Six women are performing pirouettes, pliés, jetés and other classical ballet moves in the Teatro Nacional de Cuba. What makes this scene unusual is that the ballerinas are all wearing size-XXL tutus, and they are dancing in the lobby instead of on the stage. People peer in through the theatre's front windows, evidently perplexed. "We don't have our own place to rehearse, so sometimes we're allowed to come here," says Juan Miguel Mas, choreographer, producer, costume designer and occasional ballerina for Danza Voluminosa. With a nod toward the uninvited onlookers outside, he says, "They think we're an exercise class. They think we're trying to lose weight."
In fact Danza Voluminosa is like any other professional dance troupe, only heavier a lot heavier (Mailín Daza, the company's prima ballerina, weighs in at 130 kilos). Small may be beautiful, but Danza Voluminosa makes a strong argument for the beauty of big. "We provide a context for obese people to develop artistically, to create a language and a structure that makes them able to interact with society," Mas explains. "But it's not limited to fat people. We've worked with dancers who gained weight, retired dancers all kinds of artists said to be `good for nothing'. We've worked with people with AIDS. We like to find a place for these kinds of people in our show."
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