#fat dancers

[fine-ass-fatshion]

I love this dress, the belt rlly ties it together in the best way right??

[duh-suh-numi]

[realbodyrevolution]

Lizzo's Choreographer on Why Plus-Size Dancers Shouldn't Be a "Specialty" Act

I started working as Lizzo's choreographer and live-show artistic director last January. She has a vision: She wants to put curvy dancers in her performances, because they are deserving. And I was so down.

But when we had our first casting call, an agency open call in Los Angeles, our top agencies only had two to four dancers on their rosters that they considered plus-size—meaning smaller than your average-sized American woman.

Lizzo was feeling defeated. So we put out a post on Instagram and I did my own open call. A ton of girls auditioned who were thicker, who had never even thought of walking into an agency. Some had been rejected by them. I booked dancers for Coachella who had no professional experience.

Throughout the summer, the L.A. agencies were starting to call me. They were representing more curvy dancers. The market had opened up. Lizzo was excited, I was excited. We thought, Wow! We have actually made some changes in the industry.

Read the rest of the article here: Link!

[gloriousfatpoc]

Fat People In Motion: Majorettes

***Disclaimer: No interaction of any sort ( no reblogs/ likes) by any fitness, weight loss or thinspo blogs. You will be blocked if you do. ***

You’ve probably seen the above video a bunch of times. You have probably wondered who these women are and why the hell are they so damn awesome. Well, allow me to introduce, The Alabama State Honey Beez.

(The Honey Beez, 2017 (from l-r) Andrea Swain, Johnae Dean, Asia Banks, Quiana Reliford, DaQuendra Elston and Alexis Garrett)

You can thank band director Dr. James Oliver for the existence of this fine example of fat people in motion. When he began his tenure as bandleader for Alabama State University( ASU) in 2000, he noticed that The Stingettes, the other majorette team at ASU, were not accepting plus size girls into their troupe. Year after year, fat girls were turned away simply because of their weight. Many fat girls were left dejected and relegated to flag girl positions year after year. Dr. Oliver could not stand to see this occurring and in 2004, he hatched a plan. It was a fairly simple one: start a plus size majorette team at ASU. He and another colleague got together and started auditioning five fat flag girls to join the squad. He wanted to see what they could really do if given the proper outlet to shine.

(The Honey Beez, 2017)

The girls danced their hearts out and even came up with a signature move, move: a cartwheel into a split. After weeks of practice, the team had a name, The Honey Beez, and a chance to showcase their abilities. It was at the end of a game against Southern State in 2004. In sync dance moves and one cartwheel/split combo later and the audience was in love. Rounds of applause followed the girls as they left the field. Moments after the game was over, a mix of people came up to Dr. Oliver and shared their views on the girls. Many were in full support but as fatphobia is a disease that never rests, some felt he was making a mockery of the girls and urged him to never allow them to dance again. These negative views were swirling in Dr. Oliver’s head as he thought about the idea of the girls becoming the target of hurtful jokes and ridicule. He decided not to let them perform at the next game and contemplated what he should do next.

“Did I want to continue to deal with the negativity? Or did I want to keep this going because the crowd loves it?” Oliver asked himself. “But the girls love it too. I made the decision that I was going to keep going. I didn’t care what anybody said. I thought these girls deserved a platform and I’m going to keep them.”

With that mentality in mind, The Honey Beez were given back their stingers and the buzz around them has not died down since.

(The Honey Beez, 2017)

They are now a nationally recognized majorette dance team (with their own set of standards that anyone who wants to join must adhere to: A GPA of 2.5 or higher, the ability to do a cartwheel/split and you MUST be over 250 pounds)  who produce high-quality performances each time they perform. From appearing on national TV, on The Steve Harvey Show, trying out for ”America’s Got Talent”  appearing on the reality show, “Bama State Style” on Aspire TV,  while still dancing and performing for the school they love, The Honey Beez, along with their dance director, Ruth Williams, are one set of bees that show no sign of disappearing anytime soon.

[gloriousfatpoc]

Fat People In Motion: Choreographers: Part II

***Disclaimer: No interaction of any sort by fitness, weight loss or thinspo blogs. You will be blocked if you do. ***

Part II of our ongoing series of “Fat Choreographers” we present someone you may recognize but never quite knew. 

(pic source)

A man of many words and even more talent is a succinct way to describe Dexter Mayfield. He came onto the scene as a fat, gay black man who had immeasurable talents. Hailing from Dallas Texas, dancing wasn’t his first choice. But as life always seems to do, what you least expect to be choice becomes one. He attended the University Of Texas as a Family Studies and Early Childhood Ed major. While studying, he found dance and never looked back. He couldn’t find a lane to fit in so...he created his own. He starred in videos for artists such as Jennifer Lopez and Sara Bareilles. He went from dancer to choreographer creating moves for other artists, commercials, and even the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. 

As his star shone brighter, in 2015, he was approached with an opportunity he never saw coming. MarcoMarco, a fashion designer who designs for many stars and champions a message of inclusion, asked Dexter to model in his show. Marco Marco shows were known for featuring drag queens but never a man without stage makeup. Especially a man of Dexter’s size and stature but...he took the challenge head-on and delivered one of the most iconic runway walks ever. 

He became an instant viral sensation and added ‘model’ to his resume. 

These days, Dexter is still dancing, choreographing, modeling, even acting and showing the word just how much of a boss he truly is. 

[thisclockworkheart]

okay so my friend started a whole arguement??? when i told her about u, and she said that its not possible for fat people to dance or do ballet or whatever and she was like "i know more okay!!" and i was liek so fuming angry because YOU DO THIS AND U R AN AMAZING NICE LADY, so i wanted to ask what should i tell those people who say that its impossibel for fat people to be athletic or whatever??? i need some sort of scientific proof or something to shove in their faces somehow...

Scientific proof you say? Here’s the thing: people’s opinions about dance and dancers are not formed by scientific proof. 

People are not moved by the mathematical measure of an angle of a leg, they are moved by the passion behind the motion that got it there. It’s why being labeled an expressionless technician can be damning to even the most talented dancers with the most professionally ideal bodies. 

So if you’re looking for scientific proof to win your argument, that’s not the way to go. 

What you do have is actual proof that people with bigger bodies are capable of dancing with just as much ability and grace as their smaller counterparts. There are so many overweight dancers out there. So many of which have done so much more than I ever will, who have more talent than I could ever dream of. Show her them. 

Remember there is also a difference between saying that fat people are simply incapable dancing well, and saying that she would personally rather watch a slimmer dancer. One is fatphobia, one is a matter of opinion. Of course if one has never seen a larger person dance well, she may not know what she’s missing. Enlighten her if you can. 

If she still doesn’t believe you after that, the problem isn’t with your argument, it’s with her. 

[browncoatflan]

On Motivation

I want to see health and fitness motivation videos and memes for women MY age and MY size and MY lifestyle. I want to see fat dancers, fat runners, fat mudders, fat skiiers, fat boarders, fat swimmers, fat riders, fat hikers, fat pilates, fat suspension, fat climbing... come on!

[danbewley]

Task #2 with Dwayne and Jim. Our task was to create a logo for a band or singer for a certain type of music genre. I got a group of singers known as Fat Dancers who are a boy band like seen on X-factor. As I would have guess this went along side people such as 1 Direction and The Vamps. These are my final outcomes for my design, a basic black on white, a coloured humorous version and then the final designs on a T-shirt with two different T’s.