Is your body represented on stage and screen? This may depend on many interconnected factors, a key one of which is your body size and shape. To change the landscape of body diversity in the arts, there needs to be an assurance that people of all body sizes get access, opportunities, and encouragement in training. That will, in turn, help shape the industry overall.
I am a size-inclusivity consultant, and through DYCP funding, I have launched training and workshops for people running a room (directors, teachers, facilitators and so on) and those (students, actors, participants) within it, working across the arts to support, enable and empower plus-size performers and improve body standards as a whole.
Size-inclusivity training within drama schools primarily supports staff to be confident their work is accessible to all bodies in the room. Developed through my work as a movement director, choreographer and teacher and a focus group with all plus-sized performers this training offers simple adaptions to help ensure bigger bodies feel supported and stretched in the space and a wider pedagogical viewpoint connecting with body acceptance including looking at casting, language and ethos.
These are guiding principles rather than set rules to help staff feel encouraged, support a process of unlearning anti-fat bias and their work for 2024. When I asked facilitators if they'd ever had the topic of body size or body image come up in a room, 61% said ‘yes’ and the majority of responses said they felt “uncomfortable” or “saddened” by it. Additionally, 79% said support in holding these conversations would be helpful. These statistics show there is a critical need for this training.
As well as supporting staff and ensuring best inclusive practice, the training works with students on issues they may be facing, but not able to articulate. The themes of disordered eating, feeling pressure to lose weight to remain “castable” and negative comparison to their peers came up repeatedly in my interviews and surveys. Celebrating the uniqueness of each student and reframing ideas of stamina, fitness, and health in a body-positive way may help lessen these issues in training and support performers throughout their whole career.
The issues of anti-fat bias and body standards impact – everyone, staff, students, and graduates. Whilst the top priority is to ensure bigger bodies access the same level of training as those who may fit the body type that many practices are built on, by implementing this training an institution demonstrates practical support to all who suffer from impossible body standards and supports genuine change.