative process of artistic expression in

eurythmy.

83

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Appendices

Appendix A

Zwoelf Stimmungen (Twelve Moods) poem (Steiner 2012)

Aries

Arise, oh shining light,

Take hold of growth and becoming,

Lay hold of the weaving of forces,

Yourself ray forth, life-wakening.

In face of resistance, gain;

In stream of time, disperse;

Oh shine of light, abide!

Erstehe, o Lichtesschein,

Erfasse das Werdewesen,

Ergreife das Kräfteweben,

Erstrahle dich Sein-erweckend.

Am Widerstand gewinne,

Im Zeitenstrom zerinne.

O Lichtesschein, verbleibe!

Taurus

Brighten, oh glory of being,

Reach into the power of becoming,

And weave the thread of life

Through worlds imbued with being,

In mindful revelation,

Erhelle dich, Wesensglanz,

Erfühle die Werdekraft,

Verwebe den Lebensfaden

In wesendes Weltensein,

In sinniges Offenbaren,

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Into radiant life-awareness.

Oh glory of being, appear!

In leuchtendes Seins-Gewahren.

O Wesensglanz, erscheine!

Gemini

Reveal yourself, life of sun,

Stir up what tends to rest,

Embrace what desires to strive

Towards a mighty prevailing of life,

Towards a blessed knowing of worlds,

Towards a fruitful maturing of growth.

Oh life of sun, endure!

Erschliesse dich, Sonnesein,

Bewege den Ruhetrieb,

Umschliesse die Strebelust

Zu mächtigem Lebewalten,

Zu seligem Weltbegreifen,

Zu fruchtendem

Werdereifen.

O Sonnesein, verharrel.

Cancer

You resting, luminous glow,

Engender warmth of life,

Enwarm the life of soul

To meet with vigor each test

And permeate itself with spirit

In quiet, light-outstreaming.

Du ruhender Leuchteglanz,

Erzeuge Lebenswärme,

Erwärme Seelenleben

Zu kräftigem Sich-

Bewähren,

Zu geistigem Sich-

99

You luminous glow, gain strength!

Durchdringen,

In ruhigem Lichterbringen.

Du Leuchteglanz, erstarke!

Leo

Invigorate with senses' might

Matured existence of all worlds,

Perceptive element of beings,

Toward the firm resolve 'to be'.

In the surging shine of life,

In the prevailing pains of growth,

With senses' might, arise!

Durchströme mit Sinngewalt

Gewordenes Weltensein,

Erfühlende Wesenschaft

Zu wollendem

Seinentschluss.

In strömendem

Lebensschein,

In waltender Werdepein,

Mit Sinngewalt erstehe!

Virgo

Behold the worlds, oh soul!

Let the soul take hold of worlds,

Let the spirit lay hold of being,

Work out of powers of life,

Die Welten erschaue, Seele!

Die Seele ergreife Welten,

Der Geist erfasse Wesen,

Aus Lebensgewalten wirke,

100

Upon will-experience, build,

In blossoming worlds, put trust.

Oh soul, comprehend the beings!

Im Willenserleben baue,

Dem Weitenerblüh'n vertraue.

O Seele, erkenne die Wesen!

Libra

The worlds are sustaining worlds,

And being perceives itself within being,

Existence bounds itself with existence.

And being stirs and causes being

To pour out deeds that unfold,

To rest in world-enjoyment.

Oh worlds, uphold the worlds!

Die Welten erhalten Welten,

Im Wesen erlebt sich Wesen,

Im Sein umschliesst sich Sein.

Und Wesen erwirket Wesen

Zu werdendem Tatergiessen,

In ruhendem Weltgeniessen.

O Welten, traget Welten!

Scorpio

Existence consumes the being,

Yet in being, existence is held.

In activity, growth disappears,

In becoming activity pauses.

In worlds that prevail and punish,

Das Sein, es verzehrt das

Wesen,

Im Wesen doch halt sich

Sein.

Im Wirken entschwindet

Werden,

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In the chastening that shapes and forms,

All-being sustains the beings.

Im Werden verharret

Wirken.

In strafendem Weltenwalten,

Im ahndenden Sich-Gestalten

Das Wesen erhalt die Wesen.

Sagittarius

Becoming achieves the power ‘to be’,

Into what is, the might of becoming dies.

Achievement resolves the desire to strive

Into prevailing will-force of life.

In dying, there ripens prevailing of worlds,

Forms disappear within forms.

What has come to be, may it feel what is!

Das Werden erreicht die

Seinsgewalt,

Im Seienden erstirbt die

Werdemacht.

Erreichtes beschliesst die

Strebelust

In waltender

Lebenswillenskraft.

Im Sterben erreift das

Weitenwalten,

Gestalten verschwinden in

Gestalten.

Das Seiende fühle das

Seiende!

102

Capricorn

May what is coming, rest on what has

been.

May what has been, surmise what is to

come,

For a vigorous present existence.

