Rosie Kay Dance Company, the international award-winning dance theatre company headed by artistic director and choreographer Rosie Kay, will be visiting York with its thought-provoking and extremely moving 5 SOLDIERS: THE BODY IS THE FRONTLINE on Friday 5 – Saturday 6 June.
With the commemorations of WWI in the news, 5 SOLDIERS shows how the human body is still central to all conflict, the impact and injuries lasting long after the headlines fade.
The tour, the first of its kind in the UK, will see the company working in partnership with theatres, military bases and the Army Welfare Service, bringing the production to a specially created theatre off site at Imphal Barracks.
On Friday 5th June the show will be followed by a post-show talk with the choreographer and company. On Saturday 6th June local groups who are part of the 5 SOLDIERS Community Engagement Programme will perform short pieces before the main show. They have been rehearsing for this with York based choreographer Sam Lawrence. Artistic Director Rosie Kay said
The Community Engagement aspect of this tour of 5 SOLDIERS is hugely important to Rosie Kay Dance Company. Education and outreach work has been a passion of mine, teaching now for over 20 years, and with a particular passion that dance can help people to understand complex ideas and to help transform ideas of themselves and ideas about the world.
Rosie continues:
For military groups we have approached this very sensitively, and we are clear that this project is about humanising the subject with dignity and respect. We’ve found that people, once we have gained their trust, appreciate the fact that we are trying to bring this subject to the general public
No-holds-barred, 5 SOLDIERS delivers Kay’s trademark style of intense physical and athletic dance theatre. The work received audience and critical acclaim in 2010 and 2011, and has been endorsed as ‘getting it’ by its military audiences.
Says General Sir Nick Parker, KCB, CBE:
Rosie 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.
Supported by Arts Council England and Army Benevolent Fund, The Soldiers’ Charity, 5 SOLDIERS is a moving, dramatic and unique work that looks at how the human body remains essential to war, even in the 21st century.
A visceral ‘tour de force’ of the senses, 5 SOLDIERS provides an intimate view of the training that prepares our soldiers for the sheer physicality of combat, for the possibility of injury, and the impact conflict has on the bodies and minds of everyone it reaches. The piece has a powerful physicality, moments of humour and is full of honesty, all inspired by input from serving and former soldiers.
Kay’s moving exploration of war was made following an intense period of field research when she joined The 4th Battalion The Rifles for two weeks and experienced full battle exercises on Dartmoor and Salisbury Plain. Kay then visited the military rehabilitation centre, Headley Court, to see the effects of conflict and training on the soldiers’ bodies.
New to the company are five outstanding dancers – Duncan Anderson, Chester Hayes, Sean Marcs, Oliver Russell and Shelley Eva Haden – during the intense six-week rehearsal period they participated in a weeklong military exercise with The 4th Battalion The Rifles on the Salisbury Plain.
5 SOLDIERS brings together an exciting mix of collaborators: designer Louis Price, composer Annie Mahtani, Dramaturg Ben Payne, lighting designer Mike Gunning and visual artist David Cotterell.
Kay is one of the world’s leading female choreographers with a reputation for making strong, intelligent work that tackles interesting subjects with exciting collaborations. In 2012 the company was nominated as Best Independent Dance Company by the National Dance Awards, Critics Circle. Kay choreographed the 2013 feature film Sunshine on Leith, directed by Dexter Fletcher, with songs by The Proclaimers. In 2013, Kay was the first choreographer to be appointed the Leverhulme Artist in Residence at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford.
5 SOLDIERS runs on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 June at Imphal Barracks at 7.30pm. Due to the strict security measures at this live military venue audience members need to bring photo ID and note that bags may be searched. Free parking is available and the venue is fully accessible but tickets must be pre-booked. Book tickets by calling 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.