Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is an all-male drag ballet troupe that parodies the conventions of romantic and classical ballet. The company's current artistic director is Tory Dobrin.[1]
The dancers portray both male and female roles in a humorous style that combines parodies of ballet, posing, and physical comedy with "straighter" pieces intended to show off the performers' technical skills. Much of the humor is the male dancers performing en travesti in roles usually reserved for females, while wearing tutus and dancing en pointe.
History
editPrior to the founding of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, members of Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatre Company formed a company called the Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company in 1972. This company included Larry Ree, Richard Goldberger, Lohr Wilson, Roy Blakey, Peter Anastos, Natch Taylor, and Anthony Bassae. They often performed at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan.
Productions at La MaMa included Sobechenskaya Dances in 1972,[2] multiple productions titled Ekathrina Sobechenskaya Dances with the Troxadero Gloxinia Ballet Company in 1974, and Ekathrina Sobechenskaya Dances with the Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company in 1975. They continued to perform at La MaMa in 1976[3][4] and 1977,[5] then returned in 1982,[6] twice in 1987,[7][8] and in 1990, with Madame Ekathrina Sobechenskaya's Original Trocadero Gloxinia Ballet.[9]
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was co-founded by Peter Anastos, Natch Taylor, and Anthony Bassae, all of the Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company, in 1974. They initially produced small, late-night shows in off-off-Broadway spaces. The troupe's first show was on September 9, 1974 in a second-story loft on 14th Street in the Meatpacking District.[10] After receiving a favorable review in The New Yorker by Arlene Croce, the company was discovered by a wider audience. The "Trocks" toured the world, with prolonged engagements in many major cities.
In 2008, they performed at the Royal Variety Performance in front of Prince Charles.[11] In 2017, the troupe were profiled in Bobbi Jo Hart's documentary film Rebels on Pointe.[12]
Dancers
edit| Name | Birthplace | Joined the company | Female role | Male role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raydel Caceres | Pinar del Río, Cuba | August 2023 | Blagovesta Zlotmachinskaya | Mikhail Mudkin |
| Robert Carter | Charleston, South Carolina | November 1995 | Olga Supphozova | Yuri Smirnov |
| Boysie Dikobe | Brits, South Africa | February 2011 | Sonia Leftova | Andrei Leftov |
| Matias Dominguez Escrig | Santiago, Chile | October 2023 | Gerard Törd | Pavel Törd |
| Andrea Fabbri | Lugo, Italy | October 2023 | Tatiana Youbetyabootskaya | Araf Legupski |
| Gabriel Foley | Overland Park, Kansas | July 2023 | Resi Oachikatzlschwoaf | Ilya Bobovnikov |
| Kevin Garcia | Gran Canaria, Spain | August 2017 | Elvira Khababgallina | Sergey Legupski |
| Duane Gosa | Chicago, Illinois | September 2013 | Helen Highwaters | Vladimir Legupski |
| Carlos Hopuy | Havana, Cuba | February 2012 | Alla Snizova | Innokenti Smoktumuchsky |
| Jack Furlong, Jr. | Boston, Massachusetts | September 2014 | Guzella Verbitskaya | Mikhail Mudkin |
| Shohei Iwahama | Komae-shi, Tokyo, Japan | March 2022 | Anya Marx | Chip Pididouda |
| Philip Martin-Nielson | Middletown, New York | September 2012 | Nadia Doumiafeyva | Kravlji Snepek |
| Felix Molinero del Paso | Grenana, Spain | October 2021 | Holly Dey-Abroad | Bruno Backpfeifengesicht |
| Trent Montgomery | McGehee, Arkansas | August 2021 | Ludmila Beaulemova | Jens Witzelsucht |
| Raffaele Morra | Fossano, Italy | May 2001 | Lariska Dumbchenko | Pepe Dufka |
| Sergio Najera | Mexico City, Mexico | February 2023 | Bertha Vinayshinsky | Irving Verschemelt |
| Christopher Ouellette | San Francisco, California | May 2014 | Colette Adae | Marat Legupski |
| Giovanni Ravelo | Bucaramanga, Colombia | October 2008 | Irina Kolesterolikova | Boris Mudko |
| Alejandro Gonzalez Rodriguez | Holguín, Cuba | May 2019 | Maria Clubfoot | Tino Xirau-Lopez |
| Salvador Sasot Sellart | Lleida, Spain | August 2022 | Grunya Protazova | Marat Legupski |
| Jake Speakman | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | November 2021 | Colette Adae | Timur Legupski |
| Joshua Thake | Providence, Rhode Island | November 2011 | Eugenia Repelskii | Jacques d’Aniels |
| Roberto Vega | Manatí, Puerto Rico | August 2017 | Ludmila Beaulemova | Mikhail Mypansarov |
| Haojun Xie | Xi'an, China | August 2018 | Maya Thickenthighya | Nicholas Khachafallenjar |
| Takaomi Yoshino | Osaka, Japan | August 2018 | Varvara Laptopova | Boris Dumbkopf |
| Long Zou | Liling, China | May 2009; rejoined January 2016 | Nina Enimenimynimova | Ketevan Iosifidi |
Notable former dancers
editRepertoire
editFrom the classical repertoire