Through inward life-withstanding

May world-beings' guard grow strong,

May life's working might blossom forth,

May what has been endure what is to

come!

Das Künftige ruhe auf

Vergangenem.

Vergangenes erfühle

Künftiges

Zu kräftigem Gegenwartsein.

Im inneren

Lebenswiderstand

Erstarke die

Weltenwesenwacht,

Erblühe die

Lebenswirkensmacht.

Vergangenes ertrage

Künftiges!

Aquarius

May what is bounded yield to the

boundless.

What feels the lack of bounds, may it

create

Bounds for itself in its depths;

May it raise itself in the current,

As wave, flowing forth, sustaining itself,

Begrenztes sich opfere

Grenzenlosem.

Was Grenzen vermisst, es

gründe

In Tiefen sich selber

Grenzen;

Es hebe im Strome sich,

103

In becoming, shaping itself to existence.

Set yourself bounds, oh boundless!

Als Welle verfliessendsich

haltend,

Im Werden zum Sein sich

gestaltend.

Begrenze dich, o

Grenzenloses.

Pisces

In what is lost, may the loss find itself,

In what is gained, may the gain lose itself,

In what is comprehended, may

comprehending seek itself

And sustain itself by sustaining.

Through becoming, uplifted to existence,

Through existing, interwoven with the

becoming.

May the loss be gain in itself!

Im Verlorenen finde sich

Verlust,

Im Gewinn verliere sich

Gewinn,

Im Begriffenen suche sich

das Greifen

Und erhalte sich im Erhalten.

Durch Werden zum Sein

erhoben,

Durch Sein zu dem Werden

verwoben,

Der Verlust sei Gewinn für

sich!

104

105

Appendix B

- Programme for a Conference on the Zwoelf Stimmungen poem in the

Goetheanum in 2015

http://ssw.goetheanum.org/fileadmin/ssw/2015/goetheanum_pfingsttagung_2014_12_1

5_screen.pdf

- Program for a Conference on the Apollonian movement in the Goetheanum in

2015

http://www.goetheanum.org/fileadmin/srmk/PDF/EUT-2015_Doppel-EN-LOW.pdf

Note: Both internet sites were still available on the 1st March 2018.

106

107

Appendix C

STUDY OF RHYTHM FOR POEM TWELVE MOODS

We shall only get to the bottom of rhyme, metre, the

pictorial and the melodic in speech, by comprehending human

nature spiritually, even down to the physical.

Rudolf Steiner (2010, para. 15)

Nowadays there is a traumatic split within this art in relation to the understanding

of the nature of rhythm in poetry. The author of the book Telling Rhythm (Aviram 1994, 5)

questions the need of rhythm in poetry if its main goal were only the transmission of

rhetorical ideas. She finds in Nietzsche a possible answer to it; for Nietzsche, she says, poetry

is not triggered by ideas but by the intoxicating rhythms of our Dionysian nature to which

later the poet adds a chain of concepts. The latter acts as an illusionary mask hiding the crude

unconscious force of rhythm originating in the inner nature of the human body. This allows

rhythm to be free from any conceptual limitations and a call to our life of will. In contrast to

Nietzsche, Heidegger (2001, x) emphasizes the importance of thinking in relation to poetry.

For him there is no need for any poetic structure for a thought to have a poetic nature because

any ‘genuine’ thought is poetry: “The voice of thought must be poetic because poetry is the

saying of truth, the saying of the unconcealedness of beings”. This dichotomy in the approach

to poetry could have already be felt by Plato (Edman 1936, 607-9) who rejected poetry as an

art. According to him, most poetry can neither reach nor reflect truth. In eurythmy we are able

to express both aspects of this artistic expression. The rhythmical aspect of the poem is

expressed through the movement in the space (movement from centre to periphery) or through

the moving of the space (movement from the periphery, etheric movement) on stage,

depending on the Dionysian or Apollonian nature of the poem. Meanwhile, the thought

content carried in the sounds of the poem is added to it through the gestures being created

with the body, mainly the arms.

108

The Zwoelf Stimmungen is a lyric poem as is suggested by the word Stimmungen

(Moods) in its title and also by its strong rhythmical structure. For Nietzsche (2000, 57) in

lyric poetry something beyond the individuality of the poet is expressed, something general

that needs to be carried mainly by the musicality of the poem. This characteristic is

counterbalanced by the cosmic intonation, by the Apollonian cosmic language that, as a

spiritual thought, imbued with the power of manifestation, flows to be active in the creation of

the different aspects of the human being. These Apollonian forces are prevalent in the poem

and able to modify the character of the movement which becomes independent of rhythm, of

the Dionysian musicality, and moves according to the nature of the meaning of the cosmic

speech. Naturally the rhythm keeps latently active as we can hear it through the recitation.

