Ahead of its tour across the UK, Denmark and the USA, Rosie Kay Dance Company’s 5 Soldiers: The Body is the Frontline will be broadcast on Forces TV on 23 December at 8PM, its first time on TV, available on Freeview+, YouView, Freesat, Sky and Virgin in the UK as well as part of BFBS TV for HM Forces serving worldwide.
The film shows 5 Soldiers as it was livestreamed from a Central London Army drill hall in association with The Army last year, commissioned by The Space and BBC Arts. The cast of five dancers show "the power struggles between the ranks, the passionate and sometimes rowdy bonds between each other, their vulnerabilities and their fragility, ultimately forming a hugely strong unit that can face a firefight and an unseen enemy together."
The show is followed by a panel discussion hosted by Simon Preston and featuring choreographer Rosie Kay alongside Lt Gen James Bashall Commander Home Command, Lt Col Sue Wright, former SO1 Arts, Sadler’s Wells Artistic Director and Chief Executive Alistair Spalding and Observer dance critic Luke Jennings.
For the first time in 2019, a serving soldier will be cast in a dancing role; Trooper Alex Smith, 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards, trained at Northern Ballet before leaving to join The Army.
5 Soldiers will tour the UK and abroad from 31 January to 13 April with performances at Salisbury Arts Centre, Perth Theatre, Stephen Joseph Theatre (Scarborough), South Hill Park (Berkshire), Gulbenkian (Canterbury), Sherman Theatre (Cardiff), Strode Theatre (Somerset), Baltoppen LIVE and Grønnegades Kaserne Kulturcenter (Denmark) and Atrium Theater as part of the SF Performances season (San Francisco).
Rosie Kay Dance Company is expanding the work into 10 Soldiers with a larger cast and new research into equality and diversity in The Army, which will première at Birmingham Hippodrome on Tuesday 21 May before heading to Edinburgh Festival Theatre and Norwich Theatre Royal.