TESS LETHAM

SPECTRAL is a powerful, multidimensional performance experience that fuses live electronic music, striking lighting design, contemporary dance, and aerial choreography.

Set within a rhythmic, industrial-inspired world, flying and grounded bodies animate the space — merging with light and sound to create a visually arresting, fully immersive event.

A solo musician emerges in a single spotlight, constructing an evolving soundscape as performers rise from the crowd. Tension builds into a charged, club-like atmosphere, shifting between urgent, grounded movement and suspended, dreamlike states.

With haunting, intricately layered sound and hypnotic precision, SPECTRAL draws audiences into a world where the rhythms of labour become something transcendent — blurring the boundaries between concert, installation, and live performance.

★★★★★ “Most spectacular of all”

The Scotsman, David Pollock

About the Work :

The project was initially conceived by Sam Jones and Tess Letham for Hidden Door’s venue launch in November 2024, where choreography and lighting design were developed in tandem. In 2025, the work expanded through new collaborations with All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre and sound artist The Reverse Engineer. Commissioned for the Crane Shed at the Paper Factory, SPECTRAL responded directly to the site’s industrial history.

Both delicate and forceful, SPECTRAL provides an unforgettable end of day two of the festival” The Skinny