At the end we begin

At The End We Begin consists of four compelling and arresting quartets of dance, taking inspiration from T.S. Eliot’s classic series Four Quartets. It inhabits the derelict and sometimes turbulent landscape of Eliot’s poetry, with 4 dancers journeying from being lost to a state of empowerment where they have found their own voice. Richard Chappell Dance’s most challenging and collaborative work to date.

PART 1: BURNT NORTON

‘At the still point of the turning world.

Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; at the still point,

there the dance is,

But neither arrest nor movement.’

– T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton

PART 2: EAST COKER

‘The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,

For the pattern is new in every moment

And every moment is a new and shocking

Valuation of all we have been.‘

– T.S. Eliot, East Coker

PART 3: THE DRY SALVAGES

‘The river is within us, the sea is all about us;

The sea is the land’s edge also, the granite

Into which it reaches, the beaches where it tosses

Its hints of earlier and other creation…’

– T.S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages

PART 4: LITTLE GIDDING

‘We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.’

– T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding

The creation and touring of At the end we begin has been funded by Arts Council England, The Linbury Trust, Pavilion Dance South West and was first commissioned by Dancin’ Oxford with support from The Pegasus Theatre. The project has been supported by Studio Wayne McGregor, Swindon Dance, Dance in Devon, Plymouth Dance, National Dance Company Wales, Dance City, Arts at Dartington and The Point.