Author Archives: Gino Ver Eecke

What Can Biography Projects Offer?

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By Robin Mitchell

Lifetime learning requires challenges that move us out of our comfort zones, no matter how old we are.  As we grow, we stretch our present limits to embrace new abilities, gaining confidence as we develop. This is as true for older people as it is for the young. When we are at school, we know that we are constantly learning new things and discovering new skills that add to the quality of our lives, thus adding to the sum of experience that establishes our relationship to the world around us – as well as to each other.

We look into the world and discover ourselves…

We look into ourselves and discover the world.

This is also true for older people who have been in the school of life for so much longer. Only, the challenges are rather different from those that face the young. Younger people tend to look forwards with an optimism that can transform ideas into ideals – and ideals into deeds that can change the course of life. Older people have already been in that situation – therefore they can look back and evaluate the ideals that have filled their lives, the decisions made and acted upon and the outcomes of those choices. Younger people are often unsure – or even unaware – of their abilities. Older people can look back upon a lifetime during which they exercised their abilities – or did not. The question arises: To whom does a young person turn when asking questions about life – its challenges, its tasks, its requirements and its values?

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Explorations in Color

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A Weekend with Annemarie Baeschlin and Dorothea Mier

By Mark Ebersole

Rudolf Steiner saw himself as a spiritual scientist, and as such avoided like the plague any form of set definitions. He could declare something in a certain way one lecture, and then appear to give a completely opposing picture of the same phenomenon in the next. Nurturing this living, changing knowledge, he defied any Wagner (as in Faust’s colleague) to take Anthroposophic knowledge home with him safely locked up in a book. The hero here is the ever-striving, ever-seeking, often sinful but ultimately redeemed Faust.

At the weekend workshop on color with Annemarie Baeschlin this fall in Spring Valley, we were privileged to experience the fruits of a lifetime of such striving and seeking, of great knowledge penetrated with personal feeling and brought into deed with love and endless effort.

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Introduction to the Eurythmy Performance

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At the Christmas Conference, December 23, 1923

By Rudolf Steiner
My dear friends!
Today our guests from further afield who have already arrived make up the majority of those present at this opening performance of eurythmy. There is no need for me to speak particularly about the nature of eurythmy, for our friends know about this from various writings which have appeared in print. But especially since we are gathering once more for an anthroposophical undertaking I should like to introduce this performance with a few words. Continue reading →

Journeys to Oslo

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Upgrade your Eurythmy Diploma to a Bacholar of Arts Degree at the University College of Eurythmy, Oslo, Norway

By Ute Heuser

Last October I traveled to Norway in order to join ten other eurythmists at the University College of Eurythmy in Oslo. We all embarked on the part-time course to up-grade our Eurythmy Diplomas to a Bachelor Degree. After an introduction, Michael Leber took us through our first lesson. It was the best way to get to know each other and to “find our feet” – especially for the three of us who had travelled from the US. The time change was hard at first.
Soon we began work on two group-pieces: “The Cloud” by Shelley and an Allegro by Schubert (Op.164). Coralee Schmandt guided us in speech eurythmy and Michael Leber in tone eurythmy. Lessons in speech formation were held in two groups, one in English and one in Norwegian. Although I joined the English group, I was fascinated by the sound of the Norwegian language and we all got a little taste of it in our first session. Each of us began to work on an epic, lyric, and dramatic piece. We also had an introduction to a music exam we were due to take. Some frustration and confusion came about as the test needed to be translated for some of us, but in the end we all passed. I guess the language of music is universal.
After ten full and rich days it was time for us to leave. We had become a group, had formed many new connections and lots of hugs were freely shared before we all departed for our many different destinations. We took a lot of home-work with us: A solo form by Rudolf Steiner in both speech and tone eurythmy; the group pieces needed to be “kept warm”; the pieces for our speech formation presentation, and a written paper about an aspect of our teaching experience. Off I went back to Pennsylvania with a Shakespeare Sonnet (“Let me not to the marriage of true minds”) and the Rondo from the Pathetique Sonata by Beethoven in my luggage. It was hard to fit in practice times in an already busy schedule, but I was glad to have this extra challenge as part of my artistic work.
Last February I was off to Oslo again, this time we only met for six days and a lot had to be done in this short time. We continued our work on the group pieces, and had some quick practices for our solos with a speaker and pianist we were not used to. A good part of an afternoon was needed for each of us to present our epic, lyric, and dramatic texts we had worked on as part of our speech formation assignment. It was a festive moment and a great variety of pieces were shared in different languages. Each of us had to present our eurythmy solos, and again I was amazed at the richness of what was brought and shared. It was hard for me to perform just one piece as part of this presentation. By the time I felt in the flow of eurythmy my solo was already over.
Now I am looking forward to our last session in July. I am busy working on an Adagio by Mozart and a poem by Denise Levertov, both solo forms I need to present in July.  I am glad for this rich experience, for getting to know eurythmists further afield and making new contacts. Coralee and Michael are great guides in this process and I appreciate their ongoing support. If any of you are interested, they are hoping to start another course this fall. I know it is a long way away, but Oslo is well worth a visit and if you are looking for an artistic “boost” as well as a BA, this is a great way to get it both!!

