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Available online The choreographer goes back to barracks to portray how intense army training moulds raw recruits into a fighting team, with the mental and physical battles that ensue
To prepare for her original look at army life, the award-winning 5 Soldiers, Rosie Kay took part in battle exercises embedded with an infantry battalion. This is no artist’s invention of the military – her research goes deep. Ten years since that premiere, the expanded version, 10 Soldiers, is another potent work.
The main addition in this larger-scale version is a first act that takes our protagonists from civilians to soldiers; from frantic star jumps, out of breath and all over the place, to a streamlined section carrying out intricately rhythmic drills. There’s much pleasure in watching unison manoeuvres click into place, knees high and arms swung with swagger. The life of a soldier is already full of choreography, and Kay works with that to make dance that feels rooted in reality. Continue reading...