Project Zero Circle

by Johanna Frouws

In May 2014, Markus and Andrea Weder of Austin, Texas, together with speech artist Jeremiah Turner, cellist Jun Seo, and violinist Risa Ano, brought their new eurythmy performance, Project Zero Circle, to Fair Oaks, California. I found it to be the most remarkable eurythmy performance I have ever seen.

Let me present a few disclaimers first. At 85 years old, I certainly no longer belong to the younger generation. I have had only limited formal education, and I have no musical talent to speak of. I love to paint, however, and even more than that, I love to garden. I love colors, and I love living things. And I have been a lifelong student of Rudolf Steiner.

So what was it about this evening of eurythmy that impressed me so much? The first part of the evening’s performance consisted chiefly of serious works by the poet Denise Levertov, interspersed with the movements of the Sonata for violin and cello by French composer Maurice Ravel.

The eurythmists entered the performance space from the front. From their very first steps, we could experience with how much love and how much presence of consciousness they indwelled the space. Their faces were very neutral, and very open, and we could see how their ears were opened wide to hear what lived or what was to come in the space. The connection between the two of them, and from the two of them to the audience, was palpable. Then the recitation began, and with articulate movements they brought the pictures of the poetry to life.

Beginnings

But we have only begun To love the earth.

We have only begun To imagine the fullness of life.

How could we tire of hope? —so much is in bud.

How can desire fail? —we have only begun.

to imagine justice and mercy, only begun to envision how it might be

to live as siblings with beast and flower, not as oppressors. . . .

The music was an intimate conversation between two instruments, and as the two eurythmists moved it together, I could see the conversation of the cello and violin imprinted into the space in front of me. The eurythmists’ gestures were articulate and graceful, corresponding exactly to what I was hearing.

In the second half of the performance, the eurythmists chose to do a series of Japanese tanka, short poems with powerful symbolic or metaphorical images, accompanied by solo cello works by contemporary Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina.

It was this second half of the performance that I found most riveting. The performers began by simply laying a long colored silk on the floor. This was intended to “augment” the mood imparted by lighting by bringing a “stroke of color” to the floor, much as a painter might paint a single line on a canvas. In the course of the evening, three more silks were also laid on the floor, a tasteful and very subtle gesture that helped paint the mood of the poems. We are not used to seeing objects placed into the space in a eurythmy performance, but in this case I found what they brought was not at all gimmicky, but truly relevant.

The tankas were delightful. Some were humorous—the poem about a chicken taking a dust bath, or the old man who mistakenly took his umbrella to a bicycle shop for repairs! Others were more serious, yet all were done with exquisite artistry; every single gesture was a perfect embodiment of a sound of language. Nothing was extra, nothing was contrived: everything was lawful yet beautifully original.

Although some of the costume choices were surprising, I experienced them all to be perfect choices. For instance, Andrea wore a very bright red dress for a poem about a garden. Upon reflection, I realize that I instantly experienced in myself the counter image of green in my own soul as I watched her move in red!

It was, however, the eurythmists’ presentation of the solo cello work by Sofia Gubaidulina that most impressed me. This is music that I would never listen to in my own life: harsh and grating, sometimes shrill, usually arrhythmic. In many parts of the score, the composer merely directed the player to improvise for a few seconds, before continuing to play the scripted music. The eurythmists thus had to work in an active dialog with the cellist during the performance, “intuiting” with him in the moment what notes he would play!

And as I watched and listened, I had the ever-present experience: This is where humanity is NOW! This is what we have to hear, with all of its dissonances and strained harmonies and rhythms, because this is the perfect expression of the stretching and straining we are all going through now!

I have seen quite a few eurythmy performances in my life, and enjoyed most of them. Yet their memory was usually gone the next morning. This one continues to stay with me, even now days later. And as it goes through me again and again, I continually feel, “This is eurythmy for the future. This is what eurythmy is evolving into, and it is beautiful.”

From the project site:

The Austin Eurythmy Ensemble cherishes the spiritual wisdom of the human body in motion. By promoting social harmony and spiritual renewal, we seek to achieve individual, cultural, and global transformation. Rooted in the tradition of eurythmy as inaugurated by Rudolf Steiner and yet contemporary in artistic approach, the Ensemble intends to make this art form a relevant part of today’s cultural life. We are carrying eurythmy into the future by performing internationally and educating future generations of eurythmists. Our envisioned state-of-the-arts rehearsal and performance center will include an International Eurythmy Academy. This center will serve as a meeting place for visual, literary, and performing artists to inspire each other and for the spiritually curious and artistically inclined to build community.

What is only heard is partly hidden.

The rustle of the leaves gently swaying in the wind, the flap of the bird’s rapid ascent, the sigh of a contented child.

There is a deeper experience of sound, one that arises out of our most intimate connection to the world – to the earth, to each other, to the intangible qualities of being alive. The inner life of sound reveals visible form.

“As in the ear, so also in the eye.”

The fullness of the words of the poet, the static form of the pianist’s ode – these are portals into the fluid sculpture that speech and music create in the physical space of our world.

Eurythmy is harmonious rhythm.

The eurythmist, by observing the structural laws of speech and music, reveals the inner life of language and sound, creating a composition that uses the stage as a three-dimensional canvas.

By joining with that which moves through the air as tone or language, the eurythmist harmonizes with sound.

In this way, the body is an instrument. It is no different than a flute or a violin, no different than a voice. Through skilled observation of the laws inherent in speech and music, eurythmy makes visible the invisible form of sound.

Eurythmy is not interpretation; it is a true sounding or singing through the body.

Andrea Weder was born in Germany and graduated from the London School of Eurythmy after previous training and freelance work as a sculptor.

Markus Weder was born in Switzerland, where he studied curative education before training Eurythmy at the Akademie für Eurythmische Kunst in Dornach, Switzerland, and Eurythmy Spring Valley, NY.

Johanna Frouws lives in Fair Oaks, California.Project Zero Circle’s website provided the sidebar text [ www.projectzerocircle.org ].