ABSOLUTE SOLO

Double bill of works

Adult Female Dancer, created 2021

Rosie Kay Nominated for Best Female Performer, 2021 National Dance Awards

Top 5 Best Dance of 2021 by The Observer

Artemis Clown, created 2018

 ★★★★ The Times A Thing of Beauty review — Rosie Kay bounces back in style, May 26th 2025 The Times, By Donald Hutera

“This smart, salutary double bill marks a comeback for the gifted British choreographer Rosie Kay. There is much to recommend here. For starters, Kay’s focus is on strong female dancers — including herself. She made the first iteration of the 30-minute autobiographical solo Adult Female Dancer in 2020. Its central subject is Kay’s deep, complex relationship with dance and her own, now early middle-aged body. It is a deft blend of movement, interspersed with voiceover narration, that conveys grief, pleasure, struggle and joy.

“I danced before I could talk,” Kay says, before adding: “I don’t want to dance today.” But then she does, standing upstage barefoot in black tights and a white top before slipping into motion to a laid-back Brian Eno track. (Other well-chosen music includes Bach, Ennio Morricone and Aphex Twin.) We hear about accomplishments plus a near-death experience while giving birth, countless injuries and a cancer diagnosis. The dancing always pertains to Kay’s life experience. At 49, she is obviously no kid but she has form and musicality. The result is a beguilingly honest portrait of dedication and resilience capped by a finale that proves Kay is a match for vintage Patti Smith.”

★★★★ The Observer

“The dance is stripped back too, but intensely expressive. Kay has an extraordinary centred poise; she can make simple steps and gestures speak. She dances with freedom and effort, grace and intense control. There are moments of wild abandon and others of pure clarity. As the narrative of her life unfolds, dance repeatedly asserts itself, allowing her to communicate. At the end she says: “What can this body say, what does this body want to say? Let it dance, Rosie.

Then she does, letting rip to Patti Smith’s Gloria, arm raised in triumph. Watching, I wondered if this was what it felt like to see Isadora Duncan. A woman, strong and free, full of sadness and hurt, but also of power, defining her life in dance.”

★★★★ “Rosie Kay had the stage presence of a 40-strong corps de ballet”
“how wonderful to find this empowering testament to the female body given the status it deserves” The Scotsman, Kelly Apter

★★★★ “it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a piece of dance theatre quite so moving and thought-provoking” DanceTabs, Bruce Marriot

★★★★ “In yet further proof of her courage as a performer, Kay seems to have left no stone unturned in this stoic confessional.” BachTrack, Graham Watts