9 Years ago!
Here we are presenting Is this a Waste Land? on the old Larkfield Bus Depot in Glasgow (now a residential area) as part of Dance International Glasgow 2017 with @glasgowtramway .
I remember it so vividly, and yet it also feels like a lifetime ago... It was a hugely complicated, ambitious, thrilling piece. I remember being SO tired that week and finding it hard to really see what it was that we had made.
We had a wonderful team of collaborators and performers, and lovely audiences.
I've written a book all about the project and the creative journey behind it. The book has also been an epic journey and a long time in the making, but it is currently with the printers (hooray!) and will be coming out soon.
You can pre-order the book from my website. Very limited edition. Link in bio. Sliding scale price points - pay what you can.
Thank you to everyone who came, who remembers, who helped to make it happen. I will be forever grateful.
xx
Amazing team:
@tanotolm@benmcewendance@benashcraniosacral@thiskeren@tom758646@kirstyskirrow@thom_mck@petra_romyflora@emilyjenkinsmoon@jamesmartinkeane@rolfinginharrogate
Sam Bennellick-Jones
@jtimnunn
Daisy Douglas
Photos:
1. Louise Tanoto @tanotolm
2. Emily Jenkins @emilyjenkinsmoon
3 & 4. Beth Chalmers @bethchalmers__
@alberto.aif and I will be sharing where we've got to so far with our new artwork, Listening Furniture this weekend as part of @festenfest .
We can't wait to share the installation with you. There are a few slots left on Saturday afternoon. Sunday is almost fully booked.
Saturday 21 March
2pm - 7pm
Sunday 22 March
11am - 1pm
3pm - 5pm
The installation is Free to attend, but you must book in advance. See the @southeastdance website for details.
Listening Furniture incorporates a deep immersive vibration experience on the sound sculpture, and a variety of small activities to drift in and out of as a way of arriving, landing, reflecting and eventually leaving.
The sculpture, about the size of a single bed, has an array of surface speakers embedded inside it. These speakers translate sound into vibrations which can be primarily felt rather than heard.
Inspired by magical realism, where ordinary objects possess strange capacities, Listening Furniture treats the object as a threshold, an entry point into another layer of reality or an inner realm. For some, it feels like sinking. For others, like floating.
It defends the need to rest, reset your body, and take time-out. This work isn’t about finding answers; it is about your attention, your body and whatever you carry quietly within yourself. It mirrors the shape of memory: shifting, sensory, and sometimes difficult to name.
Enjoy the opportunity to be with yourself, soften your body and do ‘not much’.
For more info and tickets:
South East Dance
The Dance Space
2 Market Square
Circus Street
Brighton, BN2 9AS
📸 1. William Fairbrother 2. Alberto Ruiz Soler
#soundart #spatialdesign #composition #sonicsculpture #immersive
We are looking forward to presenting Memory Table as part of @festenfest this coming weekend!
SUN 22 MARCH
3.45-4.15pm & 4.30-5pm
@southeastdance
With performers: @Shivaangee , Vicky Malin
Memory Table is an informal short performance and a conversation sat around a table. Two performers use a collection of everyday objects to share a series of tactile, sensory memories. We invite you to join us for 25 mins. Let yourself be transported to childhood recollections and recent experiences via fluffy jumpers, hot water bottles, sand, stones and more.
Access: Integrated audio description with live audio and tactile introductions as required.
There are a few slots left, but capacity is limited, so book your spot now to avoid disappointment!
Thanks to our funders: @aceagrams & Chalk Cliff Trust. With additional support from @fabricagallery@brighton_dome
Film: @zoemeanders
Film performance credits: @shivaangee@petra_romyflora
#performance #memory #tactile #sensory
For more info and tickets:
South East Dance
The Dance Space
2 Market Square
Circus Street
Brighton, BN2 9AS
Fest en Fest 2026 Introduces:
Charlotte Spencer, Alberto Ruiz Soler & Shivaangee Agrawal
Durational Installation: Listening Furniture
Charlotte Spencer & Alberto Ruiz Soler
SAT 21 MAR, 2-7pm
SUN 22 MAR 11am-1pm & 3-5pm
South East Dance, Brighton
Listening Furniture is an immersive sonic experience. It arises from the desire of making a reflective space where sound can be felt as well as heard by exploring listening that is not limited to the ears, but also the rest of the body. Listening Furniture defends the need to rest, reset your body, and take time-out.
Workshop:
Objects as Portals Charlotte Spencer & Shivaangee Agrawal
SUN 22 MARCH, 10.30am-1pm
South East Dance, Brighton
How can we access sensory memory, movement and language through our everyday environment? Drawing on practices from Charlotte Spencer’s recent artistic work, Memory Table, Charlotte and Shivaangee co-lead this workshop, using objects as access points into multi-sensory experience, memory, tactility, and language through a series of invitations, exchanges, and choreographic scores.
