THE DALCROZE EURHYTHMICS METHOD

In a Euhythmics class, students are moving in some way – in locomotion around the room, in gestures with hands, arms, heads, upper bodies, either in groups or alone. Their movements are responsive to the music that is sounding in the room– its tempo, dynamics, texture, phrase structure, and style. The body is understood to be the original musical instrument through which everyone first realizes music.

The movements a student makes in a eurhythmics class do not have the essential purpose of training the body to convey a choreographic picture to an audience. Rather, their essential purpose is to convey information back to the mover himself. The movements set up a circuit of information and response moving continuously between brain and body, which, with training and experience, rise to ever higher levels of precision, coordination, and expressive power.

*Excerpts taken from the DSA website

Visit the Dalcroze Society of America website for more information at http://www.dalcrozeusa.org.