Gurdjieff Movements
What is today known as The Gurdjieff Movements is a repertoire of ancient and sacred dances and esoteric movements originating from closed communities, temples and monasteries in the Near and Middle East and Asia. Monastic communities have long understood the value of movement as a means of acquiring knowledge beyond language; and these movements with their original music, were learnt by the philosopher G.I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949) during his extensive travels at the end of the 19th Century. After the Russian revolution, Gurdjieff moved west settling in Paris in 1922 where the Movements were taught to his followers at the Institute he founded at Fontainebleau.
The Movements discipline was brought to England in 1931 by Mme Ouspensky, and taught in Lyne Place, Surrey and Colet House, then called Colet Gardens, in London by Mme Ouspensky, Miss Jessmin Howarth and Mrs Rose Mary Nott. Responsibility for teaching the Movements as part of a Fourth Way discipline was passed by Mme Ouspensky to those whom she authorised to safeguard the tradition and carry it forward. This line of transmission has continued uninterrupted to the present day.