YSS Newsletter 2025 Term 4 Week 1

Did you know for the past 7 years, there’s been a professional 4-year full time Eurythmy Training in Samford Valley, Queensland?  Hopefully you were lucky enough to witness their 3rd and 4th year students, graduates and a visiting student from the Eurythmy Training in Vietnam, together perform full programs for Kindergarten, Primary, High School students and an evening public performance on stage in the Hall, with a talk to the PWS College in between all that as well.  The last time a touring Eurythmy Troupe came to W.A. was in the ‘90’s!

Yallingup was lucky enough to have the troupe visit and give their 30th performance, the last one of the tour.

Eurythmy was first created by Rudolf and Marie Steiner as a performance art, in which the sounds of speech and music are made visible through meaningful movement, and people move with heightened attention to one another and the space between.  When the first Waldorf School was being formed, Eurythmy was developed as a core subject for all students.  Rudolf Steiner referred to it as the heart of a Steiner School, keeping the pulse flowing, integrating the curriculum of other areas, strengthening the class bonds and massaging areas of challenge.  It engages all aspects of being human – through feeling, thinking and willing – necessarily integrating them to co-ordinate and be present to the gestures, patterns, music, poetry, and all importantly, surrounding space and other people to be found there.  When groups work together in Eurythmy, from Kindergarten through to High School and with adults, healthy social-emotional learning is cultivated through fostering tangible experiences of self and other, social hygiene and mutual respect.  Working towards a performance together further focuses groups and brings it as a gift to others, as was well shown by the Pacifica students.

The Pacifica ‘Passport’ Tour highlighted the diversity possible with Eurythmy – there were serious, sublime and hilarious pieces.  They moved to a range of classical, romantic and modern music and poetry, and played out the Grimm’s fairytale of The Golden Goose, to the children’s utter delight.  There was a number of funny and poignant pieces full of playfulness and contrasts, from the things we could worry about to Aunty Jean getting back at the car who gave her a whack.  It was a particularly delightful surprise for many students to learn that Eurythmy can also be humorous.

With insightful introductions from Jan Baker-Finch, we were led to consider how at the time of the American Declaration of Independence, many of the creators of it were living in fact so far from their stated ideals.  It can take a long time for ideals to come down to earth, and we must be humble in our many shortcomings in the kind-time.  Beholding how harmoniously and ‘in the zone’, deeply listening, present and attentive to one another as the performers moved together can give us insight into what a beautiful human future we can co-create – and this is an essential part of the social and cultural work of a Waldorf school for the future.

The students I’ve had the chance to hear feedback from have raved enthusiastically about the experience.  From Kindy: “They so loved it they returned to their rooms to make their own performances”, and from Primary Students: “I loved the Aunty Jean and car!”  “You could really see the Golden Goose, they didn’t need a prop at all for it” “You could see how they were stuck together, it was so real and alive!” (referring to a shared imagination), “I loved the patterns”, “it was like they were flying” “it was just SO beautiful!”.

Along with students asking if they could dye their shoes nice colours like the performers, some also asked if the Eurythmists are paid to do this.  As in, is Eurythmy a job?  What do people do after their training?  Good question!  Eurythmy is a 4-year full time training, like a degree but without any government funding.  It is, as with many “callings” and artistic pursuits of passion, a life-path certainly not embarked upon for the money or practicality as a profession.  People do it for the love of it, and then do their best given personal life circumstances to continue it whether it be through teaching, social groups, performing or a mix of these.

Eurythmy can only continue with the support of the community it serves, and Jan – one of the foundational teachers at Pacifica and previously a long-time Eurythmy Teacher in Samford Valley – also outlined the extensive costs of running the training and going on tour.  People with passion can give and give for a time, but there’s also a realist element in which they need their needs seen and supported.  The tour was supported with great appreciation by all the schools to which it has toured, which in WA includes with great thanks to Perth Waldorf, West Coast Steiner, Silver Tree, and Yallingup Steiner Schools.   Pacifica however remain in the “pink” as Jan put it, and the future of the College is uncertain as the need for community financial support is required.  The reality is, if Eurythmy is to continue, the people and groups who teach and perform it rely on the practical financial support of the individuals, schools and communities they serve.  Tax-deductible donations are invited to Pacifica College:

Pacifica Public Fund

BSB  633000

Account number 170722193

Thank you again to all the WA Steiner Schools supporting this initiative. For me, having Eurythmy Colleagues come and perform was akin to Christmas!

Nicole Peterson