The decision to keep the poem in its original German for this study was primarily based on

the importance of experiencing the life-bringing impulse carried by the original rhythms and

the creative power of the original sounds of the poem which any translation will turn easily

into a more conceptual expression of the poem. Greek and German languages allow, more

easily than English, the constant repetition of the same poetic foot throughout a poetic piece

due to the inner rhythms and structures in the language making any translation fail either in

content, in rhythm or in both poetic elements (Aldan 1981, 108).

THE PRACTICE OF RHYTHM

In the practice of eurythmy there is no need for mirrors as these can only reflect the

physical body and in eurythmy we need to learn to sense an invisible body, the body of the

forces hidden behind any living process. The result of this sensing is then made visible

through gesture and movement. The eurythmist cannot be engaged at the same time in a

physical world looking at the mirror and in its inner world sensing its inner movement. It is

the physical body itself which acts as a mirror of the activity being expressed. The movement

of the eurythmist is not an illustration; it is an expression of the inner process invisible to all

physical mirrors. Any physical mirror could be a danger for the eurythmist to fall into a

superficial external physical movement which could not be called eurythmy.

To explore rhythm we usually start with the most basic rhythm of expansion and

contraction. We use the movement of the most expressive part of the human anatomy, the

arms and hands, to make visible the inner life of soul. All eurythmic movements start on the

shoulder blades. In contraction the movement of the shoulder blades pushes hands and arms

109

to the front bringing the eurythmist to the space within; in the expansion they are pushed to

the back, bringing the eurythmist outwards into the outside world, the invisible back space

included. Arms and hands follow those impulses in a natural, artistic, aesthetic style.

Normally some steps accompany the arm movement in the same direction as the arms thus

making visible the expansion-contraction, not just on the human form of the eurythmist but

also as movement in space.

To practice the rhythms in the poem we move each unstressed syllable as a small

step following a designed form or as a step given to join the other foot, while the stressed

syllable is shown as a big step or even a jump. Steiner indicates that rhythm wants to be

experienced (Steiner 2005, 105).

BASIC POETIC RHYTHMS

The following is a simple introduction to help understand the basics behind the

Greek poetic feet. To make it easier, and though I am also aware of the differences between

the poetic concepts of rhythm, meter and feet, I will not be engaging in explanations about

them and for this study I will use mainly the term rhythm for all three, unless otherwise

indicated. When I use the pronoun ‘we’ instead of ‘I’, I am referring to the reciter with whom

I was working weekly in order for both of us to build the same rhythmical patterns for the

poem. The reciter explored with me the experiences and understanding I worked out alone

during the week.

Common two syllable rhythms

Iambic (short-long) and Trochee (long-short) are opposites. As we experience the

Iambic in movement one can feel the soul coming out into the world. Steiner (2005, 105)

indicates that this rhythm gives an impulse to the will, enlivens the will, while the trochee is a

falling down rhythm bringing the human to its inner world of thinking; it enlivens human

thinking. Iambic is thus an excarnating rhythm while Trochee is incarnating, inviting to a

more conscious inner life.

Common three syllables rhythms

“Anapaest (short-short-long)”, excarnating, and “Dactyl (long-short-short)”:

incarnating, are opposites. The Anapaest, due to the bigger effort needed to reach the long,

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liberating, excarnating syllable, in comparison to the Iambic, expresses a more intimate

activity which makes the feeling of the speech more spiritual. In experiencing of the Dactyl

one can feel that a story, a mental picture is being presenting (Steiner 2005, 106).

The Amphibrachs (short-long-short) is not as common but is the basic rhythm of

the poem under study. This is neither an excarnating nor an incarnating rhythm; it is

experienced as a balancing feeling. The impulse of the will at the beginning is forced by the

second short syllable forming the rhythm to bring the soul back to itself. The poet and

eurythmist Greiner-Vogel (1983, 91) sees here a balancing effect in the realm of the life of

human feelings. She follows up this thought saying that through the sounding of the

Amphibrachs the forces of the soul find a way to feel the connection with the surrounding

cosmos supported by the balanced breathing created by it. The use of this rhythm in the

Zwoelf Stimmungen is to facilitate the experience of that meeting between the human being

and the cosmos in whose womb the human exits. Another three syllable rhythm present in the

poem of study is Amphimacer (long-short-long), also a balanced rhythm about which Greiner-

Vogel (1983, 120-24) mentions that it takes the soul into strange realms where it experiences

a strong influence in its breathing coming from the forces of real and objective existences that

want to penetrate into it. Greiner-Vogel indicates that the themes of modern poetry are too

prosaic to use this strongly musical rhythm.

Four syllable rhythms in the poem

Paeon contains any combination of three shorts and a long syllables. The

combination I have come across in the poem for my particular rhythmical reading is: short-

long-short-short. Here, Greiner-Vogel (1983, 92, 151) indicates that Paeon means Apollo, the

name of the god, the being behind the creative activity of the sun. She says that Paeon it is

experienced as a call to that god, whose existence is expressed through its own answer to the

call.

