The Blossom Series started in 2023 through SPAN Arts’ Love Stories to Nature Commission in which I created a 15 minute ambient soundscape installation called Our Branch That Stopped Singing. Inspired by observing the changing seasonality of sound, I was curious as to how time brings certain presences and absences to our natural world. And then, how do we see this as a mirror? How do we face the seasonality of our own being?
In the Silence of Blossom
In the Silence of Blossom is a contemplative ambient dance production that ponders on the seasonality of life. With a mesmerising soundscape of ambient music and texturally-rich dance, this show takes audiences into a series of worlds that explore how presence and absence permeate our lives. How we relate to our past selves, our future selves, and how we we navigate the fragile touch of the human heart.
Following 2 weeks of research and development near the forests, seas and rivers of Pembrokeshire, we shared the initial stage of the work at The Dance House in Cardiff.
Creative Team: Billy Maxwell Taylor (Artistic Leader), Dr. Lara Kipp (Scenographer), Stefan Janik (Composer), Honey Stoové (Dancer), Ting-Ning Wen (Dancer), Marla King (Sustainability Consultant)
Supported by
Arts Council Wales, Torch Theatre, SPAN Arts, NDC Wales, Penquoit Centre.
Golden Leaves
Following In the Silence of Blossom, we took a break from the project, mostly due to me completing my Masters studies. During this time, Stefan Janik and I continued our collaboration, funded by Wales Arts International, which resulting in us creating a musical piece called Heartwood. This happened in the warm suns of early Summer 2024, dancing with the heat of the sun.
From this initial seed, we realised a work emerged that met both Heartwood and In the Silence of Blossom which was Golden Leaves, a collaboration between Billy Maxwell Taylor and Maggie Chan that was shared at Resolution Festival in 2025. We created the work during a one week residency in the Forest of Dean (supported by Eden’s Cave) and then a week in London (supported by Tripspace and Stanley Arts Centre).
The soft steam of tea swirls in the Winter air.
Golden Leaves is a meditative dance duet combining elements of butoh with site-inspired memories of the Forest of Dean. It contemplates on vitality and the glimmering present moment within the landscape of Winter. Immersing us in a dance and audiovisual ambience, the piece offers space to face the seasonality of our lives. To lean in and wonder or lean back and ponder.
Creative Team: Billy Maxwell Taylor (Choreographer, Designer & Performer), Maggie Tin Lok Chan (Co-deviser & Performer), Dr. Lara Kipp (Costume Designer), Stefan Janik (Composer)
Llwynog Gwyn (2025)
We are currently in the early stages of developing the next iteration of the Llwynog Gwyn project which is a butoh solo by Billy Maxwell Taylor.
Llwynog Gwyn (Welsh for White Fox) is a tale of metamorphosis; a contemplative world of transformation, seasonality and deep meditation.
The story follows a man becoming an Arctic Fox, his body drifting through a snowy landscape as he sheds layers of his past self. As the seasons pass and the snow melts away, he must confront the reflections of his past before he steps forward into the future.
How do we face our former selves? How do we move forward through the thick layers of the past? How can snow radiate into sunlight?
Inspired by site-responsive research along the Welsh Coast and in the Forest of Dean, this performance is filled with the rugged texture of British Landscapes. Through Taylor’s energised yet tranquil dance, Stefan Janik’s time-bending score and. Lara Kipp’s texturally-rich costume, Llwynog Gwyn slows us down and offers a portal into a transformative world where the fantastical intertwines with the everyday.
To talk more about Llwynog Gwyn, get in contact with us at eiradancetheatre@gmail.com
Billy Maxwell Taylor / Eira Dance Theatre 