Pacifica College of Eurythmy finishes 2nd year of training
Pacifica College is a new eurythmy training in Queensland, Australia
Undeterred by the steamy Brisbane heat, our two groups of students presented their final work for 2020 to audiences of children, teachers and friends in late November.
It was a happy close to another big year.
Through a remarkable stroke of luck, the college was legally able to continue uninterrupted after the initial Covid-19 hard lock-down. As a result, six (Alpha course) students are now half-way through their training. Eight (Beta course) have completed their first year. All students plan to continue and most are now busy earning money over the summer break to see themselves through the next term. Amongst other subjects, the training includes two music theory lessons per week. Some students started with no musical knowledge at all, so we were very proud when, in October, all the Alpha cohort passed the AMEB Grade three music theory exam with flying colours.
Musical achievements!
Alphas also had two weeks of introduction to eurythmy in education. These excellent talks on the Developing Child given via Zoom were by Sue Simpson and Pep Wright. With support from Steiner Education Australia, the talks were made available to the wider schools’ community and were very well received. They will be continued in 2021.
Acknowledging country
We have begun to engage with indigenous elder Milliwanga Sandy from East Arnhem land who has visited quite a number of schools around the country. When she visited in November we sat under the giant white gums, sentinels guarding the property. Milli did a smoking ceremony and told stories of the gums, and of her Moiety. We in turn offered Part 4 of the Foundation Stone Meditation (below), then everyone stepped in dishes of ochre and walked carefully across a large canvas, before sitting quietly washing each other’s feet. We hope to build this sharing, meeting annually over the coming years.
Now we look forward to our third year of training with these same two groups. If all goes to plan, we will have a new studio ready to welcome the next intake in 2022.
The Foundation Stone Meditation
Jan Baker-Finch, Director of Pacifica College
Pacifica College of Eurythmy offers a 4-year full-time core training as foundation for working in the arts, education, therapy and well-ness fields. You can find more information about their activities here or in their newsletter, Pacifica news
Enquiries: pacificacollege@gmail.com