"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.

‘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.

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.

16 talks preceding eurythmy performances (CW 277 / 277a) The art of eurythmy strives to make the invisible visible in a harmonious and disciplined play of color, form, sound, and motion. During the early years of the twentieth century when eurythmy was young and little known, Rudolf Steiner's introductory talks prepared nearly 300 audiences for their encounters with this wholly new way of presenting drama, poetry, and music through human movement. Full of life and creativity, these talks illuminate the richness underlying the spiritual laws of this new art form. Sixteen of Steiner's talks on eurythmy are presented here as an introduction to the aesthetic, pedagogical, and therapeutic secrets of this developing art. This volume contains translations of 1st lecture in Die Entstehung und Entwickelung der Eurythmie (GA 277a); and 15 lectures in Eurythmie als Impuls für künstlerisches Betätigen und Betrachten (current edition: Eurythmie. Die Offenbarung der sprechenden Seele, GA 277).

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.

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.