The New World Symphony Project:

A Eurythmist's Dream Come True

Click for larger image.

“For a eurythmist, this is an absolute dream,” said Dorethea Mier of Eurythmy Spring Valley. Mier was asked to be Artistic Director for the production of Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony two years ago by Marke Levene, president of the Eurythmy Association of North America.

“I think one seldom has the opportunity to bring the full scope of eurythmy to an audience,” Mier said. “Having 18-20 eurythmists on stage for each movement is very special.”

Eurythmy Spring Valley by itself was not a large enough troupe for the project, so as part of the effort to find additional eurythmists an open workshop was planned. Forty-two eurythmists from throughout the United States and Europe came to Spring Valley, NY, to experience symphonic eurythmy in the workshop. Through an audition process, the troupe of 26 was established, with eurythmists from Germany, Norway, France, Switzerland and Israel as well as California, Pennsylvania, Chicago, IL, and Spring Valley.

“Eurythmy can really show its best when performed by a large group,” said Brigida Baldzun, a eurythmist with the New World Symphony project. She compared the choral quality, the weaving of many, to mixing colored liquids together. Rather than being like the mixing of two different liquids, it is as if you are stirring in 10 substances. “It is that rich,” she said.

Culturally, the mixing has been rich as well, according to Baldzun. “We are from eight or nine different countries, mostly practicing without speaking. With all our different languages and nationalities, we are listening to this one music, unifying, finding each other in this music. This is how we overcame the differences in our training,” she said. “We went the path of listening to the music.”

What may be most exciting for the eurythmists is moving to orchestral music. “This is new territory,” Mier said, “to really differentiate between woodwinds, strings and percussion, and then between flute, oboe, and clarinet.”

Embodying the qualities of the different instruments, Baldzun said, was very exciting. “I’m also a musician. I am at home in music.” This past summer before roles were cast, the eurythmists were able to explore the breadth and depth of those differences. In the performances beginning in August 2005, Baldzun said, for example, that though she represents a different instrument in each of the movements, all are higher in tone because of her smaller stature.

For the audience of the workshop performance that happened this past summer in Spring Valley, the overall experience was tremendous. Barbara Danner, of Wisconsin, who was in attendance, described the weaving that she saw. “You began to see the relationship of the instruments and how the melody is carried and supported. Eurythmy is supposed to be visible music,” said Danner, “It was visible!”

The company’s production of Antonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony will debut Saturday evening, August 13 at the Power Center on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They will be accompanied by the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. The performance is part of this August’s conference, “Being Awake: How Do I Awaken to the Spirit in Myself and to the Spirit in the World?” scheduled for August 11-14. The conference is hosted by the Anthroposophical Society in America, in collaboration with the Anthroposophical Society in Canada, the General Anthroposophical Society, and The School of Spiritual Science. Many other artistic presentations are scheduled during the conference as well as an art exhibit and sale of works created by members of the Visual Arts Section of the School of Spiritual Science in North America.

Afterward, the company will tour North America through mid-October. Their program will feature the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th movements of the New World Symphony, as well as eurythmy pieces to speech and chamber music.

For more information about the summer conference, click on the image located at the upper right column of this page, or contact the Society's offices:

Website: www.anthroposophy.org

Phone: 734.662.9355

Email: conference2005@anthroposophy.org.

To learn about other possible performance venues or to support this project financially, contact Marke Levene, 707-875-2373 or visit the webpage at www.newworldtour.org.

• Thursday's topics and speakers
• Friday's topics and speakers
• Saturday's topics and speakers