Rosie Kay

Rosie Kay (born 27 March 1976) is a British choreographer best known for her award-winning show 5 Soldiers, "MK ULTRA" (produced in collaboration with BBC journalist and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Adam Curtis) and choreographing the Commonwealth Games 2018 handover live televised on BBC Two, estimated to have been seen by one billion people globally. Kay is founder and artistic director of Rosie Kay Dance Company (which was awarded National Portfolio Organisation status from Arts Council England in 2017), Associate Artist at Dance City, and a research associate to the University of Oxford School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography.
Early life.
Rosie Kay, born in Scotland and brought up in Devon, began dance classes at the age of three. She trained at London Contemporary Dance School, graduating in 1998.
Career.
Rosie Kay first worked as a dancer outside of the UK before founding Rosie Kay Dance Company in 2004.
In 2013, Kay became Leverhulme Artist in Residence at the University of Oxford, using the archive of the Pitts Rivers Museum to create "Sluts of Possession" with Brazilian dance artist Guilherme Miotto. She worked with the director of The Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Professor Stanley Ulijaszek, research partner Dr Karin Eli, Dr Noel Lobley (Head of Ethnomusicology), Dr Christopher Morton (Head of Film and Photography at the Pitt Rivers) and Dr Clare Harris to develop the piece. Performed by Kay and Miotto, "Sluts of Possession" featured at Dance Base at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, honing in on trance-like states and tribal ritual.
In 2014 producer James Preston joined Rosie Kay Dance Company as executive director, with the pair first meeting at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe whilst Kay was performing her piece "The Wild Party" in 2006.
In 2015, Rosie Kay's production "5 Soldiers" received a Special Commendation from the Royal Society of Public Health's Arts and Health Awards and was nominated for Best Choreography at the National Dance Awards in 2015 whilst the company won Best Independent Dance Company. The show also garnered considerable critical praise, attaining 5 stars in The Scotsman, The Herald, the Observer, the Independent, and 4 stars in The Guardian, and was included in the Best Dance Charts 2015 for the latter three publications. In 2017, it returned to Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a sell-out run presented by Summerhall’s Army@TheFringe and was awarded a Summerhall Jawbone Award for ‘Greatest Festival Moments 2017’. A digital commission from The Space in 2017 enabled a live stream of the show from an Army base in London presented by Sadler's Wells on BBC Arts Online.
In 2015, Kay danced as character Nastya Terpsikhorova and took the role of Movement Director in Irina Brown's stage direction of Shostakovich's "Orango" at BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall in London.
"MK ULTRA", performed in 2017 is politically focused, the final part of a trilogy beginning with "5 Soldiers" (on war) and "There Is Hope" (on religion). In it, Kay explores themes of surveillance, propaganda, and "total war".
Rosie Kay was chosen as the Choreographer of the Commonwealth Games handover performance as the sporting event transitioned from Australia to Birmingham, UK for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The choreography was put together in ten days and was televised live to an estimated one billion people globally, in a performance that also included the longest ever single-camera shot of a live handover. The performance featured Birmingham Royal Ballet's principal dancer Céline Gittens and blended ballet, street, jazz and contemporary dance. Approximately 1,500 volunteers auditioned to take part with 500–600 participating in the live show.
In April 2018, Rosie Kay Dance Company became an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.
Kay is associate director and choreographer for a large-scale adaptation of "Woyzeck", with a community cast of 100+ at Birmingham Repertory Theatre as part of Birmingham International Dance Festival 2018.
Influences.
"5 Soldiers".
In 2006 Kay experienced a knee injury with doctors saying that she would never dance again. When recovering from an operation and still feeling the effects of general anaesthetic, she had a vivid dream which inspired the creation of "5 Soldiers: The Body is the Frontline", a piece that tells the story of servicemen and women in the British Army. Recalling the dream, she told The Daily Record:“I dreamt my leg had been blown off on a desert battlefield. In the dream, my first thought was, ‘Oh s**t’. My second thought was, ‘My body is not my soul, I can chop off my arms and legs and I’d still be me’. I thought, ‘What are the links between dance training and soldiers’ training? Could I understand the way they use their bodies? Could I step into that? How would it feel to change my body in that way? What happens in your mind to take those risks?" After coming up with the idea for "5 Soldiers", it took her nearly two years to gain an embedded attachment to an infantry battalion. With the support of retired British Army Major General Sir Michael Carleton-Smith, she secured an attachment with 4th Battalion, The Rifles with whom she took part in intensive training on Dartmoor before spending time with medics and injured soldiers the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Unit at Headley Court and Selly Oak in Birmingham (Royal Centre for Defence Medicine). At these army rehab centres, Kay spoke with soldiers who had returned from Afghanistan with complex trauma injuries and multiple amputations.
General Nick Parker, KCB, CBE commented on Kay's: “use of dance to help create a complex and nuanced picture of conflict is one of the most innovative and compelling initiatives that I have experienced in the aftermath of Iraq and Afghanistan. It demonstrates how art can be used as a powerful tool in the healing process, how it can touch the extended family of those who have been caught in the horror of battle and how it can send a universal message about the soldier. It is an extraordinary achievement which will make a difference to many people.”
"MK Ultra".
Together with journalist Adam Curtis, Kay interviewed 14- to 25-year-olds from the West Midlands, incorporating some of their testimonies into the piece.
Personal life.
Kay is the daughter of Stefan G. Kay OBE and Helen Kay. She has a son, Gabriel and lives in Northfield, Birmingham, with her film-maker husband Louis Price.
List of major works.
Feature Film credits include choreographer for "Sunshine on Leith (2013)" and "Brummoves" (2014). "5 SOLDIERS – the film", was exhibited at The Herbert Gallery Coventry, Stadtmuseum Dresden and is in the film collection of la Médiathèque du Centre National de la Danse, Paris.