KEY POINTS:
Thousands of over-indulgers may have made New Year vows to lose some weight, but one group will not be joining them.
Each member of the Big Ballet troupe from Russia weighs a minimum of 110kgs, or more than 17 stone, and has vowed to maintain full flesh for their forthcoming debut tour of the UK.
The company was founded in Perm in the Ural Mountains in 1994 by the influential choreographer Evgeny Panfilov to challenge preconceptions of who can dance and prove that grace and nimbleness are not the sole preserve of the thin.
Although the company trains daily, none of the members is a fully classically trained ballet dancer. They are not ballerinas run to seed, but all were large from childhood and chosen for the company in their teens.
Yurgowa Katya, the Big Ballet's dance captain, said: "We eat normal amounts of food, and the same food, as everybody else - our size is in our genes.
"We had the opportunity and, under one of the world's leading choreographers, gained the ability and confidence to take to the stage and show that we are as good at professional dance as thin people."
Alexej Ignatov, a producer with the Amande events agency, said Britain seemed a logical place to present the troupe given the current popular debate over obesity and healthy eating.
"The Big Ballet is the perfect excuse not to lose weight this New Year and not to feel guilty about it, as these ballet stars are the proof that slim is not the only way to have fun and look good doing it."
Their show, which will visit nearly 30 venues from February 27, is largely comic, Mr Ignatov said. "Their slogan is: 'You don't have to take life seriously."'
But it has many of the features of a traditional ballet production including colourful costumes. "And although the girls themselves are overweight, you have cute faces in front of you," he added.
Part of the production is based on ballet classics, while numbers such as Sex Bomb help create a contemporary dance.
But dancer Gladkih Tatyana said they were serious about their work.
"You definitely have to have a sense of humour, yes, but this never affects our work as this is very serious and professional."
Yurkowa Katya said all the members had been large since childhood and were often taunted about their size.
"We would like to see more sport activity and facilities for larger children, so it's the perceptions about larger people's abilities that need to change."
Tatyana added: "We have all gained enormous confidence since we became a troupe, so hopefully our stories are an inspiration to fat children."
At home, the company has gathered a small number of groupies who follow the show on tour. And such is the dancers' confidence that they prefer the straightforward term "fat" to the slightly less blunt "chubby" or "overweight".
- INDEPENDENT
