I am Billy – an interdisciplinary artist based between Wales, the Forest of Dean and East Asia.

I create through a philosophy I call ‘ambient dance’. This draws on contact, dance improvisation and butoh as well as the small dances of everyday life: making coffee, park walks, tending a garden.

I sense the reason I am interested in this more spacious relationship to dance and art is that the world feels quite overstimulating. Slowness is a radical act, as is tenderness and rest. For me, I want to offer space for us to connect to these in a time of burnout.

If I had to sum up my vibe, I’d recommend watching Perfect Days by Wim Wenders. In this, the main character Hirayama shares a short phrase:

今度は今度、今は今 – Next Time is Next Time, Now is Now.

As such, in all my encounters I try to capture this beautiful moment, whether I am making coffee or flipping across a stage. To me, crafting is a way to show deep appreciation for the world and to notice the small dances that underpin our lives.

I also talk a bit in my workshops about the dance of vitality and tranquility. With this, I sense I am searching for a space where we can move our bodies whilst feeling their energy/vitality/qi/life. Yet somehow, our mind also enters a meditative space of noticing. Perhaps we go to the imaginary or perhaps we are with what is in front of us. But we are able to notice it, non-judgementally.

I suppose this is why people often call my approach to making Zen. But then, I don’t really know anything about Zen!