Mistaken Identities
Eurhythmy and Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925)
The
confusion between “Eurhythmics” and “Eurhythmy” begins, of course, with
their names. Both words derive from the Greek Eurhythmos (“good
rhythm”). “Eurhythmy” and “eurhythmic” have been used as architectural
terms, an application that goes back to the 17th century. In fact, in
some sources, the terms are used interchangeably or as variants, along with “eurhythmal,”
to mean “well=proportioned” and “harmonious.”
Steiner
first adopted the term “Eurhythmy” in 1912, when it occurred to his wife
after a public demonstration of Steiner’s work. Percy Ingham had coined the
term “Eurhythmics” as a translation of “la Rhythmique,” and contributed
to the book “The Eurhythmics of Jaques-Dalcroze,” which was published in
1912. So it seems that the word was first applied to Jaques-Dalcroze’s work.
As
movement studies, the differences between Eurhythmics and Eurhythmy lie in the
overall philosophies and purposes of their founders.
Rudolph
Steiner’s Eurhythmy is one area of study within a complex philosophy he called
"Anthroposophy,” another term derived from the Greeks meaning “human
wisdom.” Steiner created a child-centered educational framework, sensitive to
children’s natural stages of development, imaginations, creativity, sense of
wonder, and spirituality.
Born
in Austria, Steiner was a student of science and philosophy. As a young man, he
was interested in mystical and occult literature, and became involved in
Theosophy, an approach to divine wisdom dealing with universal principles found
in many religions, particularly those with eastern and mystical roots.
Steiner
founded his first school, the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, in 1913. This school was an early model for his later schools.
An
interesting parallel between Jaques-Dalcroze and Steiner is their work in
Germany. In 1909, Wolf Dohrn invited Jaques-Dalcroze to form an
institute at his planned community in Hellerau, Germany. Centered around a
furniture factory, Hellerau was an example of a Werkstatte -- a
settlement designed for ideal social unity and progress, and the personal growth
and well-being of workers and their children. Jaques-Dalcroze’s role was to
create a center employing his method, for the betterment of individual workers,
their children, and the community overall. The writings of Jaques-Dalcroze show
his interest in individual growth and consequent contributions to society as a
whole – a popular German idea that took shape in centers like Hellerau.
(This notion of a planned, ideal community was originally a positive one,
although of course, the word “communism” became usurped and corrupted later
as a totalitarian regime.) When World War I began, conflicting sympathies
compelled Jaques-Dalcroze to leave Hellerau and return to Geneva.
After the war, Germany saw as great a need as ever for a cohesive social
structure, based on positive give-and-take between individuals and their
society. In 1919, Emil Molt, director the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in
Stuttgart, Germany, invited Steiner to open a school for children of the factory
workers. (Hence the name for Steiner schools, “Waldorf.”) Again, this was a
community designed around industry, and promoting social and individual
well-being among its people. Steiner’s purpose was similar to that of
Jaques-Dalcroze in Hellerau, and involved the complete education of the
workers’ children. The philosophical trend in Germany at the time is voiced in
Steiner’s own words:
"The healthy social life is only found when in the mirror of each human soul the whole community finds its reflection and when in the community the virtue of each one is living."
(http://www.camphillassociation.org/history.html)
Eurhythmy is often described as an
art form, as well as an educational experience. In the classroom, Eurhythmy is
employed to help children strengthen their bodies and to arouse a sense of
corporal harmony. Later, it can involve choreography of poetry, music, or
dramatic texts, through a process that includes social integration much as
Eurhythmics does – sensing oneself as an individual in relation and
cooperation with a group. In performance, Eurhythmy involves movement that makes
music, speech, or other sounds visible. (The Steiner term “visible song” has
a parallel in Doris Humphrey’s “music visualizations,” which sprang from
Jaques-Dalcroze’s plastique animee.)
The main differences between Eurhythmics and Eurhythmy are the purposes of each
study. Steiner’s Eurhythmy is part of an overall educational framework for a
complete education, involving a complex educational and spiritual philosophy. In
short, Eurhythmy is a creative experience within the Steiner philosophy,
designed to evoke certain emotions and aesthetic ideas, and to promote a general
harmony within the individual, employing speech as well as music.
In contrast, Jaques-Dalcroze’s Eurhythmics, while overlapping Steiner’s
goals toward extra-musical benefits of music and movement, is focused on music
education. Eurhythmics elicits the full development of perception, performance,
and understanding of music, through a process that also enhances aesthetic
sensibility, physical well-being, social integration, and a spiritual sense of
art’s life and purpose within us and beyond us. These are welcome consequences
of Eurhythmics, and products of the power of a complete, personal immersion in
music. The vehicles of Eurhythmics are music and movement, and its purpose is
essentially complete musicianship.
For more information on Rudolph Steiner and Waldorf Schools, do a search, or
start with these websites:
http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibits/steiner/weblinks.html