THE KAIROS EURYTHMY TRAINING PROGRAMME at the Centre for Creative Education November 2011 Our dear friends, Here we are again at the end of another rich and challenging year. And although the times of hardship have been many, so also have been the joy-filled experiences. We welcomed our new first year students in January who arrived from the Phillipines as well as from the different areas in South Africa. They have enthusiastically entered their Eurythmy tasks and work together well. And now, as we complete the year the 3 rd year students bring together the fruits of their work with the Cultural Epochs based on the Interval Evolution in Tone Eurythmy and a Greek Drama from their Speech Eurythmy classes. We have been also able to offer a BA upgrade course this year for a student from Germany and one arriving shortly from New Zealand. Joining them for a continuation of her artistic experience is one of our Graduate students from this year which will make a lovely trio! All our graduate students are already teaching except for one who will begin the therapeutic training next year. It was wonderful to at the Final Graduation Performance and Ceremony families from overseas who made the trip to celebrate the event with us. The programme included both classical and modern work and ended with humour from the much loved Winnie the Pooh stories. We took the programme in and around the Western Cape to the Waldorf Schools and a public theatre in Hermanus as well as visiting Durban and Johannesburg, where we also performed in Alexandra Township. We were complimented on the high standard of work which was felt to be deeply moving to both adults and children alike.
Our overseas tour through Germany and ultimately Dornach, Switzerland was most successful and drew wide acclaim. We enjoyed such warm hospitality along the way mainly from families of our graduate students and from our colleagues in the German Eurythmy Schools, of which we are truly grateful. We (Silke and Michelle) also took part in the Teachers Performance at the Goetheanum which was a lovely experience. We were very fortunate to have had the opportunity to present two workshops to the Department of Education with the aim of bringing Eurythmy to mainstream schools. The graduate students worked very hard to prepare the first workshop which included demonstrations by Waldorf children. This was so well received that Michelle was invited to introduce Eurythmy to 150 Board of Education staff which they thoroughly enjoyed! We await the outcome! As always we rely so much on our whole team of trainers and are so grateful for their valuable input. Deepest thanks to: Ingrid Salzmann, Tim Hyslop and Vicky Draper our wonderful pianists- and special thanks to Ingrid and Tim for their excellent musical tuition; Howard Dobson and Briar and Michael Grimley for their inspiring Anthroposophical studies and Elizabeth Kotzuba for her outstanding work on Pedagogy. Also to Liz Smith who not only did the Kindergarten Curriculum and Social Eurythmy but also helped work through group dynamics. Gillian Mathews and Pat Butler for their beautiful Art lessons and to our visiting teachers from overseas, the Eurythmist Eva Maria Rascher and Peter Guttenhöfer, Waldorf Trainer, who both brought valuable richness to our year! Our School and the Centre for Creative Education as a whole has been severely affected by the economic crisis bringing a great strain and challenge into out financial situation. It is especially in times like these that one is most grateful to have friends. Friends who see the value of the Kairos Eurythmy Training and the healing, nourishment that flows from the work done here into South Africa and the world at large. We are the only organisation in the Southern Hemisphere to be able to offer a Bachelor Degree in Eurythmy and one of five in the world! Please help us to continue our work with your ongoing support. We thank most sincerely all of you who have given to us over the past years. Without your inner and outer support we could not sustain our impulse here. May the Christmas Light shine into the New Year with hope and Love for us all Silke and Michelle 1 st years overview In Speech eurythmy, we began the year with the imagery of a small seed and progressed to the vowels. In Tone eurythmy we worked on our inner core, timestream, spirals, pitch, rod exercises and the Angel- Archangel exercise. Both teachings helped us to start the process of growth and change that is so necessary in the eurythmy training. It was gentle and quiet in that first term. We were given a great many tools, including valuable information regarding the development of the three- and four-fold human being to bring about inner change. In the second term we returned to tackle the Evolutionary sequence of consonants in Speech. We were introduced to some more spiritual aspects of eurythmy including "I think Speech' and further information on Kairos and Logos. Vowels and consonants began to be contrasted. The sequences were more complicated
