Join us for an informal sharing of ideas which Charlie Ashwell is developing during her LIVE EDITIONS residency in Eastbourne.
Book a free spot on Eventbrite here
Charlie Ashwell is a dancer, scholar, and dramaturg who is researching dance as a form of magic, currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Sussex exploring how dance might create alternative ways of imagining and navigating the world.
During her residency week at Leaf Hall, Charlie will be delving further into how dance is watched and seen, joined by choreographer Seke Chimutengwende as an outside eye to explore questions such as:
How does dance invite audiences to see, dream, speculate, envision, or hallucinate?
How might the title of a dance transform the dance that is seen?
And what if we thought about this transformation as a kind of magic.
In Charlie’s words:
"In this residency I will be exploring and questioning the connections, gaps and crossovers between the material of a dance and the audience’s changing perception of that material, through the filter of language.
I’m interested in the transformative power of titles - words that attach to a dance much like a frame attaches to a picture - producing divergent ways of seeing the same dance. How does language infiltrate perception, so that the same movement “lands” in different ways with different titles, like so many spells or incantations cast by the audience’s thinking as it meets a dance again and again, anew?
This open studio is an open invitation to audiences to come and explore this work with me. I imagine creating an installation, or durational performance, where I perform the same set dance many times, with many titles made available for watching with.
There will also be an invitation for audience members to create their own titles, generating a pool of ways-of-seeing, perhaps more than could ever be tried out. While the dance at hand remains relatively steady, altered only by its real-time repetition (and the energy that that requires), language, meaning and perception spiral out beyond the nameable or identifiable, conjuring up infinite possible dances to come."
This open studio event is informal and relaxed, and is open to everyone who would like to come. No experience of watching dance is required.
This residency is part of LIVE EDITIONS, a new programme of movement, sound and performance in Eastbourne and the South Downs, supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and running from July 2026 to May 2027. With thanks to Devonshire Collective and Leaf Hall for in-kind support for this residency. LIVE EDITIONS is led by Nikki Tomlinson, an independent curator and producer.
Charlie Ashwell is a dancer, scholar and dramaturg, based in London. Over the last 17 years she has performed in experimental work by choreographers such as Seke Chimutengwende, Florence Peake, and Dog Kennel Hill Project, as well as making her own performances which propose dance practices as forms of magic. Charlie is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Sussex, alongside teaching choreography at the University of Roehampton and working as dramaturg with Seke Chimutengwende and theatre maker Greg Wohead.
Leaf Hall Community Arts Centre is in the Seaside area of Eastbourne, 1 mile from Eastbourne Station and on multiple bus routes. Parking outside the venue on Seaside Rd is free.
Access information:
Leaf Hall
This event is in the large upper hall. There is one flight of steps from ground level, and currently no step-free access.
This is a seated event and chairs and floor cushions will be available. The lighting will be fixed with no sudden changes and no sound amplification will be used. All are welcome to join in a relaxed space and are free to come and go as they please.
Should you have any particular access requirements, please email nikkijtom@gmail.com and we will be happy to offer further support.
Content notes
The event includes watching dance followed by time to talk over free refreshments. Please email nikkijtom@gmail.com if you would like more information on what to expect.
Image:
spells (2019) by Charlie Ashwell in collaboration with Frances Morgan. Photo Jemima Yong
Below: Leaf Hall