Step out of your day and into the WARMTH. Inspired by the traditional Finnish sauna, WARMTH is a mobile wood-fired sauna in a converted horse trailer.

It will be located at the Centre on;
Fri 25 Nov from 1.00pm - 9.00pm
Sat 26 Nov from 10.00am - 6.00pm
Sun 27 Nov from 11.00 am to 4.00pm

Please bring swimwear and a towel. Under 16's must be supervised. Capacity 5 - 8 people

Stocksbridge Community Leisure Centre
Moorland Drive
Sheffield
S36 1EG

WARMTH was presented as part of Compass Festival 2016

Guest Artists: Top Joe, gen doy + Nick Cassenbaum

Free Entry

12–14 Nov: Open 2pm–11pm, short performances 7pm-10pm
17–19 Nov: Open 2pm–11pm, short performances 4pm-7pm, 

Inspired by Finnish sauna culture, Bethany Wells has built a mobile, wood-fired sauna in a converted horse trailer, functioning as a space for experimental performance and impromptu gatherings. Timber-lined, with wood smoke rising from the chimney, it brings a nomadic presence to the street. By inviting people to step out of their day and into the WARMTH, it offers a liberating communal experience. 

A programme of guest artists will animate the sauna over the festival with a series of funny and thoughtful short performances, whilst at other times it will simply be a place to relax. Appealing to all the senses, this warm, fragrant, subtly-lit haven creates a pocket of Scandinavia in Leeds City Centre.

Bring your own towel or borrow one of ours. Lockers and showers are available.

Commissioned by Compass Festival

FRIDAY 20TH & SATURDAY 21ST MAY
16:00 - 00:00
FREE

The sauna is an important institution in Finland, seen as a necessity as opposed to a luxury. We're lighting the stove + inviting you to join us for a traditional Finnish wood-fired sauna in a converted horse trailer. Spend an hour or two with us at WARMTH, exploring the sauna as both a social space and an immersive sensory environment.

Learn the art of making löyly
Use a birch or eucalyptus vihta
80c temperature approx
Capacity 5-6
Swimwear optional
Bring a towel
All genders
Croc-style slippers provided
Outdoor cold shower to cool down
Children must be accompanied

WARMTH creates a safe space to spend time, have conversations, and challenge preconceptions about the performance of the body in public.

WARMTH is built in a converted horse trailer using Finnish timber and an Estonian wood-burning stove, taking inspiration from the Mobile Sauna Festival in Finland, the US-based DS Institute Mobile Sauna, and research trips to the Sauna Arla, Kotiharjun Sauna, Finnish Sauna Society + Kulttuurisauna in Helsinki.

WARMTH has been commissioned by Compass Live Art and is supported by Arts Council England. We are working with Compass Live Art throughout 2016 to develop WARMTH as an experimental performance space, launching in Leeds as part of Compass Live Art Festival in November 2016.

Bethany Wells is a professional performance designer working across dance, theatre and installation. With a background in architecture she is particularly interested in spatial dramaturgy + how space communicates in performance. Bethany Wells sees design as a form of activism; she is interested in exploring what can be achieved politically and socially by the collective live experience of performance.

Islington Mill
James St
Salford
M3 5HW