Super-size troupe takes leap beyond novelty Lynda Raino company battles thin tyranny with powerful program By Susan Down, Times Colonist staff, as appearing in Times Colonist, April 29, 2002 During its nine years of existence, Lynda Raino's Victoria company of super-sized dancers, Big Dance, has garnered plenty of media attention. The trouble is that most of the focus is on the novelty of being fat in a body-conscious performing arts world. But at a studio show Saturday night, the audience saw glimpses of the artistic contribution this group can make when it presents human issues and not just body-image challenges. Over 100 people attended, sitting on bleachers that flanked the central performance area. Presented were works by three other choreographers in addition to Raino. The result was a powerfully diverse program of dance and performance art that deserves more exposure on the big stage. The strongest performances were the dramatic rather than satirical ones. The very first number of the evening, entitled The Four Graces, was masterful. Created by Lasqueti Island choreographer Denise Lieutaghi, to the sacred singing of Lebanese nun Sister Marie Keyrouz, the dance was a series of group poses. Bathed in blue light and clad in flesh-toned leotards (in San Francisco recently, they performed it naked, clad only in clay), the four dancers took on the appearance of characters on a frieze, tensing and yielding against each other into a ball of flesh. Stretching and yearning like figures longing for redemption in a Renaissance painting, they took on new shapes together. It's a wonderful concept and it was well executed. However, this one didn't suit the theatre-in-the-round location. The musical choices throughout the evening were inspired. For example, another powerful dance was Raino's My Little One, performed by Terryl Atkins, Neely Carbone, Trudy Norman and tiny Jenny Pritchard. With Mahler's glorious Fifth Symphony as the backdrop, the dancers gently caress and support Pritchard as she weaves her small body around and over their stalwart frames, rejoicing in their maternal presence. In the jazzy Doo Wah, (choreographed by Marlisse McCormick and Raino with Layla Casper) dancers in vests and fedoras sashayed to Duke Ellington. It was amusing enough, but seemed to call for more synchronized manoeuvres than what was presented. The moods of the pieces ranged from despair and frustration to slap-happy insouciance. Icky Yucky Corpus, which seems like a soliloquy of selfloathing, has solo dancer Atkins battling with a chair and finally pinning it like a wrestler. Broccoli Brides, created by Constance Cooke, was a feminist collage on issues such as magazine beauty, bathroom scales and tortured fashion habits. One highlight in the piece was Carbone, dressed in a half-slip slung over her head like a veil. She threw away her broccoli wedding bouquet in favour of a chocolate bar that she slathered over her face while eating (to cheers from the audience), set to Delibes' angelic Flower Duet. In fact, Carbone was a standout throughout the show, performing with a fluid and sensual grace and cheeky theatricality. In any other genre, size wouldn't be an issue. Heavyweights such as Luciano Pavarotti and Randy Bachman don't bother choosing songs that relate to their own physiques. But in the tyrannical I dance world, there is often only one kind of body acceptable - thin. While modern dance seems much more inclusive than ballet, where a too short neck might banish a hopeful star to the chorus forever, fat is still absolute heresy. Big Dance has managed to alter those perceptions ever so slightly. If the group downplays the giddy performance pieces and stretches into more overarching themes, we can expect great things. With this program of solid ideas that encouraged the dancers to communicate their humanity, not their girth size, Big Dance provided a satisfying evening.