HAVANA -- Barbara Paula looks nothing like a classical ballerina, but when she speaks of dancing on the stage, her face glows with confidence.

''I always wanted to be a dancer, but I was heavy and never had the opportunity,'' says Paula, 30, who weighs 275 pounds. ``Becoming a dancer has changed my life 120 percent. It's given me confidence and helped me emotionally.''

Paula is a member of Havana's Danza Voluminosa, a group of plus-size women who have become a well-established and respected troupe on the Cuban arts circuit. Their performances draw large audiences and favorable reviews, challenging stereotypes about beauty and the arts.

Founder and choreographer Juan Miguel Mas, 42, came up with the idea in 1996, drawing on his experience as a heavy-set dancer entranced by modern dance.

''The first performance was received with a lot of expectation and reservations,'' he says. ``The house was full, and some people laughed, but others applauded. At the end there was a big debate about whether it was appropriate for the stage and whether it was aesthetic or not. But we have continued, and we are breaking down barriers.''

The group has become quite popular, its members' girth something of an anomaly in a country where food is expensive, rationed and at times scarce. Their art is also experimental, somewhat unusual in a place where many artists hold closer to classical and indigenous forms.

Mas scripts dances that follow classical themes, infusing elements of jazz and African, modern and Caribbean dance. He also creates plots around the challenges and discrimination faced by the overweight, who -- as in other countries -- often endure exclusion, teasing and insults even at a young age.

And sometimes the performances are whimsical, such as the company's parody of Swan Lake. Members of the six-woman troupe each weigh between 200 and 300 pounds.

''The idea is to expand dance and culture, creating respect for diversity,'' Mas says.

While most modern professional dance troupes are filled with lithe, muscular bodies swirling and twirling around and above the stage, heavy dancers are, by necessity, more earth-bound, more confined to arcs and gestures and other movements of arms and legs.

''It's slower,'' Mas says. ``There are gestures from pantomime but also some from ballet, depending on the characteristics of the play. The aim is to always make an intense visual presentation.''

Mas says he has heard of other troupes of obese dancers in places as far away as Moscow and London, but most seem to have put on a limited number of performances and none has continued for long or reached a professional status akin to what Danza Voluminosa has achieved in Cuba.

The group now has official sanction and conducts practices and performances in the National Theater, and Mas receives a government salary for his work with the troupe and other activities.

The dancers typically work regular jobs, squeezing in their rehearsals and performances around the demands of their daily lives.

''We practice twice a week most of the year, but before a performance I lose track of how many hours we rehearse,'' says Paula, a housewife. ``After we perform I feel such an excitement and happiness.''

Expanding from his work with the overweight dancers, Mas also runs workshops and seminars, sometimes for visiting international groups.

Some of his work combines yoga and dance, and some of his seminars use dance as therapy to help build self-esteem.

But the Danza Voluminosa troupe remains his focus, an unexpected success that has managed to expand.

''This January we shared the stage with three thin dancers in a production called Alliances, '' Mas says. ``We looked for alliances between these types of bodies, in the end creating one body with the bodies of six dancers. It was a call for respect of our differences, not just between body types. We should all respect each other.''

Having trained more than 30 dancers during the past 11 years, Mas keeps his regular company at six performers and enjoys no shortage of interest from women who want to join the group and no problems scheduling performances.

''Most of our dancers are afraid to appear in public the first time, but their confidence grows when they see the audience's reactions,'' he says. ``And while that first audience laughed at the idea, now it's different. People come now to the theater with expectations to see a serious work. It's serious and professional.''

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