They say you can never be too thin to dance but a ballet troupe due to perform in Hull are challenging the preconceptions of a stereotypical ballerina. The ballerinas from the Russian ballet company, The Big Ballet, weigh a combined average of 20 stones and have no previous experience of the art form. Dance Captain Katya Yurgowa said: “We eat normal amounts of food, and the same kind of food, as everybody else – our size is in our genes. “We had the opportunity and, under one of the world’s leading choreographers, we gained the ability and confidence to take to the stage and show that we are as good at professional dance as thin people”. The company was established in 1994 by the acclaimed Russian choreographer Evgeny Panfilov in Russia’s Ural Mountain city of Perm. His mission was to challenge the social standards of dancers proving that people of larger build are able to move with similar grace, dignity and flare. Sixteen ballerinas will perform a parody of popular classical ballets such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker in the first half of the show. The second part is expected to be fast-paced with the dancers performing contemporary numbers such as Tom Jones’s ‘Sex Bomb’ albeit with a Russian theme. Tatyana Gladkaya, a ballerina with The Big Ballet, jokes: “You definitely have to have a sense of humour to be in The Big Ballet, but we still take our work very seriously. “Having said that, it’s easy to do the splits with 120 kilos of down-force.” added Tatyana. The Big Ballet will be appearing at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday 27th February 2007. | 