Rhythms in Zwoelf Stimmungen

The way to read a poem is relatively open to interpretations as the metric of poems

is often flexible and open to different combinations, giving room for the artistic style of the

reciter. In the case of the poem Zwoelf Stimmungen, though it is strongly based on the

balanced three syllable poetic foot amphibrachs, it contains some metric changes that could be

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interpreted in different ways, for example: Er-HE-lle dich,-WE-sens GLANZ …

could be read as 2 amphibrachs and an extra syllable (this creates the need for a pause where

the other unheard syllable should be). For any rhythm we need at least two syllables (Greiner-

Vogel 1983, 83-4) or Er-HE-lle dich,-WE sens-GLANZ one amphibrachs and two

iambics that will infuse the line with a will impulse.

In order to decide the rhythm of each line I moved the basic rhythmical forms of

each line of the poem, feeling the experience of the whole verse. To help with this task I

added to it the understanding of the rhythms and of the main sounds and concepts of each

line. The study of the rhythm kept maturing with the deepening of the understanding of this

element of the poem. It is as if the poem revealed its secrets the more I worked with it. The

sounds at the core of the words, the stressed syllables, was afterwards the focus for the study

of eurythmy gestures for each word.

To bring the lyric of the poem out, and to add musicality to the recitation, each

line was read as a musical bar giving the main emphasis to the first stressed syllable, less for

the second and the third stressed syllable was mainly of a soft letting-it-go nature. When

consecutive planets kept the same rhythm on the same stanza I tried to reveal this through a

crescendo of the speech of each repetitive line. Leo’s stanza was the one with more

consecutive lines maintaining the same rhythm – six lines out of seven. The first eurythmist,

Lory Smits (Siegloch 1993, 127) relates that, according to a memory of eurythmist Alice Fels,

the first time Steiner read the poem, in August 1915, he started with a tender Aries verse

rising slowly through Taurus, Gemini and Cancer until he reached a mighty crescendo when

he recited the stanza of Leo before he turned into an inward quieter mode from Virgo until the

last words of Pisces which signifies the end of the creation and the moment of separation of

the human from its creator.

One of the most balanced forms we move in eurythmy is the lemniscate. We can

see this form in nature as the figure created by the movement of the sun in the sky when

observed at the same time of the day during the whole year round from any particular place on

Earth. Greiner-Vogel (1983, 91) suggests moving this form when trying to experience the

balance effect of the amphibrachs rhythm. Based on this advice I practiced a rhythmical form

for each of the 12 moods.

ARIES

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Er-STE-he, o-LICH ------------ tes-SCHEIN,

Er-FA-sse das-WER________de-WE-sen,

Er-GREI-fe das –KRAEF_____ te-WE-ben,

Er-STRAH-le dich-SEIN ____ er-WECK-end.

Am-WI______ der-STAND ge-WIN-ne,

Im-ZEI______ ten-STROM ze-RIN-ne,

O-LICH______ tes-SCHEIN, ver-BLEI-be!

TAURUS

Er-HEL-le dich,-WE_____ sens-GLANZ,

Er-FUEL-le die-WER_____ de-KRAFT,

Ver-WE-be den-LE________ ben FA-den

In-WE-sen des-WEL______ ten-SEIN,

In-SIN-ni______ ges-OF- _____ fen-BA-ren,

In-LEUCH-ten__des-SEINS- ____ Ge-WAH-ren,

O-WE_________ sens-GLANZ, er-SCHEI-n

GEMINI

Er-SCHLIE-sse dich,-SON ______ ne-SEIN,

Be-WE-ge den-RU__________ he-TRIEB,

Um-SCHLIE-sse die-STRE_______ be- LUST

Zu-MAECH-ti____ gem-LE ________ be-WAL-ten,

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Zu-SE-li ________ gem-WELT ______ be-GREI-fen,

Zu-FRUCH-ten____ dem-WER _______ de-REI-fen.

O-SON__________ ne-SEIN, ver-HAR-re!

For Aries,Taurus and Gemini I chose to group the syllables of the poem in such a way

that the second metric feet of each line is an Iambic, an impulse for the will, to make the

rhythm supportive of the willful character of these three signs of the Zodiac. The moon

mirrors in rhythm and sounds the activity of the Sun.

CANCER

Du-RU-hen________ der-LEUCH-te _______ GLANZ.

Er-ZEU ________ ge-LE __________ bens-WAER-me,

Er-WAER______ me-SEE- ___________ len-LE-ben

Zu-KRAEF-ti_____ gem-SICH ______ Be-WAEH-ren,

Zu-GEIS-ti_______ gem-SICH _______ durch-DRIN-gen,

In-RU-hi _________ gem-LICH- _______ ter-BRIN-gen.

Du-LEUCH _____ te-GLANZ, er-STAR-ke!

The main change of the Cancer stanza in relation to the previous ones is the more

feeling character of the activity of the Sun. I arranged the rhythm to agree with this change by

choosing to recite the line as two Amphibrachs and a loose long syllable which adds a silent

pause at the end when recited. I kept the Iambic foot on the lines which still carry a call to

action.

