Performance Makes Strong Impressions

"...And there are those like you and me and many many others
Who can never forget the Man with the Broken Fingers.
His will, his pride as a free man, shall go on.
His shadow moves and his sacred fingers speak...."

The Remembrance Day program by Grasshopper Productions at the Toronto Waldorf School left very strong impressions on the audience. The Carl Sandburg piece, "The Man With The Broken Fingers" was especially powerful. In this post, I am restating (largely in my own words) some of the comments I have heard from high school eurythmy students. I have also invited other audience members to submit their own articles...MM

"Not bad.." This was meant as a compliment - the performance was actually very interesting to him. "Edgy...surprising...shocking..." It seems that the students were gripped, and they really felt engaged with what was happening on the stage. The eurythmy was not just happening "out there", but "in here". They used words like "weight...grounded...immediate...," and seemed surprised when they remembered they were talking about eurythmy.

There has been some discussion about the relationship between eurythmy and drama. It was very effective when the speaker very ceremoniously put on the boots, and began the Gestapo investigation. But when the costumes are so realistic, is it still eurythmy? Does the speech take over? Do we lose the power of eurythmy, and enter a realm of purely physical drama? Does it matter?

The students appreciated the artistic sequence. The Levertov pieces, which opened and closed the program, involved a rhythmical interplay of different elements, and provided a balance to the more visceral parts of the program. One student felt that the eurythmists somehow managed to maintain a spiritual quality while entering a very physical realm.

I have heard very little about the tone pieces...perhaps this is slowly working on a deeper level...

I asked, "if we showed the piece on YouTube, would people have a similar experience?."

They replied (in so many words), "No."