and stretched us more. In Tone, we were introduced to the Harmonius eight, the sagittal, horizontal and bilateral planes with pitch, rhythm and beat, the eurythmical breath and drawing forms for various music pieces. In the third term, we were introduced to Social eurythmy and deepened our understanding of rod exercises. We had the Childhood development module to digest and it provided much food for thought. When the lecturers returned from Dornach, we worked on the Four Elements in Speech. Tone eurythmy saw us carrying on with pitch and rhythm and we were introduced to major, minor, the motif shwung and the beginning of the tones in the C-major scale. The 'seedlings' were suddenly thrown head-first into a maelstrom of activity. It was incredible to experience what the Universe could dish up as way of teaching us through the experience. All during that third term we seemed to have questions that were always- in time- answered. And our personal spheres and awareness seemed to grow substantially. The fourth term has been more of the same- a continual growth. We are busy with Personal Pronouns in Speech and have some lovely forms that we are grappling with. Where Speech last term was the one that really 'gave us a hard time,' this term Tone is having its turn. Our Beethoven piece has been heavy and difficult. However, Silke perseveres and we are now finding moments of 'largeness' with light and air with two weeks to go until the end of the year. This is a completely fascinating journey, albeit at times very daunting to have to examine oneself so well. Laura Engelke 1 st year 1 st year Talk Presentations By mid-year, we had our first talk presentations on the Greek Gods. Already in the early months of our training we were shown the importance of studying Ancient Greece. Since we are working with etheric forces in Eurythmy, it is a necessity to look into Ancient Greece civilization, because it was at this stage of evolution that man still had a strong awareness of the etheric body which we strive to work with consciously in Eurythmy. We also tried to connect our understanding of the Archetypes living in the Greek Gods to eurythmic principles. For example, the power and might of Zeus and Hades with their rulership over light and dark forces respectively. Demeter the all-nourishing divine mother and the primordial being of the earth; the immortality of the soul and the eternal beauty in Persephone; the dynamic movement of fire and will impulse in Dionysos, and the ideal, cosmic wholeness and elevated consciousness in Apollo; also the clarity of thought, wisdom and beauty of Athena. This led us to deepen our understanding of the human being as a microcosm of the macrocosm revealed in form and movement. The ancient Greek period also brought the dawning of Ego consciousness and this was further developed for us in our lessons on Personal Pronouns emanating from the Dionysic principle. In our training, we learned that our connection to the spiritual world needs to become a reality when doing Eurythmy and that it is essential to have a sense and feeling for what is divine as becoming Eurythmists. The talks were a great learning experience for us a chance to research the esoteric background and an opportunity to learn to express ourselves in front of people. as first. With interest and enthusiasm, we look forward to more of theses talk presentations. Geralyn Laset 1 st year
Impressions from the 1 st year Eurythmy has transformed me in my thinking, feeling and willing. Each day inside these classrooms I discove a new spiritual tradition. I m still on a journey and movement brings out the fire within me. For me Eurythmy is powerful beyond measure. Sandise Ngxumsa 1 st year In this my first year of Eurythmy I have met with lots of challenges and happy moments. Eurythmy has helped me to become more confident in myself and with everything I do. Since I came here I have become more positive in my thinking and my life in general. I am grateful for the accommodation which I have received through the Centre which makes such a difference to my life. Nondumiso Mathimba 1 st year 3 rd years overview In 3 rd year eurythmy we have been on a journey exploring the intervals of music. We looked at their soul qualities and forms and their doublestream aspect. We are currently working on the sequential evolution of human consciousness through the epochs and their relation to the intervals with extracts of music by the modern composer Peter Klatzow. With the monochord we explored the seventh coming more from the spiritual paradise in which humankind was still very much a part of (Ancient India), the sixth bringing in the realization of the light and dark, the presentation of the duality of man (Ancient Persia), the fifth providing a sheathing between the inner and outer world of man (Ancient Egypt) and the fourth bringing the incarnation of conscious to man (Ancient Greece). A great honour for our class this year was receiving our Eurythmy veils, which we sewed with hard work, time and patience. The veils have allowed us to become more sensitive to the space in which we move, and with others in the group. The veil shows the etheric substance and its form around us. We have also looked into the 3-foldness of the soul in tone, thinking, feeling and willing and in which sphere they work. In speech we also worked at their basic principles of movement and gestures. We have also discovered the soul gestures and looked into their qualities. Rudolf Steiner has indicated that the body needs to become soul and the soul gestures have