LEO

Durch-STROE-me mit-SINN_____ ge-WALT

Ge-WOR-de_______ nes-WEL______ ten- SEIN,

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Er-FUEH-len______ de-WE________ sen- SCHAFT

Zu-WOL-len______ dem-SEIN______ ent-SCHLUSS.

In-STROE-men____ dem-LE _______ bens-SCHEIN ,

In –WAL-ten_____ der-WER______ de-PEIN,

Mit-SINN _______ ge-WALT er-STE-he!

In Leo, whose main character is willfulness, I opted to reflect this through the presence

of an double Iambic foot on most the lines of the stanza.

VIRGO

Die-WEL-ten er-SCHAU________ e,-SEE-le!

Die-SEE-le er-GREI________ fe-WEL-ten,

Der-GEIST er-FAS_________ se-WE-sen,

Aus-LE-bens ge-WAL_________ ten-WIR-ke,

Im-WI-llens er-LE ___________ ben-BAU-e,

Dem-WEL-ten er-BLU’N ver-TRAU-e.

O-SEE-le, er-KEN-ne die-WE-sen!

In Virgo there is a big change towards a call to a more inward activity within the object

of the creation itself, an impulse towards the feeling activity in the human being. To reflect

this I chose to keep the willful Iambic foot, this time positioned between two balanced feeling

feet. The rhythm of the moon is for the first time a call through balanced poetic feet,

activating the inner life of feeling.

LIBRA

Die-WEL-ten er-HAL-ten WEL-ten,

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Im-WE-sen er-LEBT-sich WE-sen,

Im-SEI- um ________ SCHLIESST-sich SEIN.

Und-WE-sen er-WIR-ket WE-sen

Zu-WER-den_______ dem-TA-ter ________ GIE-ssem,

In-RU-hen _________ dem-WELT-ge ______ NIE-ssen.

O-WEL__________ ten,-TRA________ get-WEL-ten!

From Libra onwards we come to lines carrying concepts acting as impulses to the

human life of thought. I chose to reflect this fact through grouping the beats in such a way

that a Trochee foot was heard at the end of the line. On the other hand, I left the moon line

with the Iambic mood to support the impulse to activity carried through the meaning of the

speech.

SCORPIO

Das-SEIN,-es ver-ZEHRT-das WE-sen,

Im-WE-sen doch-HALT-sich SEIN.

Im-WIR-ken ent-SCHWIN-det WER-den,

Im-WER-den ver-HAR-ret WIR-ken.

In-STRA-fen__________ dem-WEL-ten _______ -WAL-ten,

Im-AHN-den__________ den-SICH-Ges________ TAL-ten

Das-WE-sen er-HALT-die - WE-sen.

In Scorpio we see a constant call, coming from all planets, to encourage thinking

activity in the human being.

SAGITTARIUS

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Das-WER-den e-RREICHT-die SEINS-ge-WALT,

Im-SEI- en-den er-STIRBT-die WER-de-MACHT.

E-RREICH-tes be-SCHLIESST-die STRE-be-LUST

In-WAL-ten der-LE-bens WILL-en-KRAFT.

Im-STER-ben e-RREIFT-das WEL-ten-WAL_______ten,

Ges-TAL-ten ver-SCHWIN-den IN-Ges- STAL_________ten.

Das-SEI-en __________ de-FUEH-le- das-SEI-en____________de!

From Sagitarius the carrier of the life of the poem, the rhythm becomes freer and

changeable, more playful. Many lines have four stressed syllables which I have chosen to

group in three metric feet to keep the feeling of stimulation created by three feet lines against

the more settled feeling carried, and experienced through speech and movement, by a four

feet line. This time through the rhythm one could experience a double balance impulse:

towards the inwards and outwards of the human. In the line of Venus I chose to use the first

four syllable foot, a Paeon, which was repeated further down the poem.

CAPRICORN

Das-KUENF-ti-ges RU-he-auf ver- GAN-ge-nem.

Ver-GAN-ge-nes er-FUEH-le KUENF-ti-ges

Zu-KRAEF-ti________ gem-GE- gen _______WART-sein.

Im-INN-e ___________ren-LE-bens_________WI-der-STAND

Er-STAR-ke die-WEL-ten ________WE-sen-WACHT,

Er-BLUE-he die-LE-bens_________WIR-kens-MACHT,

Ver-GAN-ge-nes er-TRA ge KUENF-ti-ges!

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Capricorn’s rhythm contains, through the worked out grouping of syllables, various

Paeon and Dactyls feet which are almost absent in the other stanzas. Through the Paeon one

can feel a determined pulsation within a balanced inner life and through the Dactyls an

impulse to thinking.

AQUARIUS

Be-GRENZ-tes sich-OP-fe-re GREN-zen-LO________sem.

