Voices

Movement of the Soul

They are now on tour. The first year of the youth project »Young Eurythmy Performance« (yep!) celebrates its premiere. The audience celebrates along. Wherever they go: standing ovations. Allegedly, a fan club has already formed, following them. Anyone who has seen the performance will immediately believe it.

One has to search for words to do justice to this production. An experience that evidently continues to resonate within one’s own soul, making it impossible to be finished with it. This is how art should be – it speaks for its reality. It also speaks for the founding idea of the project, which is now entering its second round.

A participant best describes it with her motivation: Eurythmy as a counter-movement to throwing oneself soullessly into things. That is exactly what you see in the performance; all stage movement comes from the soul. What the nine performers, together with their artistic directors Sonnhild and Aurel Mothes, have developed is not only a mature stage performance but a true eurythmic breakthrough. The audience’s soul is moved so powerfully and deeply that their barriers break. Yes, truly – I sat crying in a eurythmy performance. Not because it was tragic, but because it was so beautiful.

The theme of the evening is the “You”-quality of the self. It is explored in variations from self-written texts to Bach. And lo and behold, it works wonderfully together, for when language and music become visible – well, then it is indeed a play! Eurythmy as stage art is meant no differently.

The musical trio shines just as brightly as the performers, and the lighting completes the picture. Everything simply aligns, and it is a relief. A brilliant evening.

Ute Hallaschka, info3

Courage and Enthusiasm

Last Friday I had the privilege of witnessing your performance.
***CONGRATULATIONS!***
I was deeply moved and impressed! You did an amazing job!
I would like to ask if your Poetry Slam texts are also available in writing? They resonated with me, and I would love to explore them further. I wish the young people all the best, continued courage, and enthusiasm on the paths ahead. The world can look forward to you! :-)
Thanks to ALL participants and TOI TOI TOI for future projects!

Janine Karlen, Ittigen/Switzerland

Totally Inspired

I was an enthusiastic audience member of your program presented to the upper school on 21.3.16 in Überlingen. I am in 11th grade and was totally inspired by what you accomplished. You truly managed to touch the audience, to excite them for eurythmy through your joy in doing it.
The poem »Are You You« is incredibly beautiful and contains so much truth.

Anna Maria Kempf, Überlingen

A Very Important Impulse

I am very impressed with your project. I feel that through your performance, I finally see something that has been missing in the world of eurythmy for so long. On the one hand, the enthusiasm for this art and the joy of movement, as well as the genuine engagement with the elements. I feel that this project captures eurythmy anew and freshly, and that is a very important impulse. It also inspired me in my work with my 12th-grade class.

Silvia Piccione

You Set Milestones!

Great! And keep going strong! You are setting MILESTONES! Your troupe has given me hope for the future again!

Sybil Hartmeier, Wetzikon

A Highlight in My Cultural Experience

I congratulate you on your performance yesterday in the Festsaal of FWS Karlsruhe. It was truly a magnificent presentation and a highlight in my cultural experience.

Many thanks for the valuable impressions, the strong presence of the young dancers/eurythmists in the ensemble, and the precious and comforting inspiration that emanated from your work, encouraging us viewers to persevere, engage, and focus our energies on truly good and essential values.

Thank you again for this wonderful evening; I will continue to support your valuable project.

Tilman Glauner, Karlsruhe

yep. A Fountain of Inspiration

The tour of the youngest eurythmy project »Young Eurythmy Performance« is underway. Anyone who can should make their way to see the performance. It’s worth it!

What the young adults, together with their artistic directors Sonnhild and Aurel Mothes, have developed is not only a delight but a creative act in terms of the evolution and evaluation of eurythmy. Classical and modern elements appear fully reconciled. From the deep trust in the power-organism – the spirit – of this art, their manifestation was brought to light anew.

What is shown can rightly be called a miracle; one cannot stop marveling. How else would you describe a participant who only recently discovered eurythmy, now moving across the stage with such skill that any professional might envy? Yet no one feels envy; instead, one is inwardly moved to the ground by the spiritual energy from which the work was done.

Clearly and visibly, all involved show themselves physically informed by the reality of the ether. There is nothing against having contemporary wisdom of life forces at 20 years old. Working in accordance with this vitality and their presence of mind is the true art of direction. What in eurythmy’s past seemed like a fall – instrumentalizing youth impulses in the continuation of tradition – is not present here.

