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The Gurdjieff movements are a series of sacred dances that were collected or authored by G. I. Gurdjieff. He taught his students as part of the work of self observation and self study. [1] [2]
Gurdjieff taught that the movements were not merely calisthenics, exercises in concentration, and displays of bodily coordination and aesthetic sensibility. Instead, he taught that the movements were embedded real, concrete knowledge, passed from generation to generation of initiates, each posture and gesture representing some cosmic truth that the informed observer could read like a book.[ citation needed ] Certain of Gurdjieff's followers claim that the Gurdjieff movements can only be properly transmitted by those who themselves have been initiated in the direct line of Gurdjieff; otherwise, they say, it leads nowhere.[ citation needed ]
The movements are purportedly based upon traditional dances that Gurdjieff studied as he traveled throughout central Asia, India, Tibet, and Africa where he encountered various Indo-European and Sufi orders, Buddhist centers and other sources of traditional culture and learning. [3] However, Gurdjieff insists that the main source, as well as the unique symbol of the Enneagram, was transmitted to him as an initiate in the Sarmoung Monastery.[ citation needed ] Gurdjieff collected and taught thousands of movements throughout his teaching career. As Gurdjieff forbade his students to take notes of the choreographies, most of the movements have been lost over the years. According to estimates, about 250 authentic choreographies were preserved by his students. [4] The music for the movements was written by Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann, as well as British composer Edward Salim Michael. [5]
A brief glimpse of the dances appears at the very end of the motion picture about Gurdjieff, Meetings with Remarkable Men , produced and directed in 1978 by Peter Brook. [6] The dances are also adapted by synthpop band Hot Chip in their music video "Night and Day," which also features Terence Stamp from the aforementioned film. [7]
Sufism is a mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic purification, spirituality, ritualism, and asceticism.
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and dance teacher. Gurdjieff taught that people are not conscious of themselves and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and serve our purpose as human beings. The practice of his teaching has become known as "The Work" and is additional to the ways of the Fakirs (Sufis), Monks and Yogis, so that his student P. D. Ouspensky referred to it as the "Fourth Way".
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Jeanne de Salzmann often addressed as Madame de Salzmann was a French-Swiss dance teacher and a close pupil of the spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff.
Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii was a Russian philosopher and esotericist known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff. He met Gurdjieff in Moscow in 1915, and was associated with the ideas and practices originating with Gurdjieff from then on. He taught ideas and methods based in the Gurdjieff system for 25 years in England and the United States, although he separated from Gurdjieff personally in 1924, for reasons that are explained in the last chapter of his book In Search of the Miraculous.
Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann was a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and professor of composition.
John Godolphin Bennett was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in October 1920 and later helped to co-ordinate the work of Gurdjieff in England after the guru had moved to Paris. He also was active in starting the British section of the Subud movement, and co-founded its British headquarters.
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Sacred dance is the use of dance in religious ceremonies and rituals, present in most religions throughout history and prehistory. Its connection with the human body and fertility has caused it to be forbidden by some religions; for example, some branches of Christianity and Islam have prohibited dancing. Dance has formed a major element of worship in Hindu temples, with strictly formalized styles such as Bharatanatyam, which require skilled dancers and temple musicians. In the 20th century, sacred dance has been revived by choreographers such as Bernhard Wosien as a means of developing community spirit.
The Sarmoung Brotherhood was an alleged esoteric Sufi brotherhood based in Asia. The reputed existence of the brotherhood was brought to light in the writings of George Gurdjieff, a Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher. Some contemporary Sufi-related sources also claim to have made contact with the group although the earliest and primary source is Gurdjieff himself, leading most scholars to conclude the group was fictional.
Reshad Feild was an English mystic, author, spiritual teacher, and musician, who, as Tim Feild, originally came to prominence as a founder member of folk-pop group the Springfields. He was later the author of more than a dozen books about spirituality, and Sufism in particular.
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Nikolai Gustavovich Legat was a ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher.
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Olgivanna Lloyd Wright was the third and final wife of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. They first met in November 1924 and married in 1928. In 1932, the couple established Wright's architectural apprentice program and Taliesin Fellowship. In 1940, Olgivanna and Frank, along with their son-in-law William Wesley Peters, co-founded the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Following her husband's death in 1959, Olgivanna assumed the role of President of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, a position she held until a month prior to her death in 1985.
Albert Rudolph, known as Rudi or Swami Rudrananda, was a spiritual teacher and an antiquities entrepreneur in New York City. He was born in Brooklyn, New York.
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The Study Society is registered with the Charity Commission as Registered Charity Number 1155498. Its stated objects are for the public benefit:
Moore also re- ports that an extensive study of Mevlevi (Sufi) music and movements was conducted by Gurdjieff