Ophelia is not Dead is a project by the international collection Embassy of. We proposed to one another to each make pieces by this name, which can or cannot relate to the title’s meaning, but that are otherwise unconnected artworks. There are at least eight Ophelias in circulation. Therefore, though this work is a solo, it represents and is included in a wider domain of artistic work in the field of dance and performance worldwide.

This Ophelia is not Dead is a fat girl cabaret.

In cabaret performances (thinking of burlesque or drag, as examples), the artist overstates an element of their identity, existing or not, to the point at which the audience must question their own relation to this identity and body. The re-iterations become so obvious that they can no longer be thought about, making space for something else to happen. This is the mechanism I employ in this work, in a proposition to make fatness watchable.

I tell ‘Yo’ momma’s so fat’ jokes.

I play with the fat flesh of my frame.

I dance to a song called “Look How She Fat”, and another called “Fat Gal”.

The show ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings, so I sing.

But I also dance, I dance everything I can, the most I can do, I try to give maximum opportunity for the audience to watch this other body – a body that is always special, but even more special in the athlete-dripping world of contemporary dance – in motion. How is it different? What does it do? What happens when it moves?