ROSIE KAY

Rosie Kay (BA Hons) FRSA, MCR St Cross College, Oxford, born in Scotland, danced from a very early age, then trained at London Contemporary Dance School, graduating in 1998, before a career as a dancer in Poland, France, Germany and the USA. Kay returned to the UK in 2003, founded Rosie Kay Dance Company 2004-21 and set up K2CO in 2022.

Kay’s works up to date include Romeo + Juliet (2021),  Absolute Solo II (2021), Adult Female Dancer celebrated as the ‘Top 5 Dance Works of 2021’ by The Observer  and Kay nominated for a National Dance Award 2022 for Outstanding Female Performance (Modern). Kay is well known for the multi- award-winning work 5 SOLDIERS (2010- present) based on intense research with the British Army and 10 SOLDIERS (2019). 

Rosie Kay’s Fantasia (2019) was included in The Guardian’s ‘Top 10 Dance of 2019’. MK ULTRA was created in 2017 a work about conspiracy theory and pop made with BBC film-maker Adam Curtis. Kay choreographed the live Commonwealth Games Handover Ceremony (2018), watched by 1 billion people worldwide and has worked in film as the choreographer to Sunshine on Leith (2013).

Kay was appointed Leverhulme Artist in Residence at the School of Anthropology, University of Oxford (2013). Awards for her work include Best Independent Company (2015) and nominated for Best Choreography for 5 Soldiers (2015), National Dance Awards and nominated for Best Independent Company 2012 and 2017, nominated Best Female Performer for MK Ultra (2017) and Absolute Solo II (2021), a Royal Society for Public Health Award for support to military communities, and the Bonnie Bird New Choreography Award.

Denise Fahmy has 30 years’ experience in arts administration and development.  Denise specialises in visual arts and for the past 15 years worked for Arts Council England as a Relationship Manager in the North of England. In June 2023 an Employment Tribunal found that Denise’s claim of harassment, that she’d experienced at work relating to the protected characteristic of her gender critical belief, was well-founded.  Her legal costs were met by 1,284 well-wishers through a Crowd Justice campaign. The decision is here and Denise explains what happened to her here.