Remember, kiddies, 1 stone = 14 lbs. .....do the math.

Meet the 20st Sugar Plum Fairy, ballet's new big thing
By Jasper Rees

Last Updated: 2:40am GMT 28/02/2007

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=HA0XU02DQKYUDQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/02/28/nballet28.xml


There is a long tradition of big foreign stars treading the boards in Britain. But the latest imports are the biggest this country has ever seen.


 
Members of The Big Ballet aim to show that grace, nimbleness
and femininity are not the preserve of stick-thin ballerinas

They are members of The Big Ballet, a unique Russian dance troupe (average weight 20 stone) whose month-long UK tour started last night in Hull.

They may lack the litheness of Margot Fonteyn or Darcey Bussell but members of the company aim to challenge modern concepts of grace, nimbleness and femininity.

The troupe was the brainchild of Evgeny Panfilov, the late Russian choreographer, who created it in 1994.

Dancing to familiar music from Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi mixed with Tom Jones's Sex Bomb, the 18 hefty performers will be executing pirouettes and arabesques as they sashay in waves of juddering flesh through extracts from the Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

If its popularity in Russia and the success of its tours in Europe are any guide, they will be a big hit.

"People are bored with the ordinary stuff," said Natalia Lenskikh, the show's director.

"The Big Ballet is unique. In the normal world you don't find many overweight people dancing, ladies especially.

"Every production at home is sold out."

The company is based in Perm in the Urals where a tradition of ballet goes back nearly 200 years.

Perm is twinned with Oxford and was renamed Molotov for a time after the Hitler-Stalin pact in 1940. It has had its own ballet company since 1820.

Panfilov's reputation for experiment took a surreal turn in 1994 when he decided to assemble a company of bulky ballerinas which he named The Big Ballet. His belief was that dance is not the sole preserve of the preternaturally skinny.

Applicants didn't need to pass an audition or demonstrate any previous experience of dance.

The only requirement was a minimum weight. They had to be 12 stone or more.

However, the company was so overwhelmed with applications that the bar was raised to 17 stone.

There is considerable variety in the size of the dancers. Some are very big but more have dimensions closer to many modern women. They just look bigger because the mind's eye marries the music of Swan Lake with narrow hips and a slender bust.

Part of the company's appeal is that larger women can see mirror images of themselves performing energetically and, for the most part, elegantly.

According to Lenskikh, Panfilov "realised that overweight girls have a special movement of their own, and that's what makes it so unique."

The ballerinas eat as much as they want but also exercise constantly.

Medical experts ensure that they are not putting their health — or their joints — in danger.

The big ballerinas present a challenge to the few men in the company.

"You cannot lift them up," said Lenskikh, "and you have to do special turns.

"They are very heavy so it's very difficult for them to make a normal turn."

But other things are less problematic, according to one of the ballerinas.

"It's surprisingly easy to do the splits when you have 120 kilos of down-force," said Tatyana Gladkih.

refresh my memory...  how much is a stone?  ~12 pounds, right?


ETA:  i just checked and it's 6.35 kilos.  2.2 pounds equal one kilo, so a stone is 13.97 pounds.

the average weight of those women is 279.4 pounds.

that's disgusting, btw.

280 lb woman more suited for dancing bear (some non-Russian productions of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker had a dancing bear).

When things look down for you, always remember you could the guy catching that fat dancer.

You haven't seen everything until you've watched the videos in this thread.

Quoted: You haven't seen everything until you've clicked the links in this thread.

My wife's a physician, I see books with such pics all the time. I NEVER dreamed fat women would want to be ballerinas, though. Jeez- brings new meaning to the term "The Nutcracker" .....

Wheres the pics or vids ?

Quoted: Wheres the pics or vids ?

One pic above is enough. Who wants to see the Dance of the Pachyderms?

She may be light on her feet bet bet your ass she wouldn't be on yours

Quoted: Wheres the pics or vids ?

Ah, what the hell....


Chia pets....



"I've fallen, and I can't get up!"

A whole new meaning to the Большой театр

CJ

Arrrrghhh... the Tu-tu-Muu-Muu!!!!


It's like the "Campaign For Real Beauty."  All this time, I've been looking at the taut, hardbody 22 year olds, not realizing that it was only FAKE beauty...

I lost it at:

...as they sashay in waves of juddering flesh...

And I like women with meat on them. Some of the ladies int he pic are hot, though.

I like my women to be a little Rubenesque, but damn....those chicks are the entire deli and the adjacent shopping center.

Quoted: Quoted: Wheres the pics or vids ? Ah, what the hell.... blackpoolgrand.co.uk/media/0162_PICT0072.JPG Chia pets.... blackpoolgrand.co.uk/media/0162_PICT0121.JPG "I've fallen, and I can't get up!"

I wonder if someone had to rock her to break the suction so she could get up..  

You need a bag of flour…




Dust her with the flour…

Look for the damp patch…

Insert love wand…

Then slap her ass and ride the ripples!

ANdy

I met a fan dancer
Down in south side Birmingham
She was running from a fat man
Selling salvation in his hand

gross

diabetes in a leotard

holy smokes!!!1


Mother Russia will be pleased

I think I am going tobe sick.  WTF is wrong with people these days.

While the fat ballerinas aren't something I particularly care to see, I will say that I was impressed by the picture of the one up on her toes. I don't know if it is athletic or not (I know I can't do it) but I didn't think a big girl would be able to.

I wonder if injuries to the knees and kankles are common?

One thing you can be sure of is that beneath the layers of fat on a fat person who lives an active lifestyle,  there's some good strong muscle keeping things moving.    


I think you'd be surprised at how strong some fat people really are, at least if they are active.    


I can leg press something over 700 pounds and I'm a well proportioned 200 pounder, six feet tall.   But I wouldn't want to get into a kicking contest with ANYONE who weighs 300 pounds or more!


CJ

Well that redefines BBW!

I'll bet that registers on the Richter scale.

"Thats a huge bitch"