The Place

This event finished on: 28 February 2012

Frauke Requardt’s latest work Episode draws on the human desire for safety and clarity, unleashing a technicolour sequence of riotous relationships and private revelations.  From suburban domesticity to Arctic wilderness, Episode is an unusual and darkly atmospheric experience that revels in the highs and lows of humanity. Episode features a live, on-stage soundtrack by pianist Niko Meinhold and Andrew Plummer’s deep, gravelly voice, alongside an immersive, eerie soundtrack by the Ringham brothers. The collaborative team includes exceptional dancers Valentina Formenti, Inn Pang Ooi and Eva Recacha Garcia; and is completed by Hannah Clark’s intriguingly fantastical designs and uncanny lighting from Chahine Yavroyan.

Frauke Requardt is a Work Place artist.

Episode was commissioned by The Place and is supported by Arts Council England, European Dancehouse Network, Modul Dance, Danshuis StationZuid, Dance Ireland, Greenwich Dance, Jerwood Charitable Trust and Moving East.

Frauke Requardt discusses the making of Episode:

"The point of origin for Episode was simply my desire to attempt to create an episodic performance. I set out to create six episodes, each lasting roughly ten minutes. Ideally, these episodes would not be thematically related, but overall would provide the sense of an emotional journey. The audience would be able to follow this emotional journey through the work, whilst being plunged into a very different narrative and scenario with each new episode. Even though I didn’t want to force connections between these episodes, I believed that subtle links would emerge. The attempt to make an episodic work stems from an interest in finding new ways to approach narrative in dance. I believe if we're confronted with just a part of something, we inevitably create or speculate about the whole.

"The cast chosen for Episode turned out to be three dancers who could all sing, a composer who’s also a marvellous piano player, and a booming vocalist who’s also a dab hand at bass guitar and clarinet. Having had successful experiences of working with live musicians in previous shows (Jammy Dodgers, for example), I wanted to blend live musicianship with the onstage activities. I always enjoy blurring the roles of performers and create work that's experienced as a whole, rather than looked at with the awareness that this is a ‘dance bit’ and this a ‘music bit’.

"The work was created during residencies in Dublin, Tilburg and London through the support of two international initiatives, Modul Dance and the European Cultural Fund. Being away from my usual stomping ground (London) always brings a confrontation with new ideas. Working in a new environment forces me to go through a process of re-orientation; opening a window onto the familiar and shedding new light on it to render it unfamiliar. For me, this is simultaneously a confusing and enriching experience. I really believe occasional moments of not knowing enable new things to be created and experienced.

"Working with the dancers in the studio is always extremely collaborative; not only in terms of the physical input, but also intellectually, by which I mean we spend long hours talking. Residencies are perfect for this process, as we all stay in the same place (so there’s no escape) and it doesn’t take up time in the studio.

"Halfway through rehearsal I realised a fragile storyline was emerging from the material we were creating together. I decided to nurture that storyline and thus ended up with a piece which I think makes a strange kind of sense, incorporating both experiential fragmentation but allowing for the following of a singular narrative. The design is an element that remained strongly episodic: the outlook of each chunk radically changes and evokes questions about which perspective we’re viewing a scenario from. At times a character lingers across scenarios, but the big exception is one character who appears in a number of places and offers a constant thematic line.

"Somebody said to me that watching the piece felt like going through a gallery and I kind of understand that. We consciously worked on finding strong imagery that stands on its own, and although the piece is quite loud overall, it’s essentially a quiet process of revealing someone’s world."