Dylan will work on a 10-minute solo dance work devised from Keeping Track, a poetry collection by Rob King. The piece explores the surreal and physical experience of humanity sinking — of keeping one’s head above as time, history, and memory pass and settle like peat.

Bog Ballet draws from both ballet and contemporary dance techniques, combined with the embodied resistance of moving through wet, uneven terrain. The project seeks to establish a new dance language called Bog — a movement form that grows from the act of sinking, balancing poise with struggle, grace with gravity. “During the residency, I will explore how the body adapts to and learns from natural surfaces, creating choreographic material that reflects the physical sensation of the bog. I will collaborate with Brian F. Devaney, musician and performer, to create an original soundscape that merges distorted Irish folk motifs, foley recordings of bog environments, and classical undertones. Together, we aim to craft a sound world that moves in tandem with the choreography — an auditory landscape of breath, mud, and memory.”

“We plan to create our new production ‘STORM 1.0' ahead of our premiere at Dublin Dance Festival in May 2026.

We will be working with two dancers - to create a poignant and humourous dance theatre work about survival and environmental change.

STORM 1.0 is set in an apocolyptic wasteland with themes of sustainability, renewal, hope, survival, solidarity, and revolt.

As it will only be the second time the dancers meet, we would love them to be in an environment where they can get to know each other in the evening after rehearsals. Shawbrook Creative Space is the perfect place for this.”

“Throughout this residency we will begin the first off-page development of our new physical theatre work ‘One More Time’.

We want to build on the ideas of memory loss/fragmentation and shifting realities which all live under the umbrella of the story’s underlying theme of dementia. Our story is inspired by, but not limited to, the first-hand lived experience of Anaïs’ father and family. We will use this time at Shawbrook to unveil what our movement language and style looks like for the show whilst being guided by these strong themes to frame some scenes involving characters, text, partnering and emotional states/physicalities.”

“ I specialise in site-responsive composition, audience circulation, and low-tech, high-impact formats that read clearly for mixed audiences.

With DEATH RALLY, I am turning towards a smaller, studio-rooted language that explores how mortality awareness can reorganise bodies together. The work examines how we gather, rupture, and repair. The title signals a paradox: a rally for life that acknowledges fragility and defiance in the same breath. The research will develop score-based tools. These include breath, weight, and proximity tasks, gather and release cues, timing and stillness. The aim is to hold intensity without text while safeguarding emotional wellbeing.

For this phase I will collaborate in studio with three performers, and remotely with a sound artist to shape the sonic world alongside the choreographic score.”

During their residency, they will explore our new project 'Beautiful Future'.

Inspired by the book 'How to Fall in Love with the Future' by Rob Hopkins, the work will argue for the power of imagination in combating environmental dread and anxiety... If we dare to imagine a joyful, liveable future together, we’ll find the courage, and the practical steps, to start building it today.

Set around a rotating 'sun dial' set, the project will see two dancers (Chris Radford and Sara Macqueen) and musician (Azizi Cole), explore a positive approach to the climate emergency through envisaging how much better and more beautiful our world can be, if we can change our behaviours.

The work will draw on significant research with young people from across the UK, exploring their responses to the climate emergency and creative exploration of the book. They will use their responses and accounts to create the narrative of the show.

“My research centres on the body as a site of memory, emotion, and intuition, and on how these internal states can be articulated through collective movement. I am interested in how meaning emerges through physical relation rather than narrative or predetermined form.

I will be working closely with dancers Ben Sullivan and Saoirse Lambkin O’Kane. This will be our second time meeting and creating together, following an earlier creation phase at Orsolina28 in Italy. Building on this shared experience, we will continue developing group material through sustained physical inquiry, focusing on how dynamics form through timing, proximity, and attention.

The residential context of Shawbrook provides space for sustained focus and reflection. Speak to Me is currently in an extended development phase across Irish and international residencies, and material developed during this period will support the work’s ongoing creation and future presentation.”