Was-GREN-zen ver-MISST- es _______ GRUEN-de

In-TIE-fen sich-SEL-ber GREN-zen;

Es-HE-be im-STRO-me SICH,

Als-WE-lle ver-FLIES-send sich-HAL-tend,

Im-WER-den zum-SEIN-sich ges-TAL-tend,

Be-GREN-ze dich,-o-GREN____ zen-LO-ses.

In Aquarius, for the first and only time, the call from the (in German) rhyming planets,

Jupiter and Saturn, has the same rhythm intesifying and supporting each other’s activities.

PISCES

Im- Ver-LO-ren ______ en-FIN-de SICH-Ver-LUST,

Im-Ge-WINN ver-LIE-re SICH-ge-WINN,

Im-Be-GRIF-fe _______nen-SU-che SICH-das –GREI______fen

Und-er-HAL________ te-SICH-im Er-HAL-ten.

Durch-WER-den zum-SEIN-er HO-ben,

Durch-SEIN-zu dem-WER-den ver-W O-ben,

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Der-Ver-LUST sei-Ge-WINN fuer-SICH!

In Pisces each planet brings its own grouping of rhythmical feet. The planets seem to

become independent of each other, seven different carriers of impulse of life. The last line,

read softly but in crecendo, marks the final cosmic call of the creation. The study of rhythm is

independent of the number of people presenting the poem eurythmically. It should be studied

together with the reciter of the poem or confirmed with the reciter before any rehearsals or

presentations. This study is also relevant at the very beginning of the process even when the

poem is part of a solo practice in silence, without reciter.

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FIG.1 EXAMPLE OF FORMS FOR THE BASIC RHYTHMS IN ZWOELF

STIMMUNGEN

120

FIG. 2 EXAMPLE OF RHYTHM-FORMS FOR TWO STROPHES OF ZWOELF

STIMMUNGEN

121

Appendix D

FOCUS GROUP SESSION 1 - RHYTHM

PRESENTATION OF QUESTIONS RAISED THROUGH THE PRACTICE

1. After showing the participants the basic expressions of the amphibrachs foot (to be

recorded on video) I asked the group about their experience. Then we compared this with the

more common three syllable feet of dactyls and anapaest and also with the other three-syllable

amphimacer foot.

Most verbs in the poem have three syllables, with the strength in the middle one.

2. Effect of amphibrachs on whole lines (when the whole syllable is written in capitals it

means that it is a stressed syllable).

Als-WE-lle ver-FLIES-send sich-HAL-tend,

Im-WER-den zum-SEIN-sich ges-TAL-tend,

Durch-SEIN-zu dem-WER-den ver-W O-ben,

O-SEE-le, er-KEN-ne die-WE-sen!

3. Experiencing two stanzas from two opposite sides of the Zodiac. What is carried by

the rhythm in each case?

LEO

Durch-STROE-me mit-SINN_____ ge-WALT

Ge-WOR-de_______ nes-WEL______ ten- SEIN,

Er-FUEH-len______ de-WE________ sen- SCHAFT

Zu-WOL-len______ dem-SEIN______ ent-SCHLUSS.

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In-STROE-men____ dem-LE _______ bens-SCHEIN,

In –WAL-ten_____ der-WER______ de-PEIN,

Mit-SINN _______ ge-WALT er-STE-he!

AQUARIUS

Be-GRENZ-tes sich-OP-fe-re GREN-zen-LO________sem.

Was-GREN-zen ver-MISST- es _______ GRUEN-de

In-TIE-fen sich-SEL-ber GREN-zen;

Es-HE-be im-STRO-me SICH,

Als-WE-lle ver-FLIES-send sich-HAL-tend,

Im-WER-den zum-SEIN-sich ges-TAL-tend,

Be-GREN-ze dich,-o-GREN____ zen-LO-ses.

4. I chose a few of the lines and I will change their rhythm. What happens? For

instance:

Er-FA-sse das-WER________de-WE-sen,

Er-FA-sse das-WER-de WE-sen

Im- ver-LO-ren ______ en-FIN-de SICH-Ver-LUST,

Im-verLO ren-en-FIN de-SICH ver-LUST

Am-WI______ der-STAND ge-WIN-ne,

Am-WI-der STAND-ge-WIN ne.

5. I presented the rhythm of the same stanza in English and in German to experience

and compare them.

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VIRGO (Steiner 2012)

Be-HOLD-the WORLDS-oh- SOUL!

LET-the-SOUL Take-HOLD-of WORLDS

LET-the-SPI rit-lay-HOLD of-BE-ing

WORK-out of-POW-ers of-LIFE

U-pon-WILL ex=PE-ri ence-BUILT

In-BLO-sso ming-WORLDS put-TRUST

Oh-SOUL com-pre-HEND the-BE-ing

VIRGO

Die-WEL-ten er-SCHAU________ e,-SEE-le!

Die-SEE-le er-GREI________ fe-WEL-ten,

Der-GEIST er-FAS_________ se-WE-sen,

Aus-LE-bens ge-WAL_________ ten-WIR-ke,

Im-WI-llens er-LE ___________ ben-BAU-e,

Dem-WEL-ten er-BLU’N ver-TRAU-e.

