The Association for
Anthroposophic Speech Arts
in North America
Welcome!
The Association for Anthroposophic Speech Arts in North America (AASA) was formed in 1990. Our mission is to foster Creative Speech in the fields of Performance, Education and Therapy. We seek to connect professional speech artists with institutions, as well as introduce the work to people through events and trainings.
Creative Speech
The power of language goes beyond its ability to convey meaning.
The power of language goes beyond its ability to convey meaning. In the enjoyment of poetry we can experience that words are also color, gesture and movement. The sounding word is not a finished thing, but a dynamic world in the very act of becoming. Each time we speak, we can take part in this “becoming” and in the life of the Logos – the primal, cosmic word that underlies all existence.
Creative Speech is a discipline devoted to this approach to the spoken word. It allows our speaking to be inspired by the rhythms, images and music inherent in the word.
Introduced in the early 1900s by Rudolf Steiner in collaboration with Marie Steiner von-Sivers, Creative Speech has now found its way around the globe in the fields of performance, education and therapy. It is an inspiration to many who seek personal growth through an artistic approach to the spoken word.
Those taking part in speech courses have a direct experience of the revelation of Anthroposophy in the activity of man.”
— Rudolf Steiner
Performance
Creative Speech (Speech Formation) raises speech to consciousness.
I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
alive . . .
— e. e. cummings
Education
Speech has an essential formative effect on children.
Little attention is given to speech in the schools, yet it has an essential formative effect on the children. Students should develop a love for the miracle of language and learn to create in their speech the pictures that live so vividly in them. They need to learn to breathe fully for their health, to articulate well and to bring presence and color into their speech.
What a wealth of culture lies in the stories, poems and dramatic works of humanity! This, too is a part of the education of our children. Equally important is that teachers speak in a healthy and filled way before the children. Speech is the teacher’s primary tool, and the speech that the children hear has a profound effect on them. Creative Speech is an integral part of the curriculum of the Waldorf Schools worldwide.
Speech artists can advise teachers on texts which are appropriate for the different ages and how to learn discover how the texts ask to be spoken.
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
— EMILY DICKiNSON
Therapy
Creative Speech (Speech Formation) raises speech to consciousness.
Anthroposophical Therapeutic Speech is an artistic therapy that works not only in relation to the physiology of speech and breathing, but also to the entire human body.
In conjunction with a doctor’s diagnosis and treatment, it may be helpful for disorders such as bronchial asthma, hyperventilation, heart arrhythmia, chronic fatigue, digestive problems and colitis, migraine, rheumatoid diseases, thyroid disorders, iron deficiency, developmental delays, eating disorders, depression and other psychological conditions, shyness, and as a complementary therapy for cancer and AIDS. It is especially helpful in balancing the upper pole (head, nerve-sense system) and the lower pole (metabolic, limb system).
Anthroposophic Therapeutic Speech works with the breath, the sounds, the rhythms and content of language through specific speech exercises and texts.
In giving speech artistic shape and form, the healthy co-operation and harmonization of body, soul, and spirit becomes manifest. The body shows whether it is able to incorporate the spirit correctly; the soul reveals whether the spirit lives in it truly; and the spirit is vividly present working directly into the physical.
— Rudolf Steiner