| Newsletter
2/2003
Movements Performance
19th July 2003
by Pauline Tiben
On Saturday 19th July, six people from Wim van Dullemen’s
Berlin and Amsterdam group, and van Dullemen himself, will
give a Movements performance on the so-called Occulture Festival
at The Sallis Benney Complex on Grand Parade, Brighton, UK,
a one-day event featuring dance, comedy, music, performance
art and spoken word – all with esoteric themes, from
a wide range of paths and persuasions.
We were invited some time ago, and although initially we were
wondering what our role could be on such an event, we soon
thought it would be a good opportunity to give other people
something of what we ourselves have received so far. And then,
the respectful attitude with which the festival is organised
made a positive impression on us. Quote from their website:
“no vilification of other beliefs and contributors are
requested not to proselytise”.
For more information and the entire programme, take a look
a their website at www.occulture.tv/programme.htm
Below, our own press release, reflecting our point of view.
Press Release
Although mainly known as a ‘philosopher’, Gurdjieff
preferred to call himself: “A rather good teacher of
temple dances”. In fact, he took great care and made
enormous efforts to transmit existing ‘temple dances’
and to develop many, many new ones, which together became
known as Movements. These Movements form an inseparable part
of his teaching, of which we will spare you the details now,
and have various purposes. For the performers, they are an
aid in, for example, self-observation, developing physical
awareness and attention, and for those who watch them they
can be read like a book, transmitting objective truths. However,
do not doubt your mental capacities if you do not ‘read’
much, we only catch glimpses ourselves. The combination of
highly disciplined, mathematical precision and deep emotional
impact is startling enough in itself.
Our teacher and pianist, Wim van Dullemen, accompanied the
Movements classes of Mme Solange Claustres, a direct student
of Gurdjieff, for 13 years. Van Dullemen was one of the first
artists to dedicate entire recitals to the music of Gurdjieff/De
Hartmann in a concert hall of international importance, the
Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He introduced the Movements to
a nation-wide audience through programmes on radio and television
in The Netherlands. For the past 36 years, he has been in
close contact with many Movements teachers and students. So
far, he published three CD-collections
The performers you will see on stage at this festival are
members of Wim van Dullemen’s two Movements groups,
in Amsterdam and Berlin. A stable, hard-working group of all
in all 40 to 60 people, which started over five years ago.
We are open to those who are seriously interested, outside
influences and international contacts, and yet will painstakingly
maintain the integrity of Gurdjieff’s Movements, music,
as well as his teaching. The dancers at this festival serve
as the representatives of this group, the combined efforts
of all its members has made it possible to give you this performance.
The Berlin and Amsterdam Movements Group
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