Portland Waldorf High School

11
th
Grade Eurythmy 2014-2015

Ms. Rem
sarah.rem@portlandwaldorf .org

Syllabus

This year in 11
th
grade eurythmy we will continue our work building off of the
principles learned in 9
th
and 10
th
grade by beginning to look deeper into the
question of why the gestures and forms are created as they are. We will begin with
an introduction to the planetary gestures and explore the moods and gifts of each
planet and how they live in our individual personalities. The students will also be
introduced to some of the color gestures and we will explore how and why they are
related to certain aspects of space. In both speech and tone we will work with
Romantic and Dramatic pieces drawing from our previous explorations of
Apollonian and Dionysian principles in speech and major/minor principles in tone.
Each student will have to opportunity to work on a solo or duet as well as group
pieces looking at more humorous fairytales or stories. Each student will work in
small groups with one another to create their own choreography using these
learned principles. From our work throughout the year, I will choose at least one all
group tone and one all group speech piece that will be performed at our annual
Eurythmy Assembly in May.

Requirements

Class Participation (65%) For my 11
th
grade students, class participation is the most
fundamental element I grade on. What is asked of 11
th
graders in this area differs
from what is asked of them in 9
th
and 10
th
grade. This includes, being ready with
eurythmy shoes on when class begins. Participating in all group work, warm-ups,
exercises, tone and speech pieces and any discussions that take place during class
regarding the subject matter. I expect juniors to not only passively participate but to
bring more of themselves to the work. I encourage every student to ask questions,
to challenge a principle if it does not make sense to them and to really experiment
with the gestures and forms. The students are given more freedom to create and
work with these principles in 11
th
grade and I expect for them to have a good
knowledge of the speech and tone gestures by this time. Being able to take
initiative when working in small groups as well as on your own forms. I also look
for the students ability to lead in their movements with each other. Treating me as
well as your classmates with respect by not disrupting our working together.

Effort (25%) I understand that eurythmy does not come easy to everyone nor do I
expect my students who are new to it, to know every gesture right away. I do
however, expect every student to try to create beautiful gestures and movements.
This is a more subjective judgment but I do see a line between just doing the
gestures rather than creating beauty, strength and clarity with ones movements.

Attendance (10%) I do not give out homework in eurythmy. Everything we do and
learn happens in class. It is often very hard to make up this work, although with
special circumstances it could be done. Tardiness will also result in a decreased
grade. Tardies will be given if you arrive late to class and/or if you are not in your
eurythmy shoes at the start of the lesson.