"Faith and begorrah, welcome to the fatty o'sphere!"

Not-So-Tiny Danza

August 15th, 2007

Shawn sends along an article about the Cuban dance troupe Danza Voluminosa, a group of obese dancers who dance (in part) about obesity.

Mr. Mas, a 300-pound choreographer and dancer who moves like a pampered cat, admits that he often uses the stereotypical humor of his dancers’ proportions to bring in audiences… But Mr. Mas and his troupe are deadly serious about dance, and once the laughter dies down, they are capable of performing moving pieces that drill into the universal themes of love, death and erotic longing. The audience forgets the joke and begins to feel the dance, he said.

“We use humor to get the public in,” he said. “Then we can hit them with something stronger.”

Mr. Mas, 41, also choreographs pieces on themes like the tragedy of gluttony, love between obese couples, the prejudice that fat people face and the psychic toll of obesity. One of the troupe’s recent successes, “Sweet Death,” tells the story of a woman who, after being rejected by her family, tries to commit suicide by eating huge quantities of candy.

The article really makes me want to see this dance troupe in action. (I checked You Tube; nothing yet.) I was also interested in the caveat that, although the dancers are fat-positive, they aren’t that fat-positive.

Mr. Mas said it would be a mistake to think that his work was intended to glorify or sanctify obesity, or even to deliver a moralistic message that one should not discriminate against the overweight. Rather, he said, the troupe’s art tries to face the reality of obesity while giving larger people a chance to express themselves through dance, a chance they are denied from childhood in most dance classes.

“Although we are obese and dance, we are against obesity,” Mr. Mas explained, saying parenthetically that he admires New York City for banning artificial trans fats from restaurants. “We are always trying to lose weight.”

There have been some very interesting responses to this article. Wheelchair Dancer critiques both the writing of the article and the intent of the artists, and the whole entry is well worth a read:

The company adopts this approach because it figures it can control how people laugh at its dancers; it can then spin those laughs into acceptance. To a certain extent, they are probably right. I would ask, however, about the cost of such a strategy. Even though the company controls the derisive humour (to some extent), they still have to expose themselves to the pain and the degradation of those stereotypes (in order to win the audience over). It’s kind of like an act of recuperation, but it is a painful act of recuperation. It requires an act of what W.E.B. DuBois would call “double consciousness,” and it requires the company to take on and absorb the hostility — to internalize societal repulsion.

You have to give props to a blogger who can bring DuBois into the conversation, don’t you think? In the meantime, Taking Off is empowered and Big Fat Blog is disappointed. So what do you think of Danza Voluminosa?

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Art, Fat Positive, International, Theater

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7 Responses to Not-So-Tiny Danza

  1. Michael, on August 15th, 2007 at 6:12 pm Said:

    I posted the following to Wheelchair Dancer’s blog:

    I don’t think I understand your point. (That’s Wheelchair Dancer’s point.)

    I read the Danza Voluminosa article and, in my own interpretation, might summarize the point of it as being, “Here’s something that, although you might expect otherwise, is something beautiful.” In doing so, it also advocates one of the same positions you yourself do, does it not, that dance is for every body.

    I read your review of the Danza Voluminosa article and, in my own interpretation, you criticize Mr. McKinley’s approach in writing the article as being, what, exploitative of the dancers’ size and weight? Is my interpretation off the mark? Can you suggest, for illumination, how you think Mr. McKinley should have written the article?

    Put another way, you seem to criticize society, or culture, for having preconceived notions of what is acceptable when it comes to dancers’ bodies. So then, in what way do you consider it acceptable to spread acceptance of non-“normal” bodies dancing if not in a way that presents, that shows, non-“normal” bodies dancing and then suggests how acceptable such a thing is?

  2. RT the fitness guy, on August 15th, 2007 at 7:40 pm Said:

    What a great idea! I hope they go big time!

  3. Tulip, on August 15th, 2007 at 9:27 pm Said:

    I think it is so sad that they can accomplish so much and still not have the peace of fat acceptance for themselves.

  4. Swellanor, on August 15th, 2007 at 9:36 pm Said:

    I second what Tulip said.

    Thanks for passing on Wheelchair Dancer’s review- very insightful.

  5. Shannon, on August 15th, 2007 at 11:59 pm Said:

    I blogged about this when I saw the story awhile back. My main issue is with the constant way the story was presented.

    Like any article of the same ilk, I take issue with the message that, “ZOMG FAT GIRLS DANCING!”. As for what the dancers said while I don’t feel the positive type love, I was happy to see them get press at all.

  6. Wheelchair Dancer, on August 16th, 2007 at 5:31 pm Said:

    Hi Michael/Anonymous:

    I just posted some more thoughts about positive representation.

    http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/2007/08/positive-representation.html

  7. James Dean, on August 24th, 2011 at 2:14 pm Said:

    I’m in a band called Tiny Danza, we need these people at our shows!

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