- Swan Lake Act II (choreography by Lev Ivanov, music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
- The Black Swan (Black Swan Pas de Deux from Swan Lake) (choreography after Marius Petipa, music by Tchaikovsky and revised by Riccardo Drigo)
- Don Quixote Act I (choreography after Petipa and Alexander Gorsky, music by Ludwig Minkus)
- Don Quixote Grand Pas de Deux (choreography after Petipa and Gorsky, music by Minkus)
- Le Corsaire Pas de Deux (choreography after Petipa, music by Drigo, Gerber, and Boris Fitinhof-Schell)
- Grand Pas de Trois des Odalisques from Le Corsaire (choreography by Petipa, music by Adolphe Adam and Cesare Pugni)
- Grand Pas de Deux from Act III of The Sleeping Beauty (choreography by Petipa, music by Tchaikovsky)
- The Bluebird from Act III of The Sleeping Beauty (choreography by Petipa, music by Tchaikovsky)
- Pas de Trois from The Fairy Doll (choreography after Sergei Legat and Nikolai Legat, music by Drigo)
- The Little Humpbacked Horse (Grand Ballabile from the Under-water Scene) (choreography by Petipa and Gorsky after Arthur Saint-Léon, music by Pugni)
- Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux (choreography by Agrippina Vaganova, music by Pugni and adapted by Drigo)
- The Nutcracker (choreography by Pamela Pribisco, music by Tchaikovsky)
- Pas de Quatre (choreography by Anton Dolin after Doin Trutti Gasparinetti, music by Pugni and orchestrated by Leighton Lucas)
- Raymonda's Wedding (Act III of Raymonda (choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev after Petipa, music by Alexander Glazunov)
- Les Sylphides (choreography by Mikhail Fokine, music by Frederic Chopin)
- Flower Festival at Genzano Pas de Deux (choreography by August Bournonville, music by Holger Simon Paulli)
- Grand Pas Classique from Le Dieu et la Bayadère (choreography by Victor Gsovsky, music by Daniel Auber)
Other works
- École de Ballet
- Go for Barocco (parody of George Balanchine's choreography)
- Cross Currents (for 3 dancers)
- The Dance of Liberation
- Gaîté Parisienne
- The Dances of Isadora
- Vivaldi Suite
- La Trovatiara Pas de Cinq (from a lost Giueseppe Verdi opera)
- Yes Virginia, Another Piano Ballet (5 dancers in a rehearsal studio in the style of Jerome Robbins, music by Chopin)
- Stars & Stripes Forever
- Dances of Ruth St. Denis
- Spring Waters
- Debut at the Opera
- Gambol
- I Wanted to Dance With You
- Lamentation of Jane Eyre
- Patterns in Space
Solo works
- The Dying Swan (choreography by Michel Fokine after staging by Trutti Gasparinetti) Debut at the Opera; Ribbon Dance; Russian Dance
References
edit- ^ "About Us". Trockadero.org. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Sobechenskaya Dances (1972)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya + Tamara Karpova with the Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Co. (1976a)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya + Tamara Karpova with the Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Co. (1976b)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya + Tamara Karpova with the Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Co. (1977)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya and the Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company (1982)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya and Her Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company (1987a)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya and Her Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company (1987b)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Madame Ekathrina Sobechanskaya's Original Trocadero Gloxinia Ballet (1990)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
- ^ Eugene MacDougal. "From the Director". Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- ^ Sanjoy Roy (February 17, 2009). "Step by Step guide to Dance: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo". London: Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- ^ "Review: 'Rebels on Pointe,' and in Tutus". The New York Times, November 15, 2017.
- ^ Macaulay, Alastair; Times, The New York. "Dancers". Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
Reviews
edit- Gus Solomons Jr. (March 1996). "Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, December 12–17". Dance Magazine. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011.
- Elizabeth Zimmer (August 20, 2002). "Trocks Transcendent: Attitude With Altitude and Horsepower to Spare". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on October 31, 2007.
External links
edit- Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo official site
- Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo Archived 2011-10-08 at the Wayback Machine at IMG Artists
- Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo on GLBTQ.com
- Interview with Damien Diaz
- Archive footage of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo performing Le Lac des Cygnes (Swan Lake, Act II) in 2010 at Jacob's Pillow
- Photographs of performance at Brooklyn Academy of Music (Dec. 9