The Fat Dance Sessions - Newcastle upon Tyne, 2023-4

The Fat Dance Sessions are an opportunity for people in larger bodies to dance together in Newcastle upon Tyne. In studios in the city centre, fat dancer and choreographer Gillie Kleiman will lead a series of sessions of creative, exploratory movement for fat people, for us to reclaim our dancing for ourselves, get to know each other, and simply have fun moving.

The sessions are open to anyone who experiences themselves as fat. Other words that are often used are plus-sized, or living in larger bodies. If you're interested but not sure how to think about fatness, this might be a helpful resource, but it's only a starting point.

Fat people are routinely and systemically the objects of discrimination. As such, it's really important that we keep ourselves safe, so we won't be sharing publicly the exact dates and times of the sessions. The first season took place weekly throughout autumn 2023 on Friday evenings. Season Two will be fortnightly on Wednesday evenings. If you'd like to come, please email Gillie: gilliekleiman@gmail.com.

Fat Contact - Portland, Oregon, 2024

Fat Contact is an artistic research project that explores the ways in which the bodies of fat people come into contact with each other. Inspired by early versions of the American dance form Contact Improvisation, the Japanese wrestling practice Sumo, and the sculptures of Eva Fàbregas, the sessions will be exploratory workshops creating choreographic structures in a playing field informed by and curious about our own fat embodiments and their capacity to create meaning. We will fall, fold and falter, spoon and smush and spread; we will push and prang and ping. All fat people welcome, at all levels of experience, for as much of it as you like.

Fat Contact is supported by Body Home Fat Dance with monies from Another Route including a seed commission from Jerwood Arts.