K2CO presents A Thing of Beauty

Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre
2 & 3 July 2025

Award-winning choreographer and dancer Rosie Kay and her company K2CO present a double bill of groundbreaking works celebrating the female dancer.

A Thing of Beauty, which will be performed at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds on 2 & 3 July, features two of her most iconic works — the autobiographical Adult Female Dancer, which she performs solo, and Fantasia, which brings together three female performers to celebrate beauty. Created roughly a year apart, the pieces share common ground in questioning the role of a female dancer, how women are viewed by others and how women view and express themselves.

Premiered in 2019 and nominated as the Best Dance in that year by The Guardian, Fantasia is inspired by the study of female beauty – what it has meant throughout the ages and into the present day.

Rosie Kay said: “Today beauty as a concept is just about superficial appearance but it’s actually about so much more than that. So, in Fantasia I play with the idea of the three dancers and how they present themselves, how perfect they are, how authentically they dance. Fantasia is this really pleasurable, beautiful, joyous thing. It is gorgeous to look at and it’s your favourite sound scores – Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Vaughan Williams. You can sit back, relax and enjoy it and it is designed to take you places and tickle your senses.”

In Adult Female Dancer, Rosie turns the spotlight on her own body and her relationship to dance over the decades. Created during the Covid lockdown period, the work challenged Rosie to explore her own journey and her relationship to her physicality.

“My material is always saying something about the world but at that time I realised it’s also saying something about me as well. It felt like with Covid and the world on pause it was the right time to go back to who I am, where I’ve come from and to tackle some things about myself.”

With recorded words and an eclectic score featuring music by Patti Smith, Ennio Morricone, Brian Eno and Bach, Adult Female Dancer was nominated for the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards Best Female Performance (Dance) in 2022.

Tickets for A Thing of Beauty by K2CO are now on sale. Visit northernballet.com/theatre/2025/k2co to find out more and book.