On the big stage

Mar 28 2008 by Andrew Baldwin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A BALLET troupe with a difference will be looking to bring the house down – quite literally.

The 16 Russian stars of Big Ballet weigh an average of 20 stone each but, belying their girth, put on a show filled with grace, dignity and flair.

The girls come to Wakefield’s Theatre Royal on Tuesday, April 8, and the Victoria Theatre, Halifax, on Friday, April 11.

The troupe, who are on a 65-date tour of the UK, were formed in the city of Perm, in the Ural Mountains, an area more famous for salt mines and prison camps.

They were formed by the influential choreographer Evgeny Panfilov to challenge preconceptions of who can dance and to prove that grace and nimbleness are not the sole preserve of the thin.

The Big Ballet’s dance captain Ekatarina Yurkova 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, gained the ability and confidence to take to the stage and show that we are as good at professional dance as thin people.”

In their homeland the girls are so popular that male groupies have been known to stalk them from show to show, waiting at stage doors with their arms full of flowers.

Tickets and more information for the Big Ballet are available for Wakefield by phoning the box office on 01924 211311 and for Halifax by ringing 01422 351158.