Rosie Kay

CHOREOGRAPHER, DIRECTOR, PERFORMER, WRITER, SPEAKER

Rosie Kay (BA Hons) FRSA, MCR St Cross College, Oxford, born in Scotland, trained at London Contemporary Dance School, 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 tour in 2021 with Kay is nominated for a National Dance Award 2022 for Outstanding Female Performance (Modern). Kay’s well known work is 5 SOLDIERS (2010- present) based on intense research with the British Army and the large-scale 10 SOLDIERS (2019). 

Rosie Kay’s Fantasia, was included in The Guardian’s ‘Top 10 Dance of 2019’. MK ULTRA (2017) was created with BBC film-maker Adam Curtis. Other works include Motel (2016), Sluts of Possession (2013), There is Hope (2012), Double Points: K (2008), Asylum (2005). Kay choreographed the live Commonwealth Games Handover Ceremony (2018), watched by over 1 billion people worldwide and was the choreographer to Sunshine on Leith (2013). 

Kay was the first choreographer appointed Leverhulme Artist in Residence at the School of Anthropology, University of Oxford (2013). Awards for her work include Best Independent Company (2015), nominated for Best Choreography for 5 Soldiers (2015), National Dance Awards, also nominated for Best Female Performance (MK Ultra), and Best Independent Company 2012 and 2017. Her work received a Royal Society for Public Health Award for support to military communities, the Bonnie Bird New Choreography Award & Kay was invited to meet Queen Elizabeth II as a young achiever of Scotland at Holyrood. Kay is a Director of Dance Consortium, the UK’s biggest dance touring consortium and A Moments Peace Theatre Company. 

In 2023 Kay set up Freedom in the Arts with Denise Fahmy to support freedom of expression, protect artists from cancel culture and help artistic institutions ensure their mission.