Rosie Kay
Rosie Kay trained at London Contemporary Dance School and after a 6-year career as a performer formed Rosie Kay Dance Company in 2004. Since then Kay has created Asylum (2004), The Wild Party (2006), Double Points: K (2008), Supernova (2008) and 5 SOLDIERS- The Body Is The Frontline (2010) and The Great Train Dance (2011) for the company as well as dance films The Wild Party and 22. 5 SOLDIERS – The Film was launched in 2011, a 13-angle interactive website that offers a unique way to watch a work of dance online (www.5soldiers.co.uk). The company has toured the UK and International Festivals including Dance Umbrella, Edinburgh Festivals, Lichfield Festival, Belfast Festival and the company has had two commissions from the International Dance Festival Birmingham and a commission from Warwick Arts Centre. International performances include Madrid En Danza and a 3-week residency in Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin in 2011. The Great Train Dance was a Dancing for the Games commission and formed part of the Cultural Olympics with an award by the Inspire Mark (LOCOG).
Rosie Kay’s awards include; award by the Queen at Holyrood Place as a young achiever of Scotland (1999), 1st Prize choreography International Dance Solo Festival, Stuttgart (2000), The Bonnie Bird New Choreographer Award (2003), Highlight of the Year by The Sunday Herald for The Wild Party (2006), Channel 4 Creative Class (2005), 1st Prize International Dance Festival Sardinia (2008), Most Outstanding Partnership for Double Points K, Dance Europe (2009). Rosie Kay is a former Rayne Foundation Fellow, which has lead to secondments with Emio Greco| PC, the late film director Anthony Minghella, with Sadler’s Wells Theatre, a period with MP’s in Westminster, and an attachment with the 4th Battalion The Rifles which lead to the work 5 Soldiers which received the Time Out Critics Choice, The Times Editors Choice and was featured on Radio 4’s Today Programme. Rosie Kay collaborated with the Watching Dance: Kinesthetic Empathy Project since 2009, creating Double Points: 3x for the purposes of research. Kay has presented at Oxford University, Anthropology Dept, York St Jon, Dancin’ Oxford, Glasgow University, Laban and Dance City, and will be collaborated with Prof. Dee Reynolds on audience research with 5 SOLDIERS. Rosie Kay is Associate Artist of DanceXchange, Birmingham and is the subject leader for the Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) West Midlands UK. Commissioned work includes work with Birmingham Royal Ballet, Duckie at The Barbican, Ludus Dance and The Young Vic. Future work includes a project with Oxford University as Artist in Residence and the new company production will premiere October 2012.
Hannah Sharpe-Executive Director
Hannah attended Leicestershire Arts in Education, where she gained associate teaching grades in Ballet and Modern dance. She then went of to do a BA (Hons) at London School of Contemporary Dance and graduated in 2001. After graduating Hannah worked for DanceXchange (dx), the national dance agency for Birmingham and the West Midlands, taken on as an assistant Project Manager and promoted to Project Manager after 6 months. During her time at dx she has worked on projects such as; Big Leaps in House; The Jerwood Changing Stages Choreolab; Bare Bones; the Big Mission and many more.
Since April 2005, Hannah has been working in partnership with Beth Nabbs and together they set up their own dance management company, two’s company dance management and offer services including, company/project management, tour booking and marketing. Past clients include, Dave McKenna of Beingfrank Physical Theatre, Kate Mason of Mobius Dance Company, National Youth Dance England, The Royal Opera House, Mickael (Marso) Riviere of BBoys Attic and current clients include Rosie Kay Dance Company, Anima Dance, Irven Lewis Dance Theatre, State of Emergency, Birmingham International Festival and NDN (National Dance Network).
The company has a very valuable board we meet regularly. Their biographies are listed below;
Board Members
Farah Baksh- Director, Board Member
Born in Guyana, South America, Farah gained her degree from Carleton University, Ottowa in business and marketing. She has 18 years experience in International Sales and has an MBA in International Business. She was Managing Director of her own Instrumentation Equipment Company and lived in Sweden for 12 years. Currently she is a Director at PWC in Business Development. She is a non- executive of Ex Cathedra, a mentor for the Princes Trust, has had full board training from Arts and Business and is a keen supporter of young artists and the arts.
Stefan Kay OBE – Chairman and Director of Rosie Kay Dance Company
Rosie Kay’s father; aged 61, married to Helen Kay with 2 daughters. Chartered Engineer; 30-some years in the paper manufacturing industry; latterly MD of Inveresk PLC, led MBO in 1990 and flotation on Stock Exchange in 1993; worked at UK and EU level on energy and environment matters for the industry; OBE 1998. Retired from Inveresk in 2001; now Director of Services for Herriot-Watt University’s Scottish Borders Campus part-time; Director/Chairman of a number of companies including a charity; Chair of Scottish Forest Industries Cluster. Chairman of Rosie Kay Dance Company Ltd and fellow director with Rosie Kay.
Frances Clarke-Director and Board Member.
Frances Clarke attended Arts Educational Schools in Tring and London before attending Laban and gaining a BA(Hons) in Dance Theatre. She has a Postgraduate Certificate of Education in Dance from Bedford College and is presently studying for the MSc in Dance Medicine and Science at University of Wolverhampton. She was a founder member of Springs Dance Company in 1979 and became the artistic director 1992-1997. She has a very wide experience of dance education as course leader at Halesowen College, mentor to Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers for outreach programmes, Senior Lecturer in dance at University of Wolverhampton and course leader for the Ba Dance Practise and Performance degree at University of Wolverhampton.
James Allenby
David Massingham- Artistic Advisor, Advisory Board Member
David Massingham trained at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance before becoming a member of Transitions Dance Company for whom he made several works. He was founder and Co-Director of Adventures in Motion Pictures in 1987 before establishing David Massingham Dance in 1989. The Company toured extensively in the 1990s taking work from rural village halls to large-scale theatres. Their last work, Untold, premiered in Spring Loaded at The Place in 1998. David was also Choreographer in Residence at Northern Arts in 1995, before returning to perform his own work in 1999, with the Channel Four Per4mance series. David has worked in a variety of choreographic fields such as film, theatre and music theatre. His credits include Cabaret for Newcastle Live Theatre, The Red Balloon for Birmingham Repertory Theatre and The Tempest for The National Theatre. David is currently Artistic Director of DanceXchange, The National Dance Agency for Birmingham & the West Midlands, and of the resident dance company Bare Bones. He also continues to pursue choreographic projects, his latest being a new work for the New Zealand School of Dance in 2004.
