Kick Off is a bold and joyful promenade dance theatre piece created for the Leeds 2023 cultural programme, with an intergenerational cast of 27 women and girls from across Leeds aged 10-85. Drawing on the physicality of football and the history of women’s protest & activism, Kick Off sees a defiant, euphoric throng of women, girls and non-binary people parading through the streets and into a city park, forming and organising as if they were both playing a match and taking part in a protest. They share tactics, shout instructions and commentate; on each other, the audience and their environment. They roar rewritten football chants, blow whistles and cheer, offering an alternative to the noise of “lads lads lads” and proposing a future of loud, unapologetic, defiant women; taking space, supporting one another and ‘misbehaving’ in public. An original score was composed for the work and developed with the community cast by acclaimed composer Beibei Wang.

Choreography / Direction: Kate Cox and Rachel Fullegar in collaboration with the performers // Composition / Musical Direction: Beibei Wang // Musicians: Amara Latchford, Allexa Nava, Charlotte Keeffe, Lily Renwick // Dance Artists: Izzy Brittain, Bun Kobayashi, Mayowa Ogunnaike // Performers: Nancy Benson, Nicky Bray, Izzy Brittain, Jane Braunholtz-Speight, Ameila Battye, Amelia Jeffers, Bun Kobayashi, Amara Latchford, Qinwei Li, Xuan Liufu, Sonja Miller, Irandokht Monfated, Isobel Moloney, Wendy Mundy, Allexa Nava, Charlotte Keeffe, Mayowa Ogunnaike, Eirini Papadopoulou, Lily Renwick, Shelby Rhodes, Denise Sherlock, Janet Sherwin, Marion Small, Helen Thompson, Mati Torres, Jingzhen Yu, Beibei Wang  // Costume: Hannah Boothman // Production: Jack Howe // Artistic Mentors: Jen Irons, Susanne Thomas