“Nothing to Lose”
Choreographer Kate Champion asked the question: what does it mean to put really big bodies on the dance stage? She premiered “Nothing to Lose” at Sydney Festival in January, 2015
Champion was inspired by watching the way larger bodies moved through the world, and dancing in clubs. It led her to ask why she never saw bodies like that on the stage.
“Dancing in a fat body is incredibly radical and controversial because it’s not done, it’s not encouraged. That’s what makes this show so interesting.”
Kelli Jean Drinkwater, fat activist
I certainly have been reluctant to dance with abandon due to my body size, and have only done so when in a safe and sacred context, where I could feel the freedom to be as I truly am. A fat body really does move differently, and it’s amazing to see fleshy dancers. I have NEVER seen fat bodies in this context before.
How does it make you feel?
Gender Swapped characters in Fanart
In celebration of our evolving idea of gender as fluid, I offer these colorful, creative, amusing, at times maybe disturbing renderings of beloved characters as you might have seen them, in a different world!
This is just a taste – follow the link at the end to the total collection.
For the complete article with dozens of examples, CLICK here.
Don’t Blame Eve, or the Snake
From the movie Noah comes this retelling of the Genesis creation story, which warms my earth-loving feminist heart, as it doesn’t demonize either the Serpent or the Woman. What is forbidden is the Knowledge of Evil, there’s no telling the gender of the fruit-picker. But those who carry out the murder of their brothers appear to be not-women.
I doubt neither Darren Aronofsky or I really seek to blame men for violence, but for me, it’s important lift the burden of sin off of our foremother Eve.
In the narrative of the film, the snake’s skin becomes a sacred symbol of inherited wisdom. One critical Christian web site called it ‘the skin of satan.’ Noah uses the skin in his son’s initiation, when he tells him the creation story. He wraps the skin around his arm and it merges with him, turning to a spiral energy pattern that looks an awful lot like DNA.
In the Wiccan philosophy, the Serpent is a wise and simple creature, one that sheds her skin when it is outgrown, and begins again. The snake biting its tail, the Ouroborus, is an ancient symbol of infinity and the cycle of life.
So I for one was thrilled to see a version of the story that didn’t blame the woman or the snake.
Poet, Feminist, Francophile, Painter: Marguerite Beck-Rex
NOTE: A New Series
Perhaps my favorite part of my work is coaching people to use digital tools to express themselves. I am blessed to be a part of some delightful success stories. I want to share some of these with you.
Marguerite Beck-Rex has the detailed mind of a Virgo, and the persistence of a tenacious bulldog. I met her 20 years ago in her 60’s when she had just taken up painting. She had been a journalist, lobbyist, activist, poet. A mother who raised two sons, one white, one black, both adopted, both adored. In her 70s, she led groups of artists on adventures in Provence. In her 80s, although challenged by increasingly low vision, she took up blogging.
The result is the charming Ink, Paint, Words.
Tender drawings touched with color alternate with deceptively delicate poems. They seem brief and spare; read it again, there is a potency there arising from a long life well lived and a writer’s craft well loved.
Poem: Either or Both
Poem: Losing Sight No. 2
Painting Losing Sight: No. 3
I hope you will go and explore some of the treasures on her blog, and follow the good stuff yet to come.