1. What is enshrined in an object and how does that change over time?
2. How can language both describe and create sensory encounters with our bodies?
3. How do others’ memories transform our own experiences?
Performance sharing: Memory Table
Charlotte Spencer Projects
SUN 22 MARCH, 3.45-4.15pm & 4.30-5pm
South East Dance
For Fest en Fest, Memory Table will be performed by Shivaangee Agrawal and Vicky Malin. Memory Table is an informal performance and a conversation sat around a table. Two performers use a collection of everyday objects to share a series of tactile, sensory memories.
For more info and tickets:
South East Dance The Dance Space 2 Market Square Circus Street Brighton, BN2 9AS
📸 1. William Fairbrother (Listening Furniture) 2. Zoe Manders (Objects as Portals) 3. Zoe Manders (Memory Table)
@c_s_projects@alberto.aif@shivaangee@festenfest@h2dance___@michaelkitchinn@h2hanna@heidirustgaard@stephhdances@southeastdance
#expendedchoreography, #dance, #performance, #sonicart
Audience reflections from Memory Table at Jubilee Library, Brighton last week.
"My moments at the memory table
I find myself leaving this table feeling held, feeling safe, feeling refreshed, feeling curious of the objects, feeling artsy, feeling feathered(?), feeling floated around in a small boat that Vicky created, listening to the almond train Shiv brought to life, closing the vibrant vegetation around me all this while basking the sunshine sitting right inside the ground floor of Jubilee Library Memory Table. Oh yes, also dipping my toes in the ice jar just leaves me oh la la la...
Thanks for the sensory treat."
Thank you to everyone who joined us around the table, we had a wonderful time!
@aceagrams@bhlibraries@shivaangee
#artinlibraries #choreography #touch #memory #tactile #performance #participation #gratitude
Last week we were excited to have our first residency for Listening Furniture @sussexuni .
This is a collaboration between sound artist @alberto.aif and me - Charlotte Spencer - a choreographer, dancer, general movement enthusiast!
It has been a long time in the planning and as with so many artistic projects of late, has had it's fair share of setbacks and funding disappointments... so we were so relieved and happy to be working on it together last week and with the happy news of support from @aceagrams .
Listening Furniture is an immersive sonic experience. It arises from the desire of making a reflective space where sound can be felt as well as heard by exploring listening that is not limited to the ears, but also the rest of the body. Listening Furniture defends the need to rest, reset your body, and take time-out.
An array of surface speakers are embedded into a purpose-built sculpture. These speakers translate sound into vibrations. The full haptic-sonic experience is only available through direct bodily contact.
Inspired by magical realism, where ordinary objects possess strange capacities, Listening Furniture treats the object as a threshold, an entry point into another layer of reality or an inner realm. There is no right or wrong way of experiencing it, and hopefully it offers an opportunity to switch off your brain, soften your body and do ‘not much’.
The artwork is very much still a work in progress! SO many new ideas surfaced across the week - both between Alberto and I and in responses to a few kind people coming and testing it out on Friday and generously offering their feedback.
We have some more rehearsal time, sharings and presentations coming up this spring. Details coming soon.
We are grateful for support from @aceagrams@southeastdance@sussexuni .
Images: William Fairbrother
More soon!
C & A x
#sonicart #immersivelistening #resting #choreography #sonicsculpture #vibration
We are very happy to announce the rescheduled performance dates for ‘Memory Table’ from the collection, 'we are all memory bodies' in Jubilee Library, Brighton on Tuesday 3rd & Wednesday 4th February.
we are all memory bodies is a collection of participatory artworks that explore our relationships between felt experience and memory.
Tues 3rd Feb 11am - 5pm
Wed 4th Feb 10.30am - 4.30pm
Memory Table is an informal short performance and a conversation sat around a table. Two performers use a collection of everyday objects to share a series of tactile, sensory memories. We invite you to join us for 20 mins. Let yourself be transported to childhood recollections and recent experiences via fluffy jumpers, hot water bottles, sand, stones and more.
Performers: @Shivaangee , Vicky Malin
Duration: Each loop of the piece is approximately 20 min. You are welcome to come and go as you please. No booking required - drop in and enjoy!
Access: Integrated audio description with live audio and tactile introductions as required.
We are looking forward to meeting you.
Thanks to our funders: @aceagrams & Chalk Cliff Trust. With additional support from @fabricagallery@brighton_dome@bhlibraries
Film: @zoemeanders
Film performance credits: @shivaangee@petra_romyflora
#performance #artinlibraries #memory #tactile #sensory
Winter Warmer
Artist Retreat Day
Sun 1st Feb 2026
11am - 4.30pm
This year I will be hosting a series of low-cost one day creative retreats from my home in Brighton. They are designed as time and space for movement practice, creative dreaming, seasonal activities, eating and resting in the company of others. In the busy whirlwind of life it can be hard to prioritise time to nourish our bodies, our creativity and our well being. Within the free-lance dance/art community, it can also be hard to justify the financial expense. That's why I am starting a series of low-cost one day creative retreats which hopefully offer an affordable blend of rest, connection and reset.
