A eurythmy education project comes to an end

By editors, May 2021

For 16 years there was the school practical qualification Eurythmy Teacher Bachelor of Dance/Eurythmy in Education as a one-year international additional training for trained eurythmists. The Pedagogical Year of the Academie voor Eurythmie in The Hague, the North German Eurythmy Teacher Training and the six-week pre-vocational course of the Eurythmy Training in Witten jointly carried this Bachelor of First Degree training.

Since 1981 the Academie voor Eurythmie in The Hague was the only eurythmy training course up to then to be entitled to award a European-recognised Bachelor's first degree for work in education. The Federation of Independent Waldorf Schools (Germany) supported the project financially from the beginning - a German-Dutch collaboration! In 2004, the BA started under the umbrella of the Academie in The Hague and had to move to the University of Applied Sciences in Leiden in 2013 with the Dutch eurythmy training. Over all these years, the BA has had participants from all over the European area, benefiting many 100 students.

In the meantime, two Master's training courses (Stuttgart and Alfter) for eurythmy in education have been established. This has made it possible to acquire a state-recognised, eurythmy-pedagogical qualification for a statutory teaching licence in German- and English-speaking countries as well as in Asia.

The decline in the number of participants, together with the emerging less flexible structures within the Dutch eurythmy training based in Leiden, suggests that, out of spiritual responsibility for the initial impulse, we should end what we began in 2004 of our own free will, in the spirit of Ingeborg Bachmann's saying:

"Quitting is a strength, not a weakness."

We want to round off this decision in a festive way with the many people who have made the project possible over all these years. At a later date, we will hold a symposium with colleagues working in the existing training programmes, former graduates of the Bachelor's years and colleagues from the previous BA college in an attempt to open our eyes to the future as we close what we have become.

"When one door is closed, many others may open!

We are curious to see which doors can open for impulses for development and transformation in art and pedagogy through the conversation with the people then present.

Helga Daniel (The Hague) and Gabriele Ruhnau (Witten) on behalf of the BA-Collegium.

For more information on the symposium, the exact date of which has not yet been fixed for the end of August, please contact Helga Daniel by email: helga.daniel(at)posteo.de.