O-SEE-le, er-KEN-ne die-WE-sen!

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FOCUS GROUP SESSION 2 - LEADING FORMS

PRESENTATION OF QUESTIONS RAISED THROUGH THE PRACTICE

1. I moved the 5 point star, a standard geometrical form, with both types of movements

(Dionysian and Apollonian) without the participants knowing when I was moving one or the

other. I repeated it several times.

2. I moved different lines of different stanzas in both types of movements, repeating the

movement several times in order to help the participant to feel the experience now within the

poem. Can they distinguish when I am moving from the centre and when from the periphery?

Er-STE-he, o-LICH_____tes-SCHEIN,

O-LICH______ tes-SCHEIN, ver-BLEI-be

Die-WEL-ten er-SCHAU________ e,-SEE-le!!

Im- Ver-LO-ren ______ en-FIN-de SICH-Ver-LUST,

Im-WE-sen er-LEBT-sich WE-sen,

3. I moved one of the stanzas of the poem in both types of movement.

CANCER

Du-RU-hen________ der-LEUCH-te _______ GLANZ.

Er-ZEU ________ ge-LE __________ bens-WAER-me,

Er-WAER______ me-SEE- ___________ len-LE-ben

Zu-KRAEF-ti_____ gem-SICH ______ Be-WAEH-ren,

Zu-GEIS-ti_______ gem-SICH _______ durch-DRIN-gen,

In-RU-hi _________ gem-LICH- _______ ter-BRIN-gen.

125

Du-LEUCH _____ te-GLANZ, er-STAR-ke!

4. I moved the same line of a stanza – doing it for several lines of the poem – changing

the direction of the leading form or movement for the verb. This question tried to explore the

straight line movement given by Steiner for all verbs. As verbs can be active (e.g. sing) or

passive (e.g. hear), bound to time (e.g. talk), instant (e.g. sneeze) etc.…..he indicates different

directions for different types of verbs. I moved the same line changing the direction in which I

moved the verb and in that way giving different experiences to the participants. This was a

very hard task which I repeated multiple times for them to feel that they could express clearly

what they experienced.

O-LICH______ tes-SCHEIN, ver-BLEI-be! (Oh shine of light, abide!)

Er-WAER______ me-SEE- ___________ len-LE-ben (Enwarm the life of soul)

In-RU-hen _________ dem-WELT-ge ______ NIE-ssen. (To rest in world-

enjoyment)

Als-WE-lle ver-FLIES-send sich-HAL-tend (As wave, flowing

forth, sustaining itself)

Der-Ver-LUST sei-Ge-WINN fuer-SICH! (May the loss be gain in

itself!)

5. Same as question 4 but now exploring the angular movement given by Steiner as a

generic movement to express concrete nouns and nouns that indicate conditions of matter. For

this I explored different degrees of the angle and different degrees of the arch movements for

abstract and spiritual nouns.

O-LICH______ tes-SCHEIN, ver-BLEI-be!

In –WAL-ten_____ der-WER______ de-PEIN,

Die-WEL-ten er-HAL-ten WEL-ten,

Das-SEI-en __________ de-FUEH-le- das-SEI-en___de!

Das-KUENF-ti-ges RU-he-auf ver- GAN-ge-nem.

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6. I explored the leading form for a stanza in German and the leading form for the same

stanza in English.

VIRGO

Die-WEL-ten er-SCHAU________ e,-SEE-le!

Die-SEE-le er-GREI________ fe-WEL-ten,

Der-GEIST er-FAS_________ se-WE-sen,

Aus-LE-bens ge-WAL_________ ten-WIR-ke,

Im-WI-llens er-LE ___________ ben-BAU-e,

Dem-WEL-ten er-BLU’N ver-TRAU-e.

O-SEE-le, er-KEN-ne die-WE-sen!

VIRGO (Steiner, 2012)

Be-HOLD-the WORLDS-oh-SOUL!

LET-the-SOUL Take-HOLD-of WORLDS

LET-the-SPI rit-lay-HOLD of-BE-ing

WORK-out of-POW-ers of-LIFE

U-pon-WILL ex=PE-ri ence-BUILT

In-BLO-sso ming-WORLDS put-TRUST

Oh-SOUL com-pre-HEND the-BE-ing

127

128

FOCUS GROUP SESSION 3 - EURYTHMY GESTURES

PRESENTATION OF QUESTIONS RAISED THROUGH THE PRACTICE

For this session I required the collaboration of the reciter as I was focusing on the

Eurythmy gestures of the poem, moving them along the leading forms created through the

practice.

THEME: Exploring questions raised through the practice on the body zones and colour

of the gestures.

1. I moved three stanzas, each one with the gestures in different zones and discussed

their experience with the participants.

