History
In 1911-1912 Rudolf Steiner and his first student Lory Mayer-Smits developed eurythmy as a new art of movement. During the 2nd eurythmy course in Bottmingen in the autumn of 1912 Steiner had already formulated the first therapeutic indications for certain exercises.
In 1920-21 Elisabeth Baumann-Dollfuß and Erna van Deventer-Wolfram, among the first eurythmists, recognized a eurythmy element in a scientific lecture by Rudolf Steiner. They asked Steiner whether one could use eurythmy therapeutically. Steiner took up the question and developed eurythmy therapy during the 2nd Doctors' Course in April 1921, with specific indications of the effects and use of the sound gestures. Steiner crucially modified the well-known eurythmy gestures for therapeutic eurythmy, already in the first lecture. In June of the same year Ita Wegman opened her clinic in Arlesheim. There Steiner frequently attended rounds and suggested specific eurythmy therapy exercises for individual patients. Margarete Kirchner-Bockholt put eurythmy therapy into practice at the clinic alongside Julia Bort. It is thanks to her diligence that the transcripts from this time have been carefully preserved. They form the basis for current eurythmy therapy, together with the lectures on education for special needs and various indications given at the teacher conferences of the first Waldorf School. Development is ongoing by the collaboration of doctors and eurythmy therapists. From 1924 onwards the first training courses in eurythmy therapy were developed. These matured over the decades into training programs: