Throughout time people have gathered at places where the well travelled roads turn into less well trodden paths; at the sea’s shore, at the edge of the forest, at the foot of the mountains. Here stories can be shared, songs can be sung, those just setting out can meet with those who have already taken some steps on the less well defined paths. Some are looking for someone to accompany them for a while or point them in a certain direction; others just want a place to rest before continuing their own, more lonely, explorations. Some stay for a long time while for others it is just a place to pass through, it doesn’t matter the place has its own rhythm; the journey has called on all who pass that way.

The nature of our exploration has changed; the quest has become less concrete. The journey into the unknown has turned us away from the mountains, the forest and the sea and has turned us inwards towards ourselves; but the need for these meeting places remains. Today’s travellers also know that at some point there will be no paths left to follow and that the journey onward will be on their own unique path that none has taken before them and that perhaps they will sometimes need to find a place to rest, discover new inspirations, and share the company of their fellow travellers.

Perhaps you have stumbled across such a place by accident, perhaps you knew it was there but couldn’t find it, perhaps it doesn’t exist yet. But the necessity of these places remains and it is for some the only hope .

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Sunday 29 September 2013

I was watching Barbara and Mikko's show in the Goetheanum on Saturday evening and felt somewhat left out of the proceedings but it wasn't until the small hours of Monday that I came to realise what the problem was; it seems to me that for a contemporary eurythmy performance to become effective we must find different ways of including the audience into what we are trying to say. Spiritual content can no longer be passed down from the high altar but the audience needs to be brought  towards the sphere where a communication can take place. There is a great responsibility put on the shoulders of the performers they must open up to the audience, treating as them as spiritual identities, and, at least, for the duration of the performance develop an interest in their path.

We can  use colour on stage to help in this process, helping the audience away from a purely physical visual experience so that they can enter into those places where the eurythmy has its roots so that a communion can take place.

It is an interesting question as to whether the traditional stage form is the best place to perform contemporary eurythmy, since my experinces in Berlin I have great doubts, but in any case (new)eurythmy will only ever be effective in the 21st century when the performers have the ambition to be responsible for each others spiritual development and to include the audience in that development.
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