‘This gave my mother the opportunity of mentioning to Dr Steiner an idea… Could one affect the physical body in a healing, strengthening and regulating way through certain rhythmical movements of the etheric body – which after all was the centre of all that was rhythmical – as well as of health and illness? Dr Steiner not only enthusiastically affirmed this possibility, but spontaneously declared himself ready to give the necessary directions which I could then work out with my mother’s help.’ – Lory Maier-Smits Alongside original material by Rudolf and Marie Steiner, this volume features unique first-hand accounts of the birth of the art of eurythmy by a number of its early students and practitioners. The practical and artistic stages of its development are chronicled in detail, alongside reports from the first public performance onwards. Rudolf Steiner offers inspiration to the original eurythmists to make their own discoveries – to perceive and fashion in movement their creative ‘inner voice’. The artistic principles are established for later development and elaboration, to reveal and foster human creativity in many poetic and musical contexts. Through the text, links between eurythmy and temple-dances, that accompanied ancient initiations, gradually emerge. The impulse to dance is rediscovered as inherent in the ‘lost Word’, or the primordial root language still available in ‘genetic etymology’– the sounds of speech used in all languages. Music eurythmy, we learn, did not start from dancing, but from the archetypal structure of the musical system. Consequently, we can witness directly how an eloquent performing art can properly develop when technique and inspiration meet. The text is supported by extensive supplementary material, including eurythmy forms, a chronological survey, notes and indexes.

"Here are first-hand accounts by the early eurythmists of the birth of this totally new social art with Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925)." -- Page [4] of cover.

Rudolf Steiner's original contribution to human knowledge was based on his ability to conduct 'spiritual research', the investigation of metaphysical dimensions of existence. Samples of his work are to be found in this introductory reader in which Beth Usher brings together excerpts from Steiner's many talks and writings on Eurythmy. The volume also features an editorial introduction, commentary and notes.Chapters: In the beginning, God created out of movement; School eurythmy - a kind of spiritual gymnastics; Eurythmy therapy - the word of the heavens is the being of man; Silent soul: speaking soul. Eurythmy as a performing art; How eurythmy arises out of anthroposophy.

Following his lecture-course Eurythmy as Visible Singing, these fundamental lectures on speech eurythmy – offered in response to specific requests – gave Rudolf Steiner the opportunity to complete the foundations of the new art of movement. Speaking to eurythmists and invited artists, Steiner connects to the centuries-old esoteric and exoteric Western traditions of ‘the Word’ – the creative power in the sounds of the divine-human alphabet – giving it concrete form and expression in the performing arts, education and therapy. In addition to the fifteen lectures in the course, this special edition features supporting lectures and reports by Rudolf Steiner, dozens of photographs and line drawings, as well as introductions, commentary, notes and supplementary essays compiled by editor Alan Stott, including ‘Eurythmy and the English Language’ by Annelies Davidson. Although aimed primarily at the professional concerns of eurythmists who perform, teach or work as therapists, the lectures offer a wealth of suggestions and insights to those with artistic questions and concerns. ‘Only someone who creatively unfolds a sense for art from an inner calling, an inner enthusiasm, can work as an artist in eurythmy. To manifest those possibilities of form and movement inherent in the human organisation, the soul must inwardly be completely occupied with art. This all-embracing character of eurythmy was the foundation for all that was presented.’ – Rudolf Steiner ‘For the poet, for the thinker, and for the movement artist who thinks with his/her whole body, the highest mental act is done with all their heart and with all their mind and with all their soul.’ – Alan Stott

‘The study of music is the study of the human being. The two are inseparable, and eurythmy is the art which brings this most clearly to expression. In these lectures, Rudolf Steiner guides us along a path toward an understanding of the human form as music comes to rest – the movements of eurythmy bringing this music back to life.’ – Dorothea Mier ‘Fundamentally speaking, music is the human being, and indeed it is from music that we rightly learn how to free ourselves from matter.’ – Rudolf Steiner The focus of these eight lectures is the source of movement and gesture in the human being. The movement in musical experience is thus traced back to its origin in the human instrument itself. Like the degrees of the musical scale, Rudolf Steiner leads his select audience of young artists through eight stages, focusing on the living principles of discovery and renewal. Eurythmy was born in the turbulent decades of the early twentieth century. From an individual question as to whether it was possible to create an art based on meaningful movement, Rudolf Steiner responded with fresh creative possibilities for a renewal of the arts in their totality. The new art of eurythmy was an unexpected gift. Today, music eurythmy, along with its counterpart based on speech, is practiced as an art, taught as a subject in schools, enjoyed as a social activity and applied as a therapy. This definitive translation of Steiner’s original lecture course on eurythmy includes a facsimile, transcription and translation of the lecturer’s notes, together with an introduction and index. The volume is supplemented with an extensive ‘companion’, featuring full commentary and notes compiled by Alan Stott, as well as a translation of Josef Matthias Hauer’s Interpreting Melos.