Eurythmy Room Design

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PRINCIPLES AND CRITERIA

By Reg Down

Waldorf schools are continuing to experience growth and development as awareness of the need for meaningful forms of education increases. Associated with this growth is a rising demand for eurythmists, as well as a need to construct or remodel spaces suitable for a healthy and thriving eurythmy program. How this space is designed can have a huge impact on the children, the teaching, and the health and well?being of the teacher.

This article is addressed primarily to the architect-builder, constituting principles and parameters to be guided by when designing a room for eurythmy. In addition, the reasons underlying these guidelines from a practical, pedagogical and anthroposophic point of view are outlined, as the presumption is made that the designer/builder has an interest in the professional needs and philosophic background of an anthroposophic or Waldorf the Waldorf client.

The architectural style of the building has been deliberately left out of the discussion as this is the province of the architect. Nevertheless, a building’s style is, or should be, consonant with its purpose. The architect is encouraged to delve into Rudolf Steiner’s contribution to architecture as his architectural insights and the art of the art of eurythmy are sourced from the same spring, and then, and then out of the architect’s own artistic nature, develop a style in harmony with the prevailing environment, community and culture. A brief bibliography is included at the end of the article.

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The Rebirth of Poetics out of the Spirit of Eurythmy

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Fundamentals of a Goethean Approach to Poetics and Meter
Dr. Hedwig Greiner-Vogel
A summary and translation of Dr. Greiner’s life research, compiled by Cynthia Hoven


“The moving forces of the supersensible nature of the human being prepare the formative speech of poetry.  This hidden eurythmy was, in primeval time, the preparatory step of all language.  Just as all language has arisen out of sacred rituals, so has poetry arisen out of dance, ritual dances, which recreated the path of the stars in manifold, strictly lawful forms.  The rhythms of the stars, which have their microcosmic correspondences in the rhythmic organization, are the primal movement forces of the metered step, the poetic ‘ foot’ and the forms of poetry which have arisen there from.  The meters and poetic forms which have come down to us from ancient cultures still show spurs of these origins, and can become visible once again through eurythmy.”   p. 132

In the art of eurythmy, new perceptions of the nature of poetry are possible.  To assist both eurythmy itself and the enlivening and understanding of poetry, it is necessary to research the basic elements of the latter, namely, sounds, meter, and poetic forms.  Indeed, the study of these should be an integral part of any eurythmy training.

One of the fundamental principles of eurythmy is that speech itself springs out of the spiritual world itself, and that when humans speak, they are expressing their spiritual nature.  Vowels are expressions of the personality, and consonants are the sounds which echo and imitate nature.  The interplay of both, the alphabet, embodies in one sense the totality of the human being.

A study of language reveals an evolution of the relationship to sounds.  Greece, for instance, still ascribed names to its sounds, such as alpha for the first letter.  The Latin alphabet calls the same sound merely ‘a.’  (Such reductionism is also evident in the acronyms which are increasingly common.)  Ancient runes as well as the Hebrew Kaballah reflect the power of single sounds.  It is also said that sounds were danced in ancient cultures: eurythmy is a re-enlivenment of these dances.

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What is Eurythmy Doing in School?

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Artistic and Therapeutic Eurythmy speak for themselves. What about Educational Eurythmy?

By Mary Watson

The most important educational task of eurythmy is to aid the incarnating processes of the growing child, in order that these processes may take place in the most harmonious way possible; a very lofty ideal, but nevertheless one toward which every eurythmist strives.

Plunge into the world

These processes change and assume different forms in the various stages of childhood. The very young child lives very much in his surroundings; he is ‘at one’ with the world, and it is easy for him to transform himself, through the imaginative pictures of stories, into animals, plants, beings. In these early years he must plunge into and experience to the full the world around him. He must unite himself with every tree, bird and stone, immerse himself in the rhythms of the created world. At this time the eurythmy teacher can lead the class through a Paradise, where they can learn to know the created and the creator.

Between the seventh and ninth year, the child will then begin to stand back and observe the world. He will begin to separate himself from it in his experience and even begin to be critical of things around him. The closer his unity with the world before this time, the more his powers of reverence and wonder will be enhanced during these years of separation from the whole. During this time the spiral form becomes very important in the eurythmy lesson, where the child spirals into his own inner  world, and out once again to the outer world. Repetition of this form with
various verses strengthens the individuality in its first awakening.

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Eurythmy in Waldorf Schools

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By Robin W. M. Mitchell

At times, the question arises, “What is eurythmy, and why is it so important in Waldorf education?” In an attempt to answer these questions, I started by looking at a number of definitions of education. I have synthesized them into the following synopsis: “Education brings about a state of knowledge and of aesthetic moral development, resulting from a learning process which develops skills needed by a person wishing to take charge of his or her own life.” Continue reading →

Truus Geraets Turning 80 and Not Yet Finished!

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By Lynn Stull

During the fall of 2003, Truus was instrumental in my decision to join the first Frontier Eurythmy Training at Eurythmy Spring Valley. Throughout my training, Truus was a source of encouragement and knowledge. Over the years I have admired Truus’ commitment to the Art of Eurythmy, Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy, and particularly her dedication to the Archangels Michael and Uriel, which she has and continues to demonstrate through her deeds. Continue reading →