On September 2011, Frauke Requardt wrote this text about her experience as modul-dance artist.
Creating Episode was an incredible rich learning experience to me. It has been the first piece of work as the sole director following on from three collaborations of different kinds. To be the only one who calls the shots, to be the one who's vision is the centre motivation is a responsibility and a joy much different from sharing this position. It was a great reminder of what it is that I deeply care for in my art and also a pleasant surprise as I acknowledged the growth from these previous joined experiences coming into play when directing solely.
We had a residency in Dublin at Dance Ireland and a residency in Tilburg at Station Zuid as part of modul-dance. Each of those residencies brought out a surprise or an unusual perspective onto the work. There seems to be a 're-shuffling' of the things you 'know' when placed into an unknown environment. The questioning of what I usually take for granted then seem to be what brings the new insight. There are a number of other important aspects to being away from your usual stomping ground: Firstly, there is an undivided focus for the work as interruptions from daily life are taken away. Secondly, there is an intense and intimate exchange between the people you work with. It has been a real joy and a great benefit to the work to get to know each other in this way. In which other profession do you spend three weeks in a packed house with each other, cook and eat together and share thoughts and, well, the bathroom? The residencies definitely provided for personal growth on an interpersonal level -meaning there was a learning process in the way we communicate with each other. Communication seems to be any way at the core of the creative process somehow.
We had a premiere in June at The Place. As always there were last minute concerns. Part of our set is a big beautiful salmon-coloured austrian curtain which reveals and hides the pianist, singer and various other scenes. This curtain turned out to be incredibly difficult to control: The first time it worked was in fact the premiere.
So I sat in the audience sweating and hoping... I am so pleased to be able to say that the two shows we had at The Place were a complete success. It was sold out on the first night and almost full on the second and there was a fantastic response afterwards. Episode got good reviews and some really great ones. This show is a very personal one and I wasn't sure if it would be accessable or entertaining enough- both things I care for. What had been created was still too new to myself to be able to reflect on it in regards to these factors as the focus had been on creating meaning in new ways. It was basically a bit of a ride!
Picture: © Chris Nash
