Embark on a soaring journey through the abandoned spaces, mysterious machines and secret corners of the Paper Factory – SPECTRAL brings to life the history of this awe-inspiring site in an exhilarating visual, dance and aerial performance. Created by choreographer Tess Letham and lighting designer Sam Jones, developed in partnership with All or Nothing with music by The Reverse Engineer.
Immersed in a fusion of light and lasers, the performance seamlessly transitions between floor-based choreography and aerial movement, capturing the essence of labour and its transformation into something transcendent. The live soundtrack embraces the cavernous reverb of the performance space, layering field recordings with intricate synths and polyrhythms. SPECTRAL is a physically powerful and visually stunning immersive experience.
SPECTRAL will run every night of the festival in the Crane Shed at 21:15-22:00h.
Tess Letham is a prominent dance-theatre maker based in Edinburgh, creating powerful, surreal worlds that blend dynamic physicality with striking design. Her work confronts human experience through immersive, multi-disciplinary performance. Her latest productions include “Where We Used to Wander” commissioned for Hidden Door 2023, and currently in development, “What ever happened to Harmony Banks?”, which is set to premier at Dance Base Festival 2025.
Sam Jones is a Lighting Designer, Programmer and Project Manager with 21 years of experience in the industry. Design and programming for a variety of media: live music, site specific outdoor experiences, dance & music videos, working from a design studio in Edinburgh. Recent artists: Gossip, Overmono, Dylan John Thomas, KT Tunstall, Primal Scream, James Blake, and Squarepusher. Sam has been designing the lighting for Hidden Door festivals since 2010, alongside other creative minds.
Dave House is a musician and sound artist who creates polyrhythmic soundscapes using synthesizers, field recordings and algorithms. His music as The Reverse Engineer has been released to critical acclaim and featured on BBC 6Music and Radio 3. He has exhibited and performed at events around the world.
All or Nothing are Scotland’s leading aerial dance company creating, performing, teaching and pioneering aerial arts in Scotland. Led by Artistic Director Jennifer Paterson, our work ranges from small scale theatre to large scale outdoor spectacle. Hanging from boats, buildings and cranes, flying through forests, across lochs or dancing on iconic landmarks. All or Nothing combine aerial arts with dance theatre and contemporary circus, creating their own theatrical works for touring as well as developing aerial elements for events. Participation is vital to the company’s work, believing that aerial is for everyone, developing all kinds of opportunities for this to happen, challenging assumptions of who aerial is for.
The Dance Stage in our Crane Shed is powered by Funktion Creep, an award-winning visual production team renowned for innovative and high impact architectural projection mapping, immersive laser shows, holographic projections, live motion graphics and more.
SPECTRAL is one of our 2025 Creative Collaborations, newly commissioned interdisciplinary projects waiting to be encountered by visitors as they explore The Paper Factory’s labyrinths. Visionaries from radically different disciplines – from electronic musicians and installation artists to contemporary dancers and theatrical innovators – have been challenged to create something that could only exist in this distinct moment and place.
Dancers: Bethany Edwards & Maya Bodiley
Aerialists: Chrissie Ardill & Zinnia Oberski
Counterweighters: Andy Pennycuick & Marie Williamson
R&D performer: Beverley Grant
Rigging: Andy Pennycuick
