Press Release: Rosie Kay's 5 star show 5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Frontline returns to London

[Jan McNulty]

Rosie Kay Dance Company      

                                                  
5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Frontline
 

Drill Hall, Yeomanry House, Handel Street, WC1N 1NP
Thursday 7 - Saturday 9 September 2017
Tickets: £20 (£15 concessions: along with regular concessions, also available for members of the Armed Forces)
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

In 2008, Birmingham based choreographer Rosie Kay joined The 4th Battalion The Rifles, to watch and participate in full battle exercises, and visited the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre for our Armed Forces. What came of these observations is an award-winning, five-star work 5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Frontline. Sadler’s Wells presents the return of 5 SOLDIERS at Yeomanry House, as part of a UK tour exclusively to military venues in a significant new partnership with the Army from Thursday 7 September - Saturday 9 September. 

The work is structured into three-parts. The first shows the soldiers confined in a pen-like set, where they wait between periods of action training and drill and show the soldiers performing complex drill maneuvers and double-time marches. Part two sees the soldier’s team dynamics, testing each other playfully, dancing and fighting together, away from training. The final section takes place both “on the ground” in combat and also looks at the aftermath of war. Kay explores how the body takes the brunt of all wars and demonstrates the physical frustration of the young soldier and the impact of war on the body itself.

Deeply realistic, stark and thrilling 5 SOLDIERS offers no moral stance on war. Instead, through Kay’s trademark intense physical and athletic dance theatre, it questions what it is that we ask of our soldiers and explores how the human body remains essential to war, even in the 21st century when technology and machinery play a key role in battle. Kay’s work looks at the connection between the work of the dancer and the soldier. Both risk injury and face the experience of recovering as part of their jobs. 

Associate Artist of DanceXchange, Birmingham and Associate Artist, Dance City, Newcastle, Kay was the first Leverhulme Artist in Residence to the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, 2013 – 2014 and has continued as a Research Associate. Choreographer of the film Sunshine on Leith, (directed by Dexter Fletcher), Kay’s trademark style of intense physical and athletic dance theatre has earned five star reviews, a nomination for Best Modern Choreography in the National Dance Awards and the ‘Best Dance’ recognition in The Observer, The Guardian and The Independent in 2015 for 5 SOLDIERS. Other awards include ‘Young Achiever of Scotland’ from Her Majesty The Queen and the Bonnie Bird New Choreography Award.

5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Frontline is part of Sadler’s Wells’ regular programme of performances offsite

Age Guidance: 12+ (Parental guidance advised, contains some scenes of violence)

Athena Contemporary Dance Trust presents Rosie Kay Dance Company’s 5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Frontline in Association with The Army. Funded by Arts Council England and the Chancellor using LIBOR funds.

Free post-show talk after each performance


LISTING INFORMATION
5 SOLDIERS NATIONAL TOUR 2017 

Rosie Kay Dance Company                                                        
5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Frontline

London 
Yeomanry House, Handel Street, WC1N 1NP
Thursday 7, Friday 8 & Saturday 9 September
Presented by Sadler’s Wells: 020 7863 8000 / www.sadlerswells.com

Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Army @ The Fringe, Hepburn House, Army Reserve Centre, East Claremont Street
11 – 26 August (not 14,15, 21, 22)
Presented by Summerhall Tickets: 0131 560 1581 / www.summerhall.co.uk / www.edfringe.com

Hull 
Londesborough Street Barracks, Londesborough Street, Hull, HU3 1DS
Thursday 14 & Friday 15 September
Supported by Hull Military Covenant Forum: 01482 300306 or http://www.hulltheatres.co.uk 

Aldershot
Canada House Boxing Centre, Rawlinson Road, Aldershot, GU11 2EY
Friday 22 & Saturday 23 September
Presented by The West End Centre & Hampshire Cultural Trust: 01252 330040 / www.hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk/west-end-centre 

Swindon
Royal Wessex Yeomanry Army Reserve Centre, Church Place
Friday 29 & Saturday 30 September
Presented by Swindon Dance: 01793 601700 / www.swindondance.org.uk  

Colchester
Corporal Budd VC Gymnasium Colchester Garrison 
Friday 6 & Saturday 7 October 
Presented by The Mercury Theatre: 01206 573948 / www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

Birmingham 
Army Reserve Centre, Golden Hillock Road
Friday 13 & Saturday 14 October
Presented by Birmingham Repertory Theatre:  0121 236 4455 / www.birmingham-rep.co.uk  

For all performances: 
Age Guidance: 12+ contains violence 

• Running time: 1 hr  + post-show talk
• Saturday night community performance: approx. 10 mins 

Athena Contemporary Dance Trust presents Rosie Kay’s 5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Frontline in Association with The Army. Funded by Arts Council England and the Chancellor using LIBOR funds.

Notes to Editors:

ABOUT SADLER’S WELLS
Sadler's Wells is a world-leading dance house, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding, the theatre’s acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap. 

Since 2005, it has helped to bring over 130 new dance works to the stage and its award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour internationally. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 Associate Artists, three Resident Companies, an Associate Company and three International Associate Companies. It also nurtures the next generation of talent through research and development, running the National Youth Dance Company and a range of programmes including Wild Card, New Wave Associates, Open Art Surgery and Summer University.

Located in Islington, north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells. Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 9% of its revenue from Arts Council England. 

ABOUT ROSIE KAY DANCE COMPANY 
Rosie Kay Dance Company is an internationally recognised dance-theatre company that creates performance works that tour the UK and beyond.  Renowned for their intelligent content, athletic technical precision and outstanding new ideas, the company has built a solid reputation for cutting-edge dance theatre.  The work is exciting and challenging and tours in unique and captivating ways.  See www.rosiekay.co.uk | www.5soldiers.co.uk

 

The creative team behind 5 SOLDIERS includes: Louis Price (designer), Annie Mahtani (composer), Ben Payne (Dramaturg) and Mike Gunning (lighting designer). 

 

Mission Statement: Brave new dance that thrills and moves people
Our mission is to constantly evolve and find new ways of making works, to question what dance can explore in subject matter and to thrill and surprise audiences with new ideas.

• Rosie Kay Dance Company is to become a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) awarded by Arts Council England in June 2017 and will receive fixed term 4 year funding from 2018-2022. This award means the company will be far more secure and plans a programme of new works over the next four years as well as touring existing works such as 5 SOLDIERS and MK Ultra.

• Rosie Kay Dance Company, set up in 2004, is based in Birmingham and works closely with partners in the West Midlands including; DanceXchange, Birmingham Hippodrome, The REP, Warwick Arts Centre and mac Birmingham
• Rosie Kay is Associate Artist and newly appointed Board Member to Dance City, Newcastle
• The company won Best Independent Company at the 2015 National Dance Awards

 

Rosie’s choreographic style is highly athletic, physically demanding, risky and thrilling. Rosie’s work is always grounded in research; she has strong narrative ability (though does not exclusively create narrative work) and a keen sense of theatricality. Rosie’s most recent works have included significant video elements working with her theatre video designer husband Louis Price. Her work is described as engrossing, overwhelming, involving, moving, impressive, uplifting, unsettling, majestic, entrancing and breathtaking.

www.rosiekay.co.uk | www.5soldiers.co.uk