Eurythmy and Drama

Drama in eurythmy manifests itself in us through our Gestalt, as opposed to our state of mind, that’s how I am experiencing the concept of drama in eurythmy.

The etymology of "drama" derives from a Greek word meaning "deed" or "act" (Classical Greek: δρᾶμα, drâma), which is derived from "I do" (Classical Greek: δράω, dráō). Source: Wikipedia.

I have been fascinated by the art of sculpture throughout history. Rodin, Michelangelo, amazes me, as well as many of other masterpieces that were created. What a genius must have been to be able to capture the drama, emotions, and movement in the form of the most stoic and inflexible material that is stone. Motion in stillness...

Deed, Act, I do, all are the descriptions of the word drama, it is an active verb and how are we manifesting it in eurythmy?

Drama in Ancient Greece was a part of initiation in the Mystery Centers. Scenes were enacted for the neophant, who saw the actors across a raging fire. The rape of Persephone or the slaying of Orpheus created catharsis in the neophyte. We all have all those impulses, experiences and re-live it with eurythmy as we take on a role of great ancient literature, music to the present times works.

Throughout my professional eurythmy life, I have experienced it on multiple occasions. Maybe not as many times as I would like or think I would. A few of these moments that are the most prominent are as follows:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832), Faust, Part I

Geisterchor

Weh! weh! Du hast sie zerstört, Die schöne Welt, Mit mächtiger Faust, Sie stürzt, sie zerfällt! Ein Halbgott hat sie zerschlagen! Wir tragen Die Trümmern ins Nichts hinüber, Und klagen Über die verlorne Schöne. Mächtiger Der Erdensöhne, Prächtiger Baue sie wieder, In deinem Busen baue sie auf! Neuen Lebenslauf Beginne, Mit hellem Sinne, Und neue Lieder Tönen darauf!

Choir of the Spirits

Sorrow! Sorrow! You`ve destroyed it, The beautiful world, With a powerful fist: It tumbles, it`s hurled to ruin! A demigod crushed it!

We carry Fragments into the void, Lament The beauty is gone. Stronger For all Earth`s son`s, Brighter, Build it again, Build, in your heart! Life`s new start, Begin again, With senses washed clean, And new songs Resonate!

I was the character in the middle, with three ghosts on each side. It was performed in German. Directed by my speech eurythmy teacher Adelheid Petri during my training in Vienna, Austria. With my first movement for sorrow, I went down with my hands with the Weh (in English meaning sorrow, pain) gesture, while the ghosts around me did E gesture upward. The second time Weh was in the opposite direction. That split second of dramatic speech and E gesture was expressed and manifested through the Gestalt. Enhanced with the stage lighting and atmosphere was a very dramatic impact for the audience. As a performer on the stage, we don’t see what the audience sees. We experience it and feel it through the eurythmy we do and live through what the audience sees, and experiences during the live performance.

The speech and music play a big role in that dramatic aspect of the eurythmy we do. Opposite to the sound's dramatic effect, silence is another aspect of dramatic manifestation in eurythmy. It led me to another dramatic experience when I was doing an Ancient Egypt period program. One of the scripts from the pyramids.

Prayer of the King as a Star Fading in the Dawn, Pyramid Text 216

I have come to you, O Nephthys I have come to you, Sun Bark of night; I have come to you, You who are Just in the Reddening; I have come to you, Stars of the Northern Sky- Remember me.

Gone in Orion, caught by the underworld, Yet cleansed and alive in the Beyond; Gone is Sothis, caught by the underworld, Yet cleansed and alive in the Beyond.

Gone am I, caught by the underworld, Yet cleansed and alive in the Beyond.

It is well with me, with them, It is quiet for me, for them, Within the arms of my father, Within the arms of Atum.