I often find February a tough month - the sense of winter dragging on, and not yet feeling the new energy of spring. If you find it tricky as well, perhaps a day to get cosy, slow down, come back into the body is just the boost you need!
Who is it for: The Winter Warmer is designed for all those who self-define as having an artistic or creative practice, regardless of experience.
Food: I will make a simple vegetarian lunch for everyone and there will be fruit, tea and coffee available. This is included in the price.
Where: The retreat will take place in my home in Brighton. Since 2020, my husband (Alex) and I (well mostly Alex!) have been building our own home, from scratch. Now that it is (more or less) complete, it feels like as good a time as any to start welcoming others to enjoy it. The house is made from wood with lots of natural light, a spacious kitchen/living room, garden and sea views. Tucked down a path, it is away from the street and the perfect secret sanctuary.
Access: The house itself is step free and wheelchair accessible. The path from the street to the house is a bit bumpy.
Parking: Free on street parking on Sundays.
Travel: The house is on the No.18, No.2 and No.21 bus routes. It is within walking distance of the city centre, Kemptown and the seafront (if you like hills!)
Cost:
There is a sliding scale in place from £20-£50. You choose what you can afford. The price includes food, drinks and all materials.
Booking: via my website: link in bio
Max 6 people
We are very sorry to announce that our performances of Memory Table in Jubilee Library, Brighton this week: on Tues 16th and Wed 17th December have had to be POSTPONED due to performer sickness.
We very much hope to reschedule these days in early 2026 and will keep you posted with new dates once they have been secured.
In the mean time we wish you all a Happy Christmas and a positive start to 2026.
Best wishes,
Charlotte and the team x
Next week we will be in Jubilee Library, Brighton sharing Memory Table.
When: 16th December 11.30am - 5pm
17th December 10.30am - 4.30pm
This is a free drop in event, with no need to book in advance.
Each loop of the piece lasts approximately 20-25mins. You are welcome to come and go as you please.
There will be a bit of time between loops to reset and gather the next group of participants.
We can accommodate 4 - 6 people at a time.
At some point we will have a break for lunch(!)
What do you need to know?
Memory Table invites you to be transported to sensations connected to childhood memories and recent recollections through the objects on the table and the ways in which performers, @shivaangee and Vicky Malin share their own memories. The objects become portals to our imaginations - it can be a surprisingly fun and moving encounter. You will be offered to touch/hold objects and make your own arrangements, but it's entirely up to you how you participate. We would love you to join us.
Here is what one audience member in Worthing Library earlier in the year said afterwards: "It was very emotional. I felt like I was transported to some of my own memories through listening to yours. It was more than I could have imagined."
Access: Integrated audio description throughout for every performance, with touch tour available to those who need it.
Many thanks to support from: @aceagrams , Chalk Cliff Trust, @fabricagallery and @bhlibraries
#artinlibraries #performance #tactile #memory
We are very much looking forward to sharing ‘Memory Table’ from the collection, 'we are all memory bodies' in Jubilee Library on Tuesday 16th & Wednesday 17th December.
we are all memory bodies is a collection of participatory artworks that explore our relationships between felt experience and memory.
Tues 16th Dec 11am - 5pm
Wed 17th Dec 10.30am - 4.30pm
Memory Table is an informal short performance and a conversation sat around a table. Two performers use a collection of everyday objects to share a series of tactile, sensory memories. We invite you to join us for 20 mins. Let yourself be transported to childhood recollections and recent experiences via fluffy jumpers, hot water bottles, sand, stones and more.
Performers: @Shivaangee , Vicky Malin
Duration: Each loop of the piece is approximately 20 min. You are welcome to come and go as you please. No booking required - drop in and enjoy!
Access: Integrated audio description with live audio and tactile introductions as required.
We are looking forward to meeting you.
Thanks to our funders: @aceagrams & Chalk Cliff Trust. With additional support from @fabricagallery@brighton_dome@bhlibraries
Film: @zoemeanders
Film performance credits: @shivaangee@petra_romyflora
#performance #artinlibraries #memory #tactile #sensory
Drawing on practices from Charlotte Spencer’s recent artistic work Memory Table, Charlotte and Shivaangee co-lead this one-day workshop using objects as access points into multi-sensory experience, memory, tactility and language through a series of invitations, exchanges and choreographic scores.
📅 Sunday 16 November, 11am–4pm
📍@siobhandaviesstudio s SE1
🎟️ £65 standard / £55 low-income
🔗 Book your spot via the link in our bio.
Charlotte and Shivaangee are curious to investigate work with three key questions throughout the workshop:
🤲 What is enshrined in an object, and how does that change over time?
🤲 How can language both describe and create sensory encounters with our bodies?
🤲 How do others’ memories transform our own experiences?
@shivaangee
@c_s_projects
