What happens when a group of people with large bodies get on stage and shake it for the world to see?
Well, for one, it challenges our perceptions of weight, size, health, and mobility.
That’s exactly what Kate Champion wanted to do when she created this performance for bigger-bodied, plus-sized, fat dancers. It’s called “Nothing to Lose.”
Kate wants to figure out: “What does it mean when you put really big bodies stage and call them professional dancers, and why is it even controversial?”
Kate knows that bigger bodies move differently than her own.
She did not want to pretend she understood living in a larger body, so she partnered with Kelli Jean Drinkwater, a dancer herself.
Together, they created a space where we can strip away our preconceived notions about larger bodies and enjoy the beauty of a larger form.
Dancing in a fat body is radical and controversial because it’s not encouraged. When’s the last time you saw a fat dancer?
That’s why this show is interesting — we’ve become so alienated from physical otherness that the idea of a fat dancing body is controversial.
There are dancers on award shows, music videos, commercials, movies, and Broadway. Why don’t we see more fat people dancing? Do we think fat people don’t dance?
Or does this tell us more about we think is culturally acceptable for fat people to do?
“Nothing to Lose” ran at the Sydney Festival in early 2015.
