Share (in)expertise and experience.
Town Square chats give space to dance artists, art workers and SDS staff to get stuck into the details of how to continue making and moving. Sessions happen every other month and focus on topics specific to artistic practice, with space to share skills, strategies and reflections.
To align with Pride we are hosting a Queer takeover of Town Square: Chats in July. Please note this is a space specifically for LGBTQIA+ dance artists, movers & practitioners.
The theme for this chat: Map, Archive, Desire and will be co-facilitated by artists Loren & Courtney, who will invite us to explore the questions below:
- How do we understand or define desire in relation to practice?
- What do desire paths help us understand about practice in relation to time and productivity?
- How do we invite ourselves to be with, notice, experience, be in immanence in our practices?
- How do we stay with the questions and invite more in?
You can also check out our Town Square Studio: Queer Takeover here.
This event is supported by the Southwark Pride Fund.
In the Parlour
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Free to attend. Sign up or just turn up.
About Loren Mck
Loren is an artist and researcher based in South East London. Their practice moves between words, material, movement and conversation. This work is sometimes performing, sometimes education, sometimes access support and sometimes local organising.
As a researcher Loren is interested in archives or the archiving of queer and disabled people’s stories, experiences, practices… asking how do we write our own histories, remember each other, and leave traces?
Loren is currently at the Centre for Dance Research (Coventry University) researching representations of queer and disabled artists in dance archives and is a commissioned artist for METAL creating and work alongside an artist’s congress as part of In Other Words. Their research for this has strayed from remembering toward grief, nature, time and Cairn building.
Follow them @lorenmck_
Courtney Nettleford (a.k.a Pollychronic)
Courtney is a Black Country-born documentary filmmaker, researcher, and DJ based in South East London working across arts, music and entertainment. Their work engages with storytelling, safeguarding histories and bringing people together to dance. Currently a part-time Visual Anthropology Student at Goldsmiths (solidarity with striking workers), Courtney is researching public art, mapping and strategies for community resistance.
As a DJ their Pollychronic sets are full of eclectic music and UK/global sounds moving through bass, breaks, footwork, garage, techno, guided by rhythm, energy and low-end pressure. Newer on the scene they have already played for AAJA Radio, Mode London, Tate Corner Bar, Venue MOT, Avalon Café, Peckham Levels and host a weekly show on Wired Gold Radio. This Summer as part The Music is Black Festival curated by Yazmin Lacey and Tyson, Pollychronic will be celebrating the music and voices of Black Women and non-binary people who drive music and culture.
Follow them @ratney.mxf
Courtney and Loren
How we collaborate is still forming and generally spills out of conversation and time spent together on the dance floor. We assist each other as researchers and creatives in a precarious arts scene always learning from the each other. Together we bounce between film, writing, photography and investigate approaches to documentation and storytelling.
Who is this Town Square: Chat for?
This Chat welcomes and centres all LGBTQIA+ identities and experiences. We also welcome those with intersectional and emerging queer life experiences which may situate them against normative expectations (whether this is through racialisation, disability, class and more). This is a Trans+ inclusive space, we ask that you don’t assume anyone’s gender identity or sexuality.
If you are a straight ally, we ask that you don’t take up space here. There are other Town Square activities, space hire and the opportunity to hang out at SDS – please see our website for more!
Please reach us by emailing contact@siobhandavies.com if you are unsure if this space is for you.
ACCESS AND AMENITIES AT SDS
Siobhan Davies Studios is mostly accessible, with lifts to all floors. There are two accessible parking spaces available on site which can be booked in advance. Blue Badge parking is also available nearby on West Square and Garden Row (for a full map visit the Southwark Council website). Our main door is power assisted.
Amenities include:
- Changing facilities*
- Communal showers*
- Toilets / wheelchair accessible toilets
- Kitchen: tea and coffee making, fridge, and microwave
- Snack Bar: We have a small selection of bars, drinks and food available to buy from the front desk.
- Shops: The closest shop is Superway Supermarket on Garden Row (4 min walk), the closest supermarket is Sainsbury’s on New Kent Road (7 min walk). We also recommend the Art Cafe which serves sandwiches, jacket potatoes and meals (3 min walk).
* Our changing facilities and showers are not fully accessible. Our closest publicly available and fully accessible changing facility is at The Castle Centre, a leisure centre 0.3 miles away from the studios. You can find full details of their features here.