Created in 1911, eurythmy was developed for years as an artistic and educational discipline. Although Rudolf Steiner pointed out its healing aspects from the very beginning, it was only in 1921 that he gave a course of lectures that gave the art of eurythmy a vital new application. To the assembled eurythmists and doctors, he presented what one participant described as '...a complete and detailed method of eurythmy therapy, in which we could directly experience that even today the creative and therapeutic power of the word ... is still at work'.Steiner's comprehensive lectures, republished here in a thoroughly revised translation, describe the principles of therapeutic eurythmy, giving many specific exercises. Primarily intended for practising eurythmists, these lectures also contain much material of particular interest. Steiner reveals the intricacies of rhythmic interplay between human physiology and the life-forces in the world around us. He describes the qualities of language and the dynamism contained in the individual vowels and consonants, elucidating their relationship with eurythmical movements and human experience. Through such movements, individuals are able to access the healing etheric forces.The exercises, referred to by Steiner as 'inner gymnastics', contain enormous potential for psychological and physiological well-being. Gaining ever-wider recognition today, they complement conventional medicine, offering a therapeutic process concerned with mind, soul and body.This new edition of these important lectures - previously published under the title Curative Eurythmy - includes an appendix with reminiscences by early eurythmists, as well as additional commentary from Dr Walter Kugler.

The art of movement called eurythmy began about eighty years ago, based on Rudolf Steiner's knowledge of spiritual beings and meanings behind various human movements, as well as knowledge of the inner spiritual qualities of human beings when we move. Eurythmy performance is choreographed according to "forms" drawn to reflect the inner nature of spoken language (speech eurythmy) or a musical piece (tone eurythmy), which is the subject of Eurythmy Forms for Tone Eurythmy. Steiner produced about 1500 forms for speech and tone eurythmy to be performed in Dornach and other locations. Many of his forms for tone eurythmy arose spontaneously in response to requests for forms from eurythmists. Steiner's spontaneity is readily apparent in the sketches themselves, with some drawn at rehearsals as he listened to the music. Steiner sketched others in the evening after hearing the music once, making them available for rehearsal the next day. When he was confined to bed during his final illness, he drew forms simply by looking at the sheet music. Eurythmy Forms for Tone Eurythmy contains facsimiles of the Rudolf Steiner's original drawings and, in many cases, instructions for performing them. Included are forms for compositions by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Franck, Grieg, Handel, Lewerenz, Liszt, Mozart, Reger, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin, van Stuten, Tartini, and many more. This is a valuable resource for all eurythmists, as well as for those who wish to gain a better understanding of eurythmy forms. This book is intended primarily for eurythmy students, performers, and teachers, and is also useful to anyone who would like to study eurythmy movements and better appreciate eurythmy performances.

In the autumn of 1912, Rudolf Steiner presented the first eurythmy performance. It marked the revival, in modern form, of the sacred art of dance, which had been used in the ancient Mysteries to express the movements of the stars and the planets. In the years that followed, Steiner and his wife, Marie von Sivers, developed eurythmy further, broadening it beyond the artistic to encompass healing and educational elements as well. One of the pioneers of this new form of movement was the Russian anthroposophist Tatiana Kisseleff, who became a student of Steiner's and later a celebrated eurythmy teache. In this remarkable book, available for the first time in English, Kisseleff describes the spiritual foundations of eurythmy as they were explored in Steiner's lectures and recounts the instruction she received from him. This is both an eyewitness account of the origins of eurythmy and a record of a deeply personal journey of one person's efforts to master it. The book is illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings, facsimile reproductions from notebooks and posters advertising early eurythmy performances, alongside accounts of performances of various pieces including Shakespeare's The Tempest, Goethe's Faust, and Rudolf Steiner's own Mystery Dramas. This is a fascinating account for eurythmists and anyone who wants to delve more deeply into eurythmy's history and development.

Eurythmy is an art form that makes sounds visible. By incorporating zodiac gestures into their art, as indicated by Rudolf Steiner, eurythmists can draw on a deep connection between the earth and the cosmos. The zodiac, as representative of the whole cosmos, is a vital part of human spirituality, acting as the backdrop to human life. But it can be hard to fathom the zodiac's secrets, even through meditation. Barfod draws a parallel between meditative exercises and eurythmy practice, and shows how zodiac gestures in eurythmy can reveal cosmic insights. This is a book for eurythmy teachers and practitioners who want to deepen their art and spiritual work.