What is the Goetheanum Eurythmy Ensemble currently doing?

Seven years ago the current Goetheanum Eurythmy Ensemble started with twelve eurythmists. Now there are nine continuing their committed, inspiring and challenging work.

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Naturally there have been some personal changes since September 2018. Some left the ensemble, others have joined. The principle of team leadership has remained. Today there are nine of us, three of them are also leadership members: Marianne Dill, Ioana Fărcăşanu, Stefan Hasler, Tanja Masukowitz (leadership), Christine Prestifilippo, Enelin Pruul, Rafael Sastre, Silke Sponheuer, (leadership) and Rafael Tavares (leadership).

In the past seven years we developed six major programmes (Heartbeat, Threads of Light, Sound Times, To the Earth, Evolving Worlds) and five smaller ones (Schumann Morgenstern, Achterwind, Light Is Love, La Vida, Garden of Light). The size refers to the cast rather than the length of each programme. We also developed three eurythmy folktales for children: the Bremen Town Musicians, Snow White and Rose Red, and The White Snake. Most of the performances take place at the Goetheanum but there are also one or two European tours per year.

Performances, introductions and conclusions

Performances at the Goetheanum include numerous introductions and conclusions to events with individual pieces that are suited to the event in question or silent movement compositions that accompany the various conferences and celebrations at the Goetheanum. The Foundation Stone Meditation and the Michael Imagination are an essential and regular part of our repertoire.

Another important aspect of the Goetheanum Eurythmy Ensemble’s work includes its involvement in major productions at the Goetheanum such as Goethe’s Faust 1 & 2, Rudolf Steiner’s Mystery Dramas and Richard Wagner’s Parsifal. These productions that require dramatic eurythmy in particular, sometimes in speech or in opera, are developed in cooperation with the artistic directors whose background is in theatre or opera rather than eurythmy – a circumstance that greatly expands our perspectives and creativity.

Since these ‘three great sectors’ have an important impact on the life and structure of the Goetheanum Stage, one can say that the work is divided into two parts:

• the Ensemble’s work based purely on eurythmy and
• its involvement in major productions for which project ensembles are especially put together.

So, there is constant change between ‘contraction’ (eurythmy only) and ‘expansion’ (larger project ensembles that include other eurythmists), a challenge that we truly love and that is essential to our work. It also means that the artistic requirements are very different, for instance the way we deal with the relationship between movement and space due to stage sets, lighting and the kind of costumes used.

Inspiring and challenging

Since it is not possible with major projects to recognize the individual members of the Goetheanum Eurythmy Ensemble unless one knows them, the one or other of you may have wondered what the Goetheanum Eurythmy Ensemble is currently doing.

This year – 2025 – following the two eurythmy programmes in February of La Vida and Garden of Light, we resumed Parsifal again, then spent intensive rehearsals preparing and performing Faust 1 & 2, followed by the preparation and performance of Rudolf Steiner’s four Mystery Dramas. In between there were eurythmy performances at the Goetheanum and tours in Germany and Switzerland in February and May.

The members of the Goetheanum Eurythmy Ensemble can be experienced directly in a series of conversations entitled Talking about Eurythmy that takes place at the Goetheanum about once a month.

The Eurythmy Ensemble’s daily life consists of a varied, inspiring and challenging composition of eurythmy activities.

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