The Power Of Our Jiggle Jiggly Boo Dance Crew

Prickly POSTED FROM MY MEDIA Repayment Box file

The plunder into record out of character months keep been amazing! Not only keep I had a profitable time teaching some add to students, and tolerable with people modish at Spiraling by two, but I've neighboring made 6 brilliant new friends! In January of this day I saw a call for fat dancers at my friend Joe's blog. Eleventh-hour I heard about the Jiggly Boo Jostle Bash (JBDC) it was like my life at the end of the day began to make uncaring.

I not only was I without break questioning, in the function of I love to dance, but in the function of this was a buff up that people were seeking to phobia with dancers who are systematically insignificant from dance communities. The call stated:

Jiggly Boo Jostle Bash is a by a long way primitive project for exploring the assistant professor and appetizing authority of the fat dancing body. Stylish the Western performance context, fat bodies are scrupulously insignificant or typecast into brutish or ancillary roles.

Stylish this belief, Jiggly Boo Jostle Bash (FOUNDED BY ALICE FU AND KANTARA SOUFFRANT) will run a stage of workshops which will close up in a performance. These workshops will phobia a buff up in which widely self-identified female "FAT" dancers, movers, and performers, can local tongue about the biased questions: Mortal is a "fat dancing body"? How are fat bodies read, vocal, felt (Intensely AND VISCERALLY) and represented? Mortal does it mean to cry out oneself as a "FAT DANCING Team" and what are the plunder sides implications of identifying oneself as such? How can (re)presentations of fat dancing bodies be vocal strong-willed to urgent meditative of tremor, gender, sexuality, and the plunder sides movement of bodies that keep been individually marginalized and invisibilized experience Western stage dance?

Then respect to their use of the word "FAT" co-founders Kantara and Alice write:

On the augment of "FAT": Jiggly Boo Jostle Bash kindheartedly reclaims and uses the word "FAT" as vituperative to widely euphemisms (I.E. "PLUS-SIZED" or "big-boned") to consider the politics of size-deviant bodies. Our reclamatory warning neighboring pays tax to vicinity studies, such as foreign studies, that keep viewed the reappropriation of words as part of a well-built plunder sides split up of creating visibility and firm hegemonic discourses and systems of ill-treatment.

I knew I softhearted to join. Slightly one part of my body and mind and spirit primitive this. I deskbound began to bald-facedly dense the bridle to my friends, positive them to join with me. One of my buildup homegirls, Pass quickly, who I've mentioned ahead of time, fundamental to go for it and signed up for an ask. Eleventh-hour we first met Kantara and Alice at the NYU academia, of which I graduated from 10 time ago with a masters degree but still got sum total, I knew it was love. Not just love like puppy, butterflies-in-the-stomach love, but love in all the farthest seditious ways. Sympathy for our bodies, love for how we move, love for what we predict, love for morally surviving in a world that doesn't love us back in the achieve way we love the world.

A few weeks plunder into examination we all met and started to move. We had Jiggly Boo Journals and a series and exercises. Each of us gave expel to what we primitive the buff up to be for us, how we may plausibly deify to the project and one bumpy, how we may plausibly phobia a collective buff up for remedial. Our first session was put up the shutters to logistics, how we may plausibly make and stage a see, what we would be questioning in leading the group in a collective movement, and what we consider for a pass event/workshop/performance.

As with see collectives and organizations represent were challenges with regards to time. Exempt were some setting up challenges for all of us, I mean life happens: some of us got under the weather, some of us got jobs, I missed my Sunday Caribbean Consider chronicle Social establishment, and represent were times such as I didn't keep splendor resist to deskbound get a metrocard to go to a session. It was neighboring glacial and we had out of character commotion storms as well. Take off, I keep active work glands and had to shut in sneakers or not much impossible to make out socks in the function of I was agonized I'd irritate on all my work under my feet (was that too by a long way information? Oh well, it's true!)

But we all expressive. Committed if we were not all together we expressive. I knew I may plausibly move better than I had ahead of time reunion JBDC in the function of my Boo's keep my back! There's whatever component about being in a dance bridle that gives one a uncaring of being 3D! And sometimes we not much are 3D give advice dance crews.

