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.

Notebook entries, addresses, rehearsals, programs, introductions to performances, and talks given before 16 eurythmy performances (CW 277c) The Early History of Eurythmy is the first of three volumes of Rudolf Steiner's "eurythmy addresses," short introductory talks preceding the earliest performances of this new art of movement. Of the nearly 300 transcripts that survive, few have thus far been translated into English. This volume presents, chronologically, the addresses related mostly to drama, generally, and specifically to stage performances of Goethe's Faust and Steiner's mystery dramas. In addition, it features all of Rudolf Steiner's notebook entries on eurythmy, along with all of the extant eurythmy programs from 1913 to 1925, which yield invaluable insights into Steiner's taste and aesthetics. Frederick Amrine's engaging introduction emphasizes that eurythmy is an important episode in the history of dance, but has been unjustly neglected. He contends that eurythmy is a continuation of an aesthetic revolution that began not in Europe but in America; that the original impulses leading to "new dance" were deeply spiritual; and that there are deep but largely unrecognized affinities between "new dance" and eurythmy. This counter-narrative about the prehistory of eurythmy within the history of dance should be of particular interest to English-speaking anthroposophists, because it identifies the pioneering work of three American women as the all-important context for the development of eurythmy: Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, and Ruth St. Denis. Drawing on extensive historical documentation, he states that it is eurythmy rather than modern dance that is the rightful heir of Fuller, Duncan, and St. Denis. CONTENTS: Introduction: Eurythmy and the "New Dance," by Frederick Amrine 1. Notebook Entries and an Excerpt from a Letter 2. Addresses and Other Texts Related to Eurythmy 3. Two Rehearsed Readings of "Classical Walpurgis Night" from Goethe's Faust II 4. Eurythmy Programs, Advertisements, and Announcements 5. Chronology and Overview Notes The Early History of Eurythmy is a translation from German of part 3 from Eurythmie. Die Offenbarung der sprechenden Seele (GA 277).

A concise but informative guide to the three main strands of eurythmy: performance, education and therapy.

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 actual historical moments of birth of the various arts are not known. At most, significant changes of direction are distinguishable – and these are usually detected retrospectively. However, the founding of eurythmy, a new art of movement, has been extensively documented. The story of the first eurythmist, Lory Maier-Smits, told in the pages of this profusely-illustrated book, is a valuable contribution to that legacy. It brings to life the pioneering period when the new artform was being developed under Rudolf Steiner’s personal instruction. Magdalene Siegloch traces Lory Maier-Smits’ biography with artistic care and loving detail. She describes the eurythmist’s early exposure to anthroposophy; her training under Rudolf Steiner from 1912; the first performance of eurythmy during the Theosophical Society festival in 1913; Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on the new art of movement; the staging of eurythmy under the direction of Marie Steiner; and Maier-Smits’ later work as a trainer of eurythmists. Also included is an account of Maier-Smits’ personal path of development, her marriage and family life.

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.

These lectures "present the first seeds of a curative eurythmy." Though primarily intended for eurythmists concerned with therapy, they will also interest anyone concerned with the rhythmic interplay between physiology, the formative forces, and language.