A Eurythmic Trance

Eurythmy is a complex art form, that approaches being a sacred one. With a first and casual look the movement in the form appears repetitive almost to the point of inaneness. On a closer look it is seen as an intricate interaction of dance with music and spoken word. That interaction uses a vocabulary often lost within the grace and constancy of the modality. When performed to music it purports to use elements found in melody, harmony, and rhythm, with dancers sometimes moving to a minor key. In the Boulder, Colorado based Sound Circle Eurythmy Ensemble's performance of "Chiaroscuro" (February 12, 2010, in Boulder, Colorado's Nomad Theater) it also took on other aspects of music, such as dynamic, tempo, articulation, and density. In fact, it always agreed totally with all those aspects. When performed to words, the form strives to place sounds of speech, rhythms, poetic meter, grammar, and mood into the movement, sometimes resulting in an arm and/or hand movement embodying a specific word. The tendency to try and compare it to American Sign language is compelling, but such comparison becomes trite given the nuances in Eurythmy.

Sound Circle Eurythmy Ensemble's performance of "Chiaroscuro" included works performed in coincidence with music - varying from the precise tintinabulation of music by Arvo Part to highly articulated Bartok - and to text read by Raven Garland. That text varied from that describing human emotion in moving between light and darkness and in seeing color, to fables and parables. Movement sequences were performed in costumes that were priest-like for the one male dancer and reminiscent of what one imagines as garments in Hellenic frescos for the women. Horizontal translation was always a series of graceful steps through space, with the positions in that space, and in vertical space, being a nuance not easily understood. Much of the adaptation to text or music was in arms and hands. When text or music ended, the performers' hands and arms often became still, and steps were used to execute an exit - sort of like closing a book and placing it back on a shelf.

Interestingly sacred dance, such as the obligations and dervishes performed by David Taylor's Zikr, often strive to place the dancers into a "higher" state of mind that can be described as trance-like. Instead audiences watching Eurythmy are encouraged to watch with an open gaze that allows a trance-like state within themselves. A total transfer of intention from the performer to the viewer. Given the lack of variation in Eurythmic movement, such a trance may be seen a necessary. Without that trance the performance life of much of the work is exceptionally short, and to an audience can seem like watching a meditation.

The Sound Circle Eurythmy Ensemble (www.soundcircleeurythmy.org) is striving to bring this form to audiences in ways that expand an understanding of the nuances therein.

Donald K. Atwood

© Copyright World Dance Reviews 2010