5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Frontline A dance documentary film by Rosie Kay Followed by a conversation with Rosie Kay and Brigadier Ed Butler CBE DSO
The film is adapted from Kay’s internationally acclaimed dance-theatre production 5 SOLDIERS, which was created following extensive research embedded with the 4th Battalion The Rifles. Kay joined soldiers during full battle exercises, observed military training first-hand, and visited the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, gaining insight into the realities of injury, recovery and service life. These experiences informed a work grounded in the physical demands and emotional realities of military experience.
A decade after its acclaimed premiere, Kay revisits the work from a new perspective, transforming the stage production into a documentary for the screen. Combining newly created choreography with testimony from former members of the British Army, the film offers an unsentimental and deeply human portrait of army life: preparation and fear, discipline and camaraderie, boredom and bravado, injury and recovery, and the evolving role of women within the Armed Forces.
The film does not argue for or against war. Instead, it centres the individuals whose bodies carry its demands. It asks what it means to prepare bodies for combat, to live under conditions of extreme discipline and risk, and to return—changed—to civilian life. In a moment when defence, citizenship and national service are again part of public debate, 5 SOLDIERS invites audiences to consider how societies remember, understand and value those who serve.
The screening will be presented with a live discussion featuring Rosie Kay and Brigadier Ed Butler CBE DSO. This event is designed to deepen public dialogue around service, citizenship, the body, and the human experience of military life.
About the speakers
Rosie Kay FRSA is an award-winning choreographer, director and Artistic Director/CEO of K2CO. Her acclaimed works include 5 SOLDIERS, 10 SOLDIERS, MK ULTRA, Fantasia, Adult Female Dancer and A Thing of Beauty. A former Leverhulme Artist in Residence at the University of Oxford, Kay is known for bold, physically powerful dance theatre rooted in research, politics and lived experience.
Brigadier Ed Butler CBE DSO is a former British Army officer who served for 24 years, including as Commanding Officer of 22 SAS and Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan in 2006. Since leaving the Army, he has worked in strategic risk, resilience and security, and has held senior advisory roles in the private sector. He is also Chair of We Served, a veterans’ organisation supporting former service personnel and their transition into civilian life.
Age Guidance: 12+
Running time: Film 60mins, Q&A 45mins (approx)