Everything is new, never seen before, yet entirely immanent, rooted in fundamentals. A special “aha” effect is linked to the classically staged pre- and post-acts. Often seen as empty filler or unmotivated ideas, here they become meaningful and expressive. Aha – so Rudolf Steiner intended it. With the concrete tension, the space forming in the viewer’s soul as a stage. This imagination allows the interesting spectacle: to observe oneself, how one is involved and addressed in the unfolding process. The power reality of these pre- and post-images is phenomenal.

One cannot enumerate all the individual wonders. An essential one is that the entire evening – from self-written and recited participant texts, through Schubert, Bach, to Shostakovich – becomes a coherent gem. Between the pieces, the performers, and the musicians. The fourteen-year-old violinist Lisa Rauchbach is an exceptional talent. Since age nine, she has studied at the Hanover University of Music, Institute for Highly Gifted Musicians. The musical trio (piano: Nikita Kopylov, cello: Gang Wang) is equally balanced as the stage ensemble. A wonderful evening of eurythmic harmony. Go and see!

Ute Hallaschka, February 2016

Where Am I Me?

The youth eurythmy project Yep is aimed at people between school and university/training. After four months of rehearsals and studying anthroposophy, the tour goes through Germany, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.

Where does this aggressive basic mood come from? »You feed on what others do and cannot even rest with it.« The text is spoken by its author Junia Siebert. Yet the word does not remain a word; it calls others together who want to participate. The word becomes deed, becomes movement, becomes eurythmy. And where the word is silent, music sounds.

What outwardly resembled a classical eurythmy evening program – a sequence of numbers – increasingly revealed depths; a loose yet consistent whole forms from the questions: Where am I me? What is my relationship to myself when there is such a powerful surrounding? The texts by Yep ensemble participants show that these questions are not only experienced but also find their own artistic expression.

Condensed Power of Human Potential

The youth ensemble Yep (Young Eurythmy Performance) under the direction of Sonnhild and Aurel Mothes brings out the condensed power of human potential through text and music. Not simply youthful exuberance, but dynamic leaps. Not melancholy, but calm, reflective meditations. From the ground upwards into uprightness, sometimes with expressive shock, sometimes taking the outside inward, sometimes seeking an outward relation from the inner self, the human being becomes visible in the struggle for balance between the immense inner forces and the shaping outer forces.

After the tour of the first Yep round at 15 locations with upper and lower school programs (»The Six Swans«), a second round is planned for 2016/17.

Sebastian Jüngel, Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 4/16

Yep Youth Enthrall Their Audience

“Those who want to move the world should first move themselves.” Under this motto by Socrates, the youths of yep – young eurythmy performance – performed at Engelberg last Saturday, March 5, 2016: nine young people as eurythmists on stage, together with three musicians on violin, cello, and piano under the direction of Aurel and Sonnhild Mothes. They moved themselves and profoundly moved us, the audience.

For the shared goal of creating a young existential eurythmy performance, nine motivated young people from across Germany came together in September 2015. The four-month intensive rehearsal period culminated in a major tour through Germany, Switzerland, and Prague (Czech Republic).

Music by Bach, Schubert, Brahms, Scriabin, and Shostakovich, as well as texts by Dag Hammarskjöld, Rudolf Steiner, and the performing youths’ own texts, merged into an impressive total artwork. A recurring existential and current question ran throughout the evening: Who is the human being, who am I, what are the true values of life? Scenes changed seamlessly; their lively, pulsating execution was a feast for eyes and ears, sometimes danced, sometimes theatrical, but always born from the eurythmic will to form, demonstrating eurythmy in all its expressive power. – Particularly delightful for the audience was the intensity and authenticity of the youths, with beauty also enhanced by imaginative costumes. – The musicians contributed significantly to the success of this ingenious overall concept with their outstanding performance of the sometimes extremely demanding musical literature.

The Engelberg Alumni Association is pleased that the Engelberg performance of “yep on tour” provided insight into the work of a former Engelberg student: Aurel Mothes, eurythmy teacher at the Freie Waldorfschule Kassel, who, together with his wife Sonnhild Gädeke-Mothes, is the artistic director of this project. – They describe their mission in the program booklet as follows:

“Youth eurythmy is very important to us – its possibilities are infinitely diverse. In working with young people, the future of eurythmy becomes constantly tangible. Research here means exploring new territory together and experimentally based on the basic elements of eurythmy, in order to present something unique in dialogue with the audience.

It is exciting to help shape the future of eurythmy with engaged youths. We are convinced: the impulse of eurythmy must be taken up, implemented, and further developed by the new generation. It is inspiring to see how powerfully and consciously the participants engage in this project. Through their great appreciation of this art, we hope together to contribute to the continued existence of eurythmy as an art. This program, in its composition, aims to make visible the diverse approaches and search movements we have undertaken in recent months.