With this text, I experienced peace, love, and stillness. The Pharoah made his peace with his death and entered the underworld in love and gratitude. It was a beautiful experience that I never had before. I had to understand the culture, traditions of Ancient Egypt and what it is to be a Pharaoh. In this case sorrow, pain, death, the dramatic aspect manifesting through stillness, love, and peace. From J.W. von Goethe`s “Faust”, the world destruction into the ashes to this very dramatic of losing the loved one. A Pharoah entering the underworld and meeting the gods and his father, with so much grace and stillness. That stillness is almost sculpturesque Gestalt in the character of this Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh and his destiny imprinted through the eurythmy gestures. This experience resonated partly with what I read in the Britannica dictionary describing the concept of Drama in dance: Throughout history, there has been a rough division between dramatic dance, which expresses or imitates emotion, character, and narrative action, and purely formal dance, which stresses the lines and patterns of movement. Source: Britannica dictionary.

Two powerful qualities are the polarities of the dramatic aspect with speech and silence. That leads me to the third aspect of dramatism in eurythmy is tone, music.

That dramatic experience was to me with the symphony in 2006 Goetheanum, Dornach, eurythmy performance with Orchestra: Gnessin Virtuosos, Moscow, Russia of The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178, also known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895. It premiered in New York City on the 16th of December, 1893. The workshop of the symphony was led by Dorothea Mier. Step by step we worked through the progress of each part of the music and the multiple instruments with the forms and gestures. To have many eurythmist on the stage

all moving in such harmony and at the same time have the dramatic A. Dvořák music. We moved as one at the same time being an individual instruments. It was like we shared the group “I” being strings, clarinet and so on.

Another aspect of the dramatic and drama experiences is in how we come to the pieces we choose, or are given to work with. I had a great opportunity to work together (artistically, pedagogical and curative eurythmy) with a colleague and a dear friend Truss Geraets here in Southern California. We put together several eurythmy events. One of them theme was Bob Dylan`s poetry and music. First, I said; no, I won`t do it. Then I thought, I should step out of my comfort eurythmy zone and do it. Even though he is before my generation's artist, I took courage and ended up doing his poem “Precious Memories” and one of his music compositions. It was the more lyrical and sentimental experience of the drama genre through stage eurythmy.

What triggers us to yarn for the dramatic experience in life and eurythmy? How it for fill us as individuals, artists, and educators?

Aristotle speaks about drama: The purpose of Drama is to arouse in the audience feelings of pity and fear, and to purge these emotions (catharsis), thereby making people stronger emotionally. Sigmund Freud briefly speaks about drama: When writing about the drama, S. Freud tended to deal with it as a literary product rather than as a performed event. On only one occasion did S. Freud communicate to a friend that the healing cathartic effect of art might be greatest when viewing the drama. Source: Freud and the theatre. Neuringer C., J Am Acad Psychoanal. 1992 Spring;20(1):142-8. doi: 10.1521/jaap.1.1992.20.1.142.PMID: 1607300

From the psychological aspect of it, we seek a social bonding with another human being through all forms of dramatic experiences; from personal or other human beings going through it, that maybe; pain, sorrow, sadness, etc., which produces endorphins in us. In both cases (in live and arts) drama is awakened through many forms of visual, performing arts impulses.

Speaking of drama, I am sure all of us one or another way have experienced drama between us colleagues while working on a group eurythmy pieces. I admit, I have been there a few times myself. Like planet Mars one of the many qualities, one of them is: standing your ground can easily become a very dramatic event between colleagues and far beyond the standing your ground concept. Years later we laugh about it when it’s all over.

Eurythmy being one of the performing arts, manifests in a raw, authentic experience of emotion. What we form and shape through us as a catalyst between the physical and spiritual world with eurythmy, transforming it into the art of performing eurythmy on the stage. In the creative process of whatever piece, we are working on, we are time travelers through the cultural epoch, space and time, characters and so much more. It takes time to grasp and understand the depth, and meaning of the piece we take on, whether be a Pharoah, a Queen, a King, a warrior, even an animal, or a plant as well as some mythological, fairytale creature, music. That transformation itself it is so dramatic for us eurythmists, which only we have to go through before the final product is refined, polished, and ready to be given to the audience and the spiritual world.

Here we have it: a threefold concept of drama element in eurythmy: speech, silence, and tone.

What a gift we have to be able to take it all in and transform, enrich our own lives, inspire, and move the audience, students, and colleagues, through Eurythmy on the stage.

© Nachshon Andrew Dzedulionis April 11, 2024