Gurdjieff’s Sacred Dances

The history of the Movements and their teaching by Georgi Ivanovich Gurdjieff is erratic, non-linear, and marked by uncertainties. The reasons for this are complex and relate to the incomprehensibility and depth of the teachings Gurdjieff conveyed.

In principle, the Sacred Dances can be assigned to two distinct eras. The threshold is marked by Gurdjieff’s serious car accident in 1924. All dances created between 1916 and 1924 can be classified as “old” Movements, representing Gurdjieff’s first phase of teaching and creative work.

The second period extended from 1937 until his death in 1949 and encompassed the “new” Movements. The differences between the dances taught in these periods are considerable, affecting both their function and their form. What they share in common is their central importance within G. I. Gurdjieff’s teachings (see Wim van Dullemen (2018): The Gurdjieff Movements).

The older Movements were practiced daily by Gurdjieff’s entire group of students from 1918 until the performances of 1923/1924, for sessions of five to six hours. A total of 27 of these dances have been transmitted and are still practiced today. The “Six Obligatories” belong to this group.

The Obligatories were among the very first Movements that Gurdjieff taught in 1918 in Tiflis, Georgia. Every new student had to learn these exercises before being allowed to participate in regular classes. From some of the older Movements that Gurdjieff performed and taught, only the music has survived; the choreographies themselves were forgotten.

During the last ten years of his life, Gurdjieff organized almost daily Movements classes for various groups, teaching them up until his death in 1949. During this period, he created what later became known as the “39 Series.”

A major difference between the old Movements and the new dances lies in their musical accompaniment. Gurdjieff composed the music for the early Movements together with Thomas de Hartmann. However, the music for the 39 Series was composed by de Hartmann after Gurdjieff’s death, without his guidance.

In the new Movements, the religious and ethnological elements were significantly reduced. Abstract gestures and postures predominate. The dances were even more difficult to perform than the earlier ones, requiring enormous effort from a class in terms of precision, speed, and attention.

Although the origins of the Movements have been widely speculated about and mystified, there is little doubt that Gurdjieff created most of them himself. Some of these dances originated in the Middle and Far East, where Gurdjieff studied them during his travels and visited religious communities and specific ethnic groups. The majority of the Movements, however, were created by Gurdjieff himself.

Only a fragment of the Movements led by Gurdjieff has survived to the present generation, an estimated 30 from the early period and 220 from the second phase. The Sacred Dances are passed on and taught by various organizations and private individuals who stood in direct contact with Gurdjieff or his students and serve as transmitters for the living teaching.

The external form of Gurdjieff’s Movements provides insufficient information about what a particular dance expresses and what forces act on the dancers in their innermost being. Only by being thrown into a group and finding oneself as an element of a higher-level organism, the arcanum might reveal itself to the participants: the triamazikamno, the sacred “law of three”.

An essential part of this process is the experience of one’s own powerlessness. Being faced with alternating rhythms, canonically taken body positions and complicated counting sequences, everyone is confronted with the automatic reactions of his or her personality. The dancer’s self-image, hardened over many years, becomes porous and therefore open for the discovery of what is real.

Gurdjieff’s Movements are designed to make students clearly aware of their inner turmoil. It is precisely in the midst of the greatest friction, at the apex of the clash between two opposing forces, that the willingness on part of the dancer to witness and experience the conflict with the greatest possible distance comes into play. It opens the door for the emergence of the reconciling force. It is an act of mercy from another world.

The inner alignment of the student is of utmost importance in the Movements. Gurdjieff’s dances demand an unwavering willingness to confront the unconscious and mechanical reactions of one’s own personality with sincere determination.

Attention intensifies, enabling participants to observe themselves as if they were a stranger. Without judgment, one perceives one’s own existence. This surprising, relentless, and at times painful experience is an essential part of the process toward achieving a more authentic self-understanding.

Gurdjieff’s Sacred Dances require a harmonious interplay of all three human centers: mental, emotional, and physical. In their neglected state, these centers are tangled into an inextricable knot.

Through continuous practice of the Movements, the centers gradually regain their independent freedom. The Gordian knots upon the royal chariot begin to unravel. This process forms the basis for the harmonious development of the human being.

The Sacred Dances of G. I. Gurdjieff demand the ability to expend precisely the amount of energy required. The dancer must find the right measure and manage their forces carefully. Both excessive and insufficient effort fail to achieve their purpose.

True, objective beauty emerges from the reduction of all movements and expressions to their essentials. The Movements and their dancers strive, in every aspect, for clarity and precision. There is neither space nor time for superfluity. Within this energetic field, even the simplest gesture, a single word, or a fleeting breath can make a profound impression.

Through the Movements, the dancer embarks on a journey inward and becomes subject to unknown energies. What occurs often lies beyond their control. Attention heightens, perception sharpens, and the space opens to a less identified contemplation of existence.

Nearly eighty years after his death, an entire library has been written about the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff. Yet his music has reached only a small audience to this day. Similarly, the Movements remain largely unknown outside a narrow circle of initiates.

These disparities are regrettable, for his writings, his music, and the Movements are not only expressions of the same vision but also complement each other in a unique way. Each form of expression represents one of the human sub-centers: body, feeling, and intellect.

A particularly remarkable aspect of Gurdjieff’s music lies in its creation. It emerged from a unique collaboration between Gurdjieff himself and the composer Thomas de Hartmann. De Hartmann notated and harmonized the themes dictated by Gurdjieff, translating them to the well-tempered piano – ranging from ethnic music to the rituals of remote monastic brotherhoods.

Through this collaboration, Western audiences gained access to a unique repertoire of Eastern music, which might otherwise have remained hidden and very likely lost. In this blending of Eastern and Western musical traditions, Gurdjieff’s aim becomes clear: to unite the wisdom of the East with the knowledge of the West.

Thomas de Hartmann described this music as follows:

It becomes clear why Gurdjieff always attributed such great importance to music. He himself played and composed. When one compares his work with the music of all religions, it is evident that music holds a central role in religious ceremonies. Yet through the work of Georgi Ivanovich, it becomes clear that music does not merely accompany; it places us in an inner state in which we can receive the highest vibrations. Music is therefore precisely the means by which we are guided to recognize the Higher.

The music of Gurdjieff’s father, an Ashok (troubadour), shaped Gurdjieff’s early youth. It was music from a very ancient tradition, encompassing Greek Orthodox liturgy as well as Caucasian and Greek folk music.

Even more significant than its emotional value, for Gurdjieff, was the insight that music consists of vibrations through which universal laws can be explored. When Gurdjieff describes the processes of creation, evolution, and involution, he establishes in musical terms a connection between science and music that reaches back to the oldest and most venerable traditions of Western thought.