An evening with K2CO, a female-led dance company fronted by Rosie Kay, offers more than just dance – we’re given a window into the artist’s evolving relationship with the body, music, and meaning.
Presented at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, the evening unfolded from Kay’s autobiographical honesty in Adult Female Dancer to the reflected beauty of Fantasia —a work rich in imagery yet layered with mystery.
The evening opened with Adult Female Dancer, a solo created and performed by Kay herself. Originally choreographed in 2020, this is her first and only autobiographical solo and it lands with powerful immediacy.
As the curtains opened, a pre-recorded audio ran through the speakers.
“My name is Rosie R-O-S-I-E… and today I don’t feel like dancing.”
It was immediately honest and unfiltered and in parts deeply moving as the piece explored the physical, emotional and spiritual dimensions of Kay’s life as a dancer. Between each choreographed section, a recurring voice narrated pivotal moments from Kay’s life. Set to an eclectic soundtrack that spans Brian Eno to Aphex Twin, Kay moves through these memories and parts of her identity with disarming openness.
Adult Female Dancer is dedicated to her late father, Stefan Kay, and that sense of personal reckoning and love is quietly palpable throughout. Raw, defiant, and ultimately life-affirming, Adult Female Dancer set a tone of vulnerability that lingered long after the final pose.
Next came Fantasia, a trio inspired by the study of female beauty. This performance had been voted best dance of 2019 by The Guardian. Here, three cast members, Annelise Bucher, Shanelle Clemenson and Angharad Jones-Young traded introspection for sheer sensory delight.
Divided into three movements – The Sun, The Moon and The Earth – this piece was visually rich, costumes paired perfectly with each segment and danced with extraordinary musicality by the female performers. Sweeping across compositions by Vivaldi and Beethoven, the choreography celebrated rhythm, symmetry and the pure pleasure of motion.
The cast’s joy of dancing was clearly present here, but it never seemed sentimental, as behind the elegance was a clear sense of control, discipline and strength. Fantasia was a piece rich in imagery. The overall effect was visually mesmerising, filled by statuary stillness and sharply controlled dynamics.
Without prior context, the piece on a whole might seem quite puzzling. But if you dive deeper, you will find that A Thing of Beauty is intricately woven with Kay’s recurring fascination with power dynamics, identity, and hidden knowledge, all themes Kay’s explored before in MK Ultra and other projects.
With that context in mind, the performance came into clearer focus— not so much a traditional piece of dance theatre, but a work designed to challenge and provoke. Rather than offering clear answers, it invites the audience to engage with uncertainty. The dancers brought a strong presence and impressive precision to the stage, offering a sense of purpose even when the meaning remained open-ended.
As the performance came to an end, even without a clear emotional or narrative connection to A Thing of Beauty, the piece left a strong impression. There is something undeniably raw and uncompromising about it. Whether seen as visionary or challenging, Kay’s work invites reflection and conversation and perhaps that ongoing dialogue is where its real power lies.
Main image: Fantasia. Photography by Point of View Photography.
