Maybe I just want a tutu

I've been fascinated with ballet since I was a child. I even had a pair of pink satin ballet slippers and concocted a homemade tutu out of ribbon and a bunch of tulle. I wanted to take lessons, but my mother was always quick to remind me that you had to wear leotards and tights. I suppose she was trying to protect me from potential taunting (rather than consciously introducing body shame), and I probably quickly admitted that I didn't want to endure that.

The Big Ballet formed in 1994 and set out to deliberately and, above all, self-confidently challenge accepted social standards in a world where the pursuit of slenderness and beauty seems obsessive. The dancers courageously and imposingly prove that grace, elegance, charisma and nimbleness is not the demesne of the "thin", proudly presenting their voluptuous yet surprisingly sinuous and flexible figures.

They're about to tour in the UK and as such, they are getting some mixed press, the kind that uses a lot of words like "hefty" and "straining seams" and mentions that it takes four guys to lift one ballerina. Are the fat jokes the lure for the audience and by the end of the show, the payoff is changed perceptions?

A quote from a troupe member in the Daily Mail, (Dear God, the headline calls themSugar Plump Fairies):

It's hard being teased your whole life then finding the confidence to go on stage and perform in front of so many people, but now I have it and I am so happy. We hope we are helping to change the public perception about larger people and encourage big children to take part in sport and dance.

I choose to ignore the rest of the irritating stuff and focus on that, mostly because it gives me hope that I can still learn to arabesque en pointe. And this picture makes me really happy. Rock on, ballerina!