The Gurdjieff movements are a series of

sacred dance Sacred dance is the use of dance in religious Ceremony, 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 exa ...

s that were collected or authored by

G. I. Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff ( – 29 October 1949) was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and movements teacher. Born in the Russian Empire, he briefly became a citizen of the First Republic of Armenia after its formation in 19 ...

. He taught his students as part of the work of ''self observation'' and ''self study''.

Significance

Gurdjieff taught that the movements were not merely

calisthenics Calisthenics (American English) or callisthenics (British English) () is a form of strength training that utilizes an individual's body weight as resistance to perform multi-joint, compound movements with little or no equipment. Calisthenics sol ...

, exercises in concentration, and displays of bodily coordination and aesthetic sensibility. Instead, the movements expressed knowledge that had been passed from generation to generation of initiates, each posture and gesture helping the participant to become more aware of themselves in movement.

Origins

The movements are purportedly based upon traditional dances that Gurdjieff studied as he traveled throughout

central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

where he encountered various Indo-European and

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

orders,

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

centers and other sources of traditional culture and learning. However, Gurdjieff insists that the main source, as well as the unique symbol of the

Enneagram Enneagram may refer to: * Enneagram (geometry), a nine-sided star polygon with various configurations * Enneagram of Personality, a model of human personality illustrated by an enneagram figure See also * Enneagon In geometry, a nonagon () or ...

, was transmitted to him as an initiate in the Sarmoung Monastery. Gurdjieff collected and taught thousands of movements throughout his teaching career. According to estimates, about 40 authentic choreographies were preserved by his students.Gurdjieff’s Sacred Dances
. ''Gurdjieff Work in Life'' The music for the movements was written by Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann in the 1920s and are practiced by various groups of Gurdjieff followers around the world.

In media

A brief glimpse of the dances appears at the very end of the motion picture about Gurdjieff, ''

Meetings with Remarkable Men ''Meetings with Remarkable Men'', autobiographical in nature, is the second volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greeks, Greek-Armenians, Armenian spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff started working on the Russia ...

'', produced and directed in 1978 by

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...

References

External links

Gurdjieff Heritage Society
resource regarding Gurdjieff Movements and music
Gurdjieff MovementsGurdjieffArabic.Org
نشرة عربية عن تعاليم جورج إ. غوردجييف
Gurdjieff Movements in Japan & Turkey

Gurdjieff Group in Stuttgart, GermanyGurdjieff in Armenia
{{George Gurdjieff Fourth Way Ritual dances Sacred dance George Gurdjieff