ARIES (UP)

Er-STE-he, o-LICH¬¬¬ ------------ tes-SCHEIN,

Er-FA-sse das-WER________de-WE-sen,

Er-GREI-fe das –KRAEF_____ te-WE-ben,

Er-STRAH-le dich-SEIN ____ er-WECK-end.

Am-WI______ der-STAND ge-WIN-ne,

Im-ZEI______ ten-STROM ze-RIN-ne,

O-LICH______ tes-SCHEIN, ver-BLEI-be!

VIRGO (MIDDLE)

Die-WEL-ten er-SCHAU________ e,-SEE-le!

Die-SEE-le er-GREI________ fe-WEL-ten,

Der-GEIST er-FAS_________ se-WE-sen,

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Aus-LE-bens ge-WAL_________ ten-WIR-ke,

Im-WI-llens er-LE ___________ ben-BAU-e,

Dem-WEL-ten er-BLU’N ver-TRAU-e.

O-SEE-le, er-KEN-ne die-WE-sen!

AQUARIUS (DOWN)

Be-GRENZ-tes sich-OP-fe-re GREN-zen-LO________sem.

Was-GREN-zen ver-MISS- es _______ GRUEN-de

In-TIE-fen sich-SEL-ber GREN-zen;

Es-HE-be im-STRO-me SICH,

Als-WE-lle ver-FLIES-send sich-HAL-tend,

Im-WER-den zum-SEIN-sich ges-TAL-tend,

Be-GREN-ze dich,-o-GREN____ zen-LO-ses.

2. Steiner indicated the zones for the gestures: over the head for the first 4 stanzas, in

the middle of the body for the next 4 stanzas and towards the Earth for the last 4 stanzas.

I presented the participants the stanza of Aries three times, with the sounds being

formed each time in one of the above mentioned zones for the participants to discuss what

they experienced in each case.

ARIES

Er-STE-he, o-LICH¬¬¬ ------------ tes-SCHEIN,

Er-FA-sse das-WER________de-WE-sen,

130

Er-GREI-fe das –KRAEF_____ te-WE-ben,

Er-STRAH-le dich-SEIN ____ er-WECK-end.

Am-WI______ der-STAND ge-WIN-ne,

Im-ZEI______ ten-STROM ze-RIN-ne,

O-LICH______ tes-SCHEIN, ver-BLEI-be!

3. PLANETS – COLOUR – HANDS

I explored the possibility of expressing the nature of the individuality of the planet

through the positioning of the hands showing the colour of the planet. I moved a few lines

with hands in the colour of the planet and the same lines with the hands, not fixed in that

colour for each line. I moved the whole stanza of ARIES with both; first, free hands and,

second, planet-colour bound hands.

4. I again used the stanza of Virgo to explore the difference in the gestures and leading

form between the German original poem and the English translation, discussing the

experience of the participants when exposed to both of them.

VIRGO

Be-HOLD-the WORLDS-oh-SOUL!

LET-the-SOUL Take-HOLD-of WORLDS

LET-the-SPI rit-lay-HOLD of-BE-ing

WORK-out of-POW-ers of-LIFE

U-pon-WILL ex=PE-ri ence-BUILT

In-BLO-sso ming-WORLDS put-TRUST

Oh-SOUL com-pre-HEND the-BE-ing

131

VIRGO

Die-WEL-ten er-SCHAU________ e,-SEE-le!

Die-SEE-le er-GREI________ fe-WEL-ten,

Der-GEIST er-FAS_________ se-WE-sen,

Aus-LE-bens ge-WAL_________ ten-WIR-ke,

Im-WI-llens er-LE ___________ ben-BAU-e,

Dem-WEL-ten er-BLU’N ver-TRAU-e.

O-SEE-le, er-KEN-ne die-WE-sen!

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FOCUS GROUP SESSION 4

MOVEMENT FOR THE INTRODUCTION AND CLOSURE OF THE POEM.

INTRODUCTION TO EACH STANZA – LIGHTS – EURYTHMY DRESS

PRESENTATION OF QUESTIONS RAISED THROUGH THE PRACTICE

The reciter was present for the session.

THEME: Exploring the effect on the participants of some of the movements practiced

for the beginning and closure of the poem in order to present the main characters speaking

through the poem: the signs of the Zodiac, Moon and Sun. The others were indicated through

the hand positions.

1. Exploring the turning around following-the-nose type of movement and the

movement that is looking always to the front though led by the periphery.

2. Exploring a couple of possible movements between stanzas:

A) Going round the circle of sounds and then coming in with Zodiac sound.

B) Coming directly along a spiralling-in type of movement forming the gestures of

all the Zodiac sounds.

3. Stage Lights. They indicate the changing dynamic of the general moods of the

stanzas. I moved with different coloured stage lights but the lights were unable to be fully set

for eurythmy.

4. Eurythmy dress. I explored moving with different coloured dresses and veils.

What is the thought colour of the cosmic creative activity of the cosmic characters

of the poem?

What is the colour of the feeling of the creative activity of the cosmic characters

poem?

133