This was an open R&D held at Chichester University from Monday 25th March to Thursday 28th March. Each morning began with a company class, 3 led by myself and 1 led by supporting artist Jonah Wigely.

The aim of the R&D was to explore ideas I had developed during the process and since the creation of my solo Stasiland, made in January of 2023. These ideas required more bodies in the space and I was very lucky to have such talented artists come along to explore these ideas with me. In addition to knowing I wanted to expand the cast, I also knew I was interested in investigating set and digital elements. I invited schools & community groups participating in workshops connected to Stasiland to donate shredded paper to assist in the creation of this set. Often paper that is shredded domestically isn’t accepted by local authorities for recycling as domestic shredders can make the fibres too weak. Thus, this paper can be given a second life by being used as a set for the piece, Stasiland.

I had a series of tasks that I wanted to explore and 5 research questions that these tasks connected to:

1. How can the music of the Klaus Renft Combo be used throughout the work?

2. How can the paper shreds be used throughout the work to define the performance space and what role do they play in engaging performers who aren’t actively ‘dancing’ in a particular section of the work?

3. How can digital / live streaming of the paper reconstruction be integrated into the work?

4. What is the role of the Stasi men or Informers in the work?

5. How do we tell the stories of the victims of the GDR (Klaus Renft, Frau Paul, Miriam & Charlie Weber)?

• How can the music of the Klaus Renft Combo be used throughout the work?

I wanted to include the music of Klaus Renft in Stasiland because he features in Anna Funder’s original book and I found aspects of his story particularly compelling. I devised an improvisation task based on the quote “We are here to inform you today, that you don’t exist anymore” (p.189), which was what the Klaus Renft Combo were told when they went to reapply for their performance licence in East Germany. I felt it was important to explore the possibility of including this music that was banned in the final piece.

However, this music is distinctly different to anything I would use to create the kind of atmosphere I think this piece needs. This actually creates quite an exciting and challenging prospect. Moving forwards I’d like to blend aspects of the Klaus Renft Combo’s music into a more traditional contemporary dance soundtrack to create both an atmospheric environment for the piece to exist in, with the authenticity that Renft’s music can provide.

• How can the paper shreds be used throughout the work to define the performance space and what role do they play in engaging performers who aren’t actively ‘dancing’ in a particular section of the work?

Through exploration of the paper shreds we discovered that as a set this aspect is extremely versatile. Firstly, they easily define the performance space. Throughout the R&D we played with different ways of organising the shreds, from lines to pools to scattered through the space. We discovered that foam yoga mats were more effective at moving the shreds than a brush and began to think about what tools we would need to efficiently manoeuvre the set into these different configurations. 

The shreds were incredibly engaging, from an audio perspective they make an autumn-leaf-like or fresh snow sound when being stepped on. They also are a great addition to movement, extending lines, leaving prints on the dancers. The image of the dancers sorting the paper was particularly engaging and we found that through showing each other what we were sorting we could find organic ways to transition between sorting and story-telling (‘dancing’).

• How can digital / live streaming of the paper reconstruction be integrated into the work?

This area needs further exploration. I’m eager for live streaming if it is included in the final piece to be an active and fully fleshed out area of performance rather than a gimmick. We found that the more organic sorting - actually picking out pieces of the paper trying to find matching pieces - was the most effective on projection and also added a reality to the piece that was really engaging.

Alternatively this aspect could be utilised in pre & post performance, demonstrating the act of sorting to audiences pre-show and then allowing them to engage with this activity in the post-show. This would also add an interesting audience/community engagement to the work.

• What is the role of the Stasi men or Informers in the work?

The role of the material generated from stories of Stasi men and their informers is to add tension to the work and give a context in which the stories of Klaus, Frau Paul and Miriam and Charlie Weber exist. I think we’ll see them emerge from the shredded paper in the same way we see our stories emerge. Through the R&D we worked on two tasks that explore the Stasi: one being ‘Signals for Observation’ (developed from a passage on p.7) and two being ‘Stasi Men’ (developed from a passage on p.238). Both tasks were really successful in generating movement and we used the material generated during the ‘Signals for Observation’ task to build further on the image I was interested in engaging with from the ‘Stasi Men’ passage.

Both tasks created structures that could be built upon in the next phase to create longer sequences in which we see complex relationships develop through proximity and improvisational scores. Within these scores I expect to build tension that gives meaning to the stories of the victims of the GDR. I am excited to discover how through dynamic differences in movement we can see the stories of victims and the Stasi contrasted against one another and how these pieces can fit together to create the narrative of the work.

• How do we tell the stories of the victims of the GDR (Klaus Renft, Frau Paul, Miriam & Charlie Weber)?

I tackled these stories from an abstract perspective. Some of the themes within their stories are dark and therefore I wanted to initially approach these from a literary perspective. I pulled particular imagery and words from sections of the book to begin generating movement and through putting the movement in relation to other dancers began to add story-telling. As I was concerned with not creating and instead working on developing methods to create from, I didn't delve as much into the storytelling aspect. Moving forwards I’m really excited to develop these relationships between the material created by different people and beginning to tell these stories with greater emotion and theatricality.

Thank you to all the dancers who gave up their time to join me in the studio: Jonah Wigley, Toby Newell, Eleanna Kalogiannidou-Forshaw, Chelsea Mitchell, Brooke Darke, Erin Taylor, Hattie Musgrove, Phoebe Tyler & Madison Burgess. Having these wonderful artists in the studio with me moving, creating and feeding back made the process so enriching and inspiring.

Thank you to Ashley Jordan (Ascension Dance) & Luke Brown (Luke Brown Dance) for your mentorship, sharing your creative processes with me gave me the confidence and approach vital to the results I am able to share now.

Thank you to Chichester University Dance Department for giving me studio space in exchange for talking to your 2nd Years about Career Development. And also to The Federation of Leesland Infant & Junior Schools for donation of shredded paper for us to play in.