allowed us to express our inner world to the onlooker, as the eye is the window to the soul. They have brought much joy, love and light to our eurythmical expression as well as drama. We are now looking at grammar, and have been emerged into a world of nouns, verbs and adjectives. The kingdom of grammar is complex but has brought in structure and the Apollonic ideal of form and order. A very new experience was that of the solo pieces both in tone and speech. Finding our own, individual poetry and music that we could express ourselves through was challenging and at times seemed impossible but also gave us a sense of freedom to work with the tools we have been given and to produce work that expresses our ideal of eurythmy and to bring forth our creativity and bring alive our inner expressions of soul. Elizabeth Wandolo and Emma Stotko 3 rd year
Greek Drama We were introduced to the greek drama in the 3rd term of this year and will present it by the end of the 4th term. We are working with the myth of Demeter and Persephone and How the Seasons Began when Persephone is taken down to the underworld of Hades. It is the first time that we each have a character role of our own and it is fun to bring out the different characters and qualities. We are also working with the Chorus aspect, supporting, echoing and reacting to the different roles portrayed. It opens up a whole new chapter for Speech Eurythmy - namely the dramatic element. We hope that with the presentation we can bring in some funding towards our Dornach tour in 2013. Laura Mönkemeyer 3 rd year Graduate s Tour to Europe 2011 Touring through Germany and participating in the international meeting of the graduate eurythmy students in Dornach: what an experience! After three years of fundraising and 4½ years of intense eurythmy training we celebrated our work and our love for eurythmy showing pieces from our graduation program from Hamburg to Stuttgart, visiting the Alanus Hochschule near Bonn and the Teacher Training in Witten-Annen, and finally reaching Dornach itself. All along the way we were received with much warmth and acknowledgement and could also always have a glance into the trainings in the places we visited. To see the similarities and differences in approach and performance of our beloved art was truly fascinating. For some of us it was the first time overseas while for others this tour presented the opportunity to share something from the studies with family and friends. A heartfelt thanks once more to our teachers and musician for sharing this time with us and to all the hosts and helpers in Germany and Switzerland for making this tour at all possible! It will surely remain a lasting memory for all of us!! Sara Freudenberg, 5 th year artistic
BA upgrade course Three months ago I arrived in Cape Town with the aim to get the Bachelor of Arts degree through the Kairos Eurythmy training. Having done my training in Germany it is now a big challenge to learn the character of the English language and the sounds, their kind of movements, and also to learn the english language so well that I can write my Dissertation in English. I'm also involved in the Tone and Speech Eurythmy pieces in the third year. It is a new experience to move with another group. I am also practicing Solo and Duo Eurythmy pieces. Once a week I travel to Khayelitsha Township to a Kindergarten and teach Eurythmy to the children and the teachers. It is a great experience and I'm glad to be here in South Africa! Maja Schmidt BA student Pedagogical Curriculum This year we enjoyed a wonderful module of pedagogical eurythmy with Elizabeth Kotzuba. We covered the grades from three to six exploring the developmental stages of children and how we as eurythmists might meet their needs through the eurythmy. We presented many exercises to each other throughout the module. Deepening our knowledge with each step on the way. As a class we encountered many challenges but and with Elizabeth s warmth and encouragement we managed to persevere and thrive. We now feel well equipped and nourished by this fulfilling module. Elizabeth s generosity and her depth of insight into the needs of the children has prepared us well to face our potential future as pedagogical eurythmists. David Haigh 3 rd year Visit to the Vera School My highlight this year was visiting the Vera School for autistic children, where Elizabeth Kotzuba is teaching. We were given a wonderful opportunity to see how beneficial and fun Eurythmy can be for the child on a physical and inner level. We observed and joined them for a few exercises and their excitement for Eurythmy and unconditional love from their teachers still inspires me. The visit to Vera has made me proud to be student of the Eurythmy training and it's given me a sense of knowing where I have to be. Shereen Brown 3 rd year
The Kairos Core Group hope you enjoyed our update. We invite you to keep in contact and visit us. Centre for Creative Education, 4 Victoria Road, Plumstead 7800, CT Tel: +27 21 797 6802 Fax: + 27 21 797 7095 email: kairos@cfce.org.za www.cfce.org.za Bank details: The Centre for Creative Education, Standard Bank Constantia, Branch Code: 051001 Acc no.: 071793046 Swift Code: SBZAZAJJ. European funding: Southern Cross e.v., GLS Bank Hamburg BLZ 43060967 Konto Nr: 27995300