The Art of Eurythmy

Soft, silken garments flow around my body, reflecting their blue and purple hues in the bright stage lights above. The music pulses across the stage, leaving no space for empty breath. Each melody is accounted for. Each countermelody has been planned and plotted out. Each tone reflected into the audience, clearly visible to all. Every key press on the piano translated on stage in perfect harmony. The music is seen not only by some but by all.

The pace of the music changes, and the stage becomes rushed with movement. Dark silken gowns flow forward, while light peachy ones move aside for a change. The movements flow in exact time with the music, creating patterns and motions that extend across the stage. Not only is each note accounted for, but each harmony and motion is visible on stage. I let the movement flow in time with the music, yet with a mind of its own. I allow myself to sink into the rhythm, into the habit created through months and months of practice. I take a moment to bask in the exhilaration of performance. I want to move to this piece over and over again. It is more than a dance; it is a harmony of sound and motion. A melody of light and movement. A unique and beautiful experience.

On stage, it is silent and yet so loud. There is movement and noise, with space for breath in between. Something stirs inside me, allowing me to access the emotions within. This moment feels like it could go on forever and yet is fleeting. It is brief and beautiful. Swirling colors on a dark backdrop. Something unique and yet known.

When the piece ends, the stage goes dark. There is silence in the theater; not a breath can be heard. Then, a deep voice. A voice of inflection and emotion. A poem is begun, and there is movement on stage again. This time, it reflects the voice's sound and inflection. Each tone of speech can be seen in physical form. White tunics with golden shapes appear. Moving in circles and with motions that convey just as much emotion as the speech itself.

My arms move almost independently, forming patterns and sounds for each syllable of the poem. I move slowly in parallel to a partner as we flow around each other to the pace of the speech. The music of human sound is as rhythmic and beautiful as that of the piano at this moment. We create a physical representation of noise in all its glory and serenity. As the motions ebb and flow, I try to soak it all in. For once in my life, I am fully present in this moment, a feeling that I don't seem to find often. It is something that I have somewhat forgotten in the world of technology, social media, and education, where we are always focused on the future or the past. Presence is a beautiful thing and a special and perfect activity. In this moment on stage, I am truly present.

The music and speech drift down the hallway into the backstage changing rooms. It wafts up to the rafters, over the audience, and across the street. It is present in our hearts. It is more than music; it is a feeling. These moments define who I am today. They have helped me to become myself through reflection and motion. Only the sounds and the motions matter. Looking back, I wish I was in this moment now. All these emotions together as one, surrounded by the troupe of people that became a family to me. Eurythmy gave us these moments. Moments of reflection, beauty, and meaning. Moments that have shaped me into who I am today.

The Waldorf philosophy has its origins in the early 1900s when Europe looked to a new form of education. Rudolph Steiner, a known Austrian clairvoyant, grew in prominence by offering new ways of education focused on the connection between the invisible and the visible, of the body and the soul. His first lecture, at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Germany, translated into a first school for the factory workers' children. Through Steiner's Anthroposophy movement came Waldorf education, a new way of learning focused on both the body and the soul. Over the years, these educational practices have spread worldwide, with well over 3,000 Waldorf/Steiner schools around the world today (Berner).

Through Waldorf soon came Eurythmy, a now essential aspect of Waldorf School pedagogy. Beginning in 1912, Steiner worked to “lift the veil between the invisible and visible dimensions of life” (www.eurythmy.org). Eurythmy, unlike other forms of interpretive dance, movement, or gymnastics, is a bond of the human body and the movement of sound. It is an art of feeling, an art of life. Beyond the performance of Eurythmy, it exists as a form of therapy and even medicine in the Anthroposophical community. In Eurythmy, each note of music or sound of voice is visualized through specific arm and body movements. These sounds flow through the space, creating a visual representation of the music or speech.

Though Eurythmy has existed for over 100 years, it has never strayed far beyond the Anthroposophical and Waldorf communities. I first interacted with Eurythmy in kindergarten, when I joined the San Francisco Waldorf School, one of the more prominent Waldorf institutions on the West Coast of the United States. Beginning in kindergarten, I experienced Eurythmy as a way to move and tune my body to music and speech. Eurythmy as a performance art didn't come into my life until many years later when I found myself joining the San Francisco Waldorf Youth Eurythmy Troupe, a world-renowned traveling Eurythmy troupe based out of my Waldorf high school. This was the moment when I truly began to understand Eurythmy. This was when I realized how much it had already taught me.

The Eurythmy troupe was a true team. Traveling to other parts of the world, we had to have each other's backs in every imaginable situation. On one of our trips, we had the privilege of traveling to Dornach, Switzerland, the center of Steiner's Anthroposophical movement and the first place where Eurythmy was ever performed on a stage. Performing there was a truly unique experience. On the same stage as so many great eurythmists before us, we truly felt the music and were alive with the energy of a thousand souls. In these moments, everything halted; it was only our collective breath and the music in our hearts. These Eurythmy trips truly brought the troupe together in a new way. We went sightseeing, performed, and explored Europe together. These experiences were transformative, and I will cherish these memories forever.

Throughout my Eurythmy journey, I have grown as a person and as a part of this world. Connecting to music and speech in such a unique yet simple way allowed me to be truly present in the moment. The adrenaline and muscle memory pushed me toward a new spiritual connection. It allowed me to feel and see every sound reverberate around the room. I am forever grateful for Eurythmy and the community it brought me, and I often yearn to experience those moments of complete connection and serenity once again.