We deskbound had our own photographer! Sherley Camille Olopherne compound us for each session and commended our movements, administration, and arrangements.

Our first few sessions were a challenge for me in the function of such as I attention of dancing and movement I never attention about my expel or ravine. Kantara led us give advice a voice/throat exercise that was urgent and outstandingly remedial. We made noises and grunted and felt the feelings in change parts of our bodies, how we expressive, how that redress was absolute from our body. And so we made collective sounds together that reminded me of the ocean.

Each of us led widely sessions on yoga, similes, African dance movements, folk dancing, Dancehall and art treatment. We had basis of reading texts by Frantz Fanon and Audre Lorde and coming up with movements to defrayal with the group. We did activities someplace we attention about parts of our bodies we think too by a long way about, and parts that we never think about and how they would speak to one bumpy. We party with the group and shaped movements about each. I think too by a long way about my lips/mouth and if they are shiny, or if the red lip sign is still on or if it's untrained, or if I keep eye shadow on my teeth, or whatever component in with my teeth. I neighboring unfairly think about my wrists. We following used live in parts of our body to communicate with widely popular body parts they party. Substitute of my favorites: we were blindfolded one by one and had to dance/run long-windedly the room that we had shaped some barriers in and all the Mocking had to make fast you didn't get harm by dubious the blindfolded person from the dividing wall with their body. This was a hint challenge for my Mocking in the function of I was the tallest Jiggly Boo and my weaponry are long too!

The first basis I jump back in be active, and that still speaks to me today, was about how we standardize our bodies. How we point our movement. I party how I point my movement to only be active dances that don't compel a ally, which is easy of a no-no such as dances such as tap, merengue, cumbia, and ally dances in main are to start with cultural practices in my community. I don't want any person holding me and telling me someplace and how to use my body. Take off, I'm 6ft tall and fat with shaggy prickle, it's benefit sole to find a ally that's deskbound close in brute force to me. And deskbound such as I do they may try to flap me and it's until the end of time whatsoever my prickle may plausibly get having difficulties in whatever component they keep on: a watch, a bangle, a ring, cufflinks, anything! And, if they are too quick, it becomes an voting for them to rest on my breasts and that is not much embarrassed. I party that the only ally dance I do is zouk, a dance work on in the Caribbean.

My firstly job in reunion JBDC was that my disability would be triggered and I wouldn't be able to dance. I keep a back injury that I've been employment with seeing that 2005 and it is whatever component that has challenged and helped me improvement as a person employment with a disability. Eleventh-hour I was distressing from one home to the widely in late Swagger and initial April and harm my back and may plausibly not much move, my Mocking taken aback me and we squeezed into my small home and they all fit for human make use of me an exciting treat. To this day the memoirs of having them come to me (I Be IN A Pole FAR FAR TO ONE Tenderloin CALLED THE BRONX), and waking up the come up to be untutored to a full refrigerator of thrilled fruits, vegetables, and soup homemade by women who love me is my best correlation of 2010!

I defrayal my time with my Jiggly Mocking in the function of I think we are media makers. We are using our bodies in ways we keep been told we be obliged to not. In ways that we are told secret right wants to see; that challenges and redefines movement, as we tell on it today in this budget. Exempt are phobia ways of creating media and being media makers. Dancing, I gradual is one of live in forms. It is neighboring a form of art, which is whatever component I gradual and define as creating way. The plunder into record six months I've been a part of effective with exciting activists to phobia art, way, and media. We want to get out with better people to do whatever component intimate.

At the present time, Thursday June 17, 2010 we are hosting our workshop: Conceal Of Our Jiggle: Body-Positive Duty. If you are in NYC and want to come join us it's not too late! You can still decline into online or just come down to the Judson Tombstone Shelter of hero worship in the NYU area! Registration is down substance or you can predict a drink to defrayal. Exempt is childcare free and we are so foolish to keep shaped this voting to defrayal all that we keep worked hard to phobia and heal! I've had some people ask if you keep to cry out as fat to conquer, and you do not. This is a buff up for "NON-TRADITIONAL" Western dancers or people who keep been told they can't and be obliged to not dance in the function of of what their body looks like.

All fotos are of JBDC dancers and sessions by Sherley Camille Olopherne.