Dancing your way to enlightenment is slowly taking form here.
IT was an intriguing invitation. To “feast my eyes on speech and music, unfolding through the universal language of colourful movement”. As a music and poetry enthusiast, I naturally jumped at the opportunity.
Speech, music, poetry and dance seemed to be the perfect companions on a Saturday night and I eagerly made my way to the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPaC) in Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur.
It is the first eurythmy performance “Light into the Unknown”, featuring celebrated poetry including Coleridge’s Kubla Khan, Denise Levertov’s Kyrie and lyrical poems by Kathleen Raine, along with live music for cello and piano from Janacek’s Fairy Tale, Hindemith’s solo cello Sonata and beautiful piano pieces by Bach, Chopin and Youchu Usami.
THE ART OF MOVEMENT
What exactly is eurythmy? Looking it up opens you up to whole a load of information, but none can explain what it exactly is, except being vaguely described as an “art of movement” initiated by Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher in the early 20th century.
Eurythmy can be best described as a form of movement using the human body to express the creative principles underlying speech and music.
While eurythmy encapsulates movement, music and poetry, it is really quite different from conventional dance forms. It is much less defined, even less understood by those who are on the periphery, looking on.
It was perplexing to me, as I watched the performance. The dance is not really a dance, but a series of movements not unlike tai-chi. It is a form of expression but without the energy and passion that dance usually evokes.
After a while, I started fidgeting, feeling a little shamefaced about not being appreciative enough. On hindsight, it was perhaps a normal reaction for the uninitiated.
I am not far from wrong, reading a comment from Professor Urs Pohman, professor of medicine at Alanus University, Germany from his art therapy lessons: “Eurythmy may be boring to untrained eyes because we have to learn to see it.”
My eyes are definitely untrained, I told myself as I stifled a yawn. I keep waiting for a dancer to suddenly leap or do something (anything!) but the series of repetitive movements and expressionless faces did absolutely nothing to hold my attention.
In his 2009 book Discover Eurythmy, John Ralph offers some insight to my plight: “It is perhaps one of the more perplexing aspects of eurythmy that eurythmists do not express the personal feelings or a response to the music by the choreographer, as is frequently seen in modern dance.
“The eurythmical challenge is to move beyond personal limitations or disabilities, for the speech and music to become visible without any distracting technical shortcomings. In a similar way a piano player may develop the skill to allow the music of Beethoven sound freely without added artificial colourings of the player’s personality intruding.
“The pianist uses a well-tuned piano as a medium for music. A badly-tuned instrument is an unwelcome distraction.
“The eurythmist combines the tasks of tuner and player, developing a mobile body as the medium for eurythmy as well as learning skilful technique.”
TOWARDS WELL-BEING
The practice of eurythmy has deep roots in anthroposophic medicine founded by Steiner in the 1920s. Anthroposophic medicine is an alternative or complementary medicine that views the entire human being, taking into account that human beings, nature and the cosmos are interrelated.
Using the power of specific movements through eurythmy, Steiner postulated that the body, mind and spirit can be strengthened and harmonised.
Eurythmy expresses archetypal creative movements that underlie speech and music. According to Steiner, when human speech or music sounds forth, the air is “sculpted” into gesture.
“Eurythmy expresses this gesture to form ‘visible singing’ — a singing in movement. In fact, we are just a medium to the music. Through eurythmy, this hidden gesture is made visible through our entire human body. All energies are reactivated, flowing through the whole body, creating a natural therapeutic effect,” explains Hsih-Shih Lai, the artistic director of the School of Eurythmy Taiwan.
It’s not easy to grasp the fundamentals of eurythmy. However, my inability to relate to this concept does not mean others have not attested to its benefits.
The souvenir booklet contains testimonials of practitioners who swear by it therapeutic effects.
The country’s first trained eurythmist, Tan Seow San, who was one of the performers for the show, describes eurythmy as the practice that has set her free. “For me, eurythmy is not merely an artistic movement. It is a way of leading me to live a soulful life and to cherish my life.”
INTO THE FUTURE
The potential of eurythmy in education has been incorporated in curriculum practiced in schools throughout the world. The first school using Steiner’s methods opened in 1919 at the behest of the owner and managing director of the Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette Company in Germany to serve the children of employees of his factory.
The Waldorf name stuck on and schools practising this brand of education are better known as Waldorf schools globally.
The Waldorf (or Steiner) curriculum focuses on the physical, behavioural, emotional, cognitive, social and spiritual facets of each individual using the Steiner methodology.
There are schools that run this curriculum in Malaysia. “My son is in a Steiner-Waldorf school. They also have this eurythmy programme in his school and he takes part in it. In fact, every student in schools running this curriculum has to learn how to perform eurythmy,” says Ong Shee Hoi, freelance copywriter and student of anthroposophy and art therapy, who also helped produce and organise eurythmy performances here.
Does this mean eurythmy and the Steiner philosophy are slowly gaining popularity over here? She hesitates to say yes. “As all Steiner-Waldorf schools practice eurythmy, it’s unsurprising that this has caught on. However, awareness has not spread.”
Perhaps this debut performance is a step in that direction. It has certainly opened my eyes to the power and influence of alternative forms of movement.
The benefits of eurythmy can extend to the audience as well, says Lai. “Eurythmy movements help to unfold the essence of the power of nature. Through our seeing, we can once again sense this cosmic energy. Speech, beautiful music and good poetry contain very powerful cosmic energies. On the stage, the energy forms and the audience receives this spiritual blessing.”
It will be remiss of me to omit the fact that there are some elements of the show that I enjoy. The poetic renditions by Brenda Rathcliffe, the piano and cello accompaniment along with the first few moments into eurythmy did keep me entranced for a while.
I have to concede that it is a feat to even attempt to bring such an exploratory subject to a wider audience and Tan has to be commended for that.
“The purpose of the performance is not about introducing me as the first eurythmist in Malaysia, but it is really about what gifts and impulses eurythmy can offer us, our next generation and the entire society.”