XXL

Following on from his 2022 autobiographic solo work Ma part d’ombre, in XXL Sofiane Chalal explores avec what it means to inhabit a fat body in a society shaped by aesthetic requirements and norms. Here the overweight body is a subject for choreographic writing that is rich in possibilities, explored through individual journeys. The work explores the mechanisms of fatphobia in the field of dance, through individual stories that resonate at a collective level. Enriched by the many practices from the performers’ own world of hip hop, the choreography displays dynamic grounded energy, like a response to any attempt at constraint or reduction. The movement, precise and powerful, allows humour, subtlety and subversion to flourish. XXL is constructed as a collective conversation through movement, in which the body is both a critical tool and a space for affirmation, and dance is a catalyst for examination of our own perceptive biases.