You are invited on one man’s journey through the extremes of body building and health fitness. Feasting on Famine explores the symmetry between the human body and excess of capitalism in a world where one man consumed the daily caloric intake of a family of five. Shay Kuebler takes you from the beginning stages of training at local gyms and fitness centers to an obsession with what foods and supplements help the body function at peak performance. His journey has made him question “the ethics and morality of health and fitness as a business (a very big business) and, furthermore, examine how the industry is misrepresenting and framing – staging – our expectations of what health and fitness should look like.” We all want a healthy body, but the definition of what is healthy is defined different by individuals, health professionals and big business trying to sell you health in a bottle. So who do you believe? Experience one man’s journey trying to figure it all out. Feasting on Famine hits the stage at the Firehall Arts Centre this Wednesday, September 27th and runs till September 30th. Tickets are available online from Firehall Arts Centre.
Contributing writer Tiva Quinn’s review of Feasting On Famine:
No matter how long you live, you will never have another chance to see a dance performance that addresses both erections and constipation.
Feasting on Famine isn’t really about precisely those things, though, it’s about the obsessive quest for a certain type of masculine ideal, and solo performer Shay Kuebler certainly knows what he’s dancing about with this topic. It’s written in every line of his body, and that’s a lot more lines than you’re probably used to seeing, as the guy is ripped. Beyond that, it’s about the general themes of obsession, dominance, perfection and self-control.
Kuebler dances in a variety of styles, the one that made the strongest impression for me involved moves that resemble break-dancing, but with all of the fluidity replaced by a frenetic repetition that turned it into a form of pushing muscles to their limit. He also interacts with props and video segments, often in ways that got a good chuckle from the audience.
This is not meant to be a comfortable performance, and it isn’t, but if you like your dance as challenging as an intense workout, you’ll like it a lot.
What else people are saying about Feasting On Famine:
(Keubler’s) style is indeed mesmerizing and explosive –
Vancouver Weekly
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