FATGIRLSDANCE is changing the way you think about plus-sized women one 8-count at a time. Over the course of one year, women in New York will tackle some of the hardest choreography in the business while crushing negative stereotypes and spreading body positivity in the process.
“’I’m ugly. I’m useless. I’m unworthy of love.’ That is truth and reality for so many women who look like me. I want to change that reality,” says Cathleen Meredith, founder and creator of FATGIRLSDANCE. “I want to turn that truth into a dirty, evil, hate-filled lie. I want to kill it violently. And then I want to dance on its grave. With amazing choreography, of course.”
About the movement’s origins, Meredith says, “I wanted FATGIRLSDANCE to be a book about plus sized dancers in NYC. Instead of writing a book, I thought ‘What if I lived this for a while?'”
The women will learn one dance a week, every week for one year. What seemed like a crazy idea took off into something so much more. “All of a sudden, we had a movement,” she said.
Cathleen Meredith spoke with Blavity to tell us a bit more about FATGIRLSDANCE.
Blavity: What’s the goal for FGD?
Cathleen Meredith: The first goal is for us. To get dance culture in our minds and spirits. It has nothing to do with the physical aspects or benefits. It has nothing to do with dropping some pounds.
It’s about loving who you are right the f*** now.
Plus size women are constantly told that they can’t. What if she realized what she can and can’t do is completely up to her. What if she walked out of dance class one day covered in sweat and realized she was limitless?
The second goal is for them (those who are not plus size). We want to irradiate the perception — the negativity — of fat women dancing. We want to saturate the market with positivity.
B: One dance a week seems like a lot. Is it too much?
CM: I kept looking for a no, and I never got it. I would ask “Are we doing too much learning a dance a week?” And no one told me no.
B: Do you think you’ll make it the full year?
CM: It’s really understanding that this movement is bigger than me. If it was up to me I might make it to October, maybe. But it is a lot of work and I have never done this before. My body is not happy with me right now. I don’t know if I would have had the strength to do it. When I realized it wasn’t about me, we had to keep going. The universe keeps lining up. People want to help and get involved.
B: How are you selecting the dances?
CM: We select our obsessions. Our addictions. Dances that move us, give us goosebumps, choreography and/or choreographers we can’t stop watching are dances that get selected. We pick dances we’ve always wanted to do but never thought we could.
Most of the dances picked are by choreographers we’ve been stalking for years now. Willdabeast Adams, Tricia Miranda and Yanis Marshall are just a few of our favorites, but by the end of the year, there will absolutely be some Broadway, some Janet and some Michael.
B: Tell me a bit about your squad! Who is helping you through this project?
CM: My squad is irreplaceable, tireless, and relentless. Without these phenomenal women FGD would not be possible. My right-hand woman is Raveen Battee. She’s the strategist, business manager, go-to-problem solver of FATGIRLSDANCE. Also my roommate and one of my best friends. She’s been with me since this was all just a random idea. And she dances her face off. The rest of The Squad is made up of a phenomenal powerhouse women: Artists, writers, business owners, moms, wives, fashion designers and more. The only thing we all have in common is we all LOVE dance and NONE of us do it professionally.
There are also a fair amount of people who make FGD happen who never dance: Photographers, camera crew (really just one amazing woman willing to shoot us for free), our stylist Morgan Cuffie, my wonderful publicist Ashley Williams, my mentors Desiree Allen and Cathy Bristow who sponsored our launch, and much more who volunteer their time, money and energy to make this happen. I’m not an island. I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by the world’s most supportive and tenacious tribe. They are why I keep going.
B: At the end of the year, what do you want to be true about this movement?
CM: I’d like to believe I will want the same things I want right now, what I want for myself and every single being that encounters us: I want us to know limitlessness. I want us to embody fearlessness. I want us to know failure, understand it better, laugh with it, and have a drink with it. I want the movement itself to upload light, self-love and magic into the internet. I want to change what comes up when one Googles “fat girls dancing.”
If you want to support the movement, connect with FATGIRLSDANCE on Facebook and Instagram or visit the web site http://www.fatgirlsdance.com.
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