Radical Body Language
How we look, how we perceive how we look and how others perceive our physical form (as opposed to who we truly are) hardly seem to be dinner conversation material, but how abut a play? The True Body Project is giving it a shot with Body Language: A Radical Truth, a play in the upcoming Cincy Fringe Festival.
According to the Festival web site, the play was created as a collaborative work with “Cincinnati-area teen girls and women” who participated in a three-month research process. Discussions focused on “the complexities of how we experience our bodies and the secrets we might keep related to these experiences.”
Healthy attitudes and perspectives about being female is what the True Body Project is all about. Headed up by Stacy Sims in response to the Pulse Study data (see "The Pulse Is Just the Start," issue of Aug. 9, 2006) and emphasizing the need to “grow strong girls,” the project “proposes to empower girls to identify and stay in their true bodies and maintain and grow their authentic voices.” (See the 2005 CityBeat cover story on True Body Project, "True Body and the Write Stuff.")
Recalling a recent presentation she made, Nancy Zimpher, University of Cincinnati president, says the student shadowing her for the day asked her an unexpected question. (See my interview with Zimpher, "Striving to Improve Children's Lives,"
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