Participation in yep! is a time of orientation and challenge for young people between school and university, allowing them to explore with peers over an extended period what they want to achieve in life. Movement in thought, experience, and action – for that we provide space. The artistic processes, in which participants collaborate with guiding artists, allow them to acquire key skills such as creativity, presence of mind, presence, teamwork, perseverance, and more, fundamental for any professional situation.

Our wish is for YEP to set an impulse in the eurythmy landscape that, through its youthful approach, inspires future generations.”

Martin Pillwein, Engelberg

Experiences and Texts of the Participants

Report of a Participant

To report on yep!, one should probably start with rehearsal time. We began with rehearsing the fairy tale “The Six Swans” and gradually worked more on an evening program. In shortened form, the evening program represented our program for students. For the fairy tale, a more intensive engagement with each character was necessary, which was particularly useful at the beginning, as precise corrections and tips were possible. Working on the individual fairy tale characters also helped to become more internally flexible. Additionally, each participant was asked concretely through the character how to bring eurythmy to life. Generally, it was practically important to start with the fairy tale, as it was initially less physically demanding, also due to working on the individual scenes with the characters. Besides the beginning … read more (PDF)

Anja Leitlauf

Are You You?

Are you you when you walk down the street?
Are you you when you are surrounded by your family?
Are you you when you are with your friends?
Are you you when you look in the mirror?
Are you you when you cry yourself to sleep or cannot sleep out of nervousness?
Are you you when you play the roles society expects and put on its clothes?
Are you you when you adopt or adapt to others’ opinions?
Are you you when you try to love those you should love?
Are you you when something makes you laugh or tears run down your face?
Are you you when you compare yourself with others?
When others criticize you, is that you?
Who are you really when you think about it?
Has anyone ever truly seen you?

Rahel Pauli

Hey You?

Hey you, yes you, my self. How much of me are you? Only the shell? The core? Or neither? Are you the one guiding my will? Are you the one inside me that feels hurt? Or are you the one inside me that makes me hurt others? Who are you? If you are none of these.

Everyone always says: “I” (sanguine), “I” (phlegmatic), “I” (energetic), “I” (sad) and rarely uses “you”. Viewed this way, you might also be a false snake, manipulating everyone to say only “I” and think of themselves. If we look around, there are so many “yous” that also have an “I” manipulating them.

And then there are the few who sometimes ask: “Hey you, are you okay? Do you have something troubling you?” But there are too few people with “I” asking about “you.” That’s why we all live in this mess and hurt each other too often.

Me? If you are in me, then I do not like you, but if you are not a manipulative being, then show yourself to me.
Regards, your human

Anna Stangl

Untitled

You feed on what others do and cannot even rest with it. You carry it around like a burden that continues from day to day. Yet you barely notice your fear, for everyone in the room has it.

Sometimes standing there, watching in horror as they all tear each other apart, just waiting to strike. They need someone to chase, someone to hit by waiting. But this only happens in silence, as everyone here has their own will.

One doesn’t want to be seen as a thug, the next not as a slut, another joins the group because he cannot speak for himself. But eventually, he will accidentally no longer stand in that spot.

Why should he worry about it now? That would only worsen the situation. The tension is no accident; everyone watches anxiously, hoping not to stand there and meet their friends’ eyes.

Because if you say something wrong even once, or complain about someone, you will no longer belong, even if they swear eternal friendship. How you underestimate your waiting and hurt others unnecessarily probably doesn’t immediately strike you, yet you accept it later. Is it any different when I occasionally hear all the bad things that can be said about me!? Believe me, it hits like a punch, and I wish you would simply spare yourselves. Who among you would now sincerely say: “I, I contributed to this!”

What do you gain from all the nonsense, the things you talk about, what you think, what you consume? Do you want people to listen and swear eternal friendship to you as well? But how can friendship arise from hatred, how should it continue in the future?

If we always need someone to squeeze together with friends just to avoid being alone in the end, do we really have to go this way? Don’t you also long for the one, when lying at home crying, after a blow struck so hard again? And now no one, really no one, is allowed to speak, otherwise you lose composure and crave only peace and love. What you lack, you do not say.

Your answers remain sparse and plain. Something must quake within you, otherwise you wouldn’t talk about others this way. Is it envy, jealousy, or hatred? Or are you simply having fun with it? Every person may have needs; you just need to express them. What troubles you, what burdens you. I assure you: nothing is crazy. If we know what we long for, everyone can take it into consideration.

Without losing needs, we are allowed to try things. As long as we do not harm others and then bathe ourselves in innocence. Can we understand these points and look positively to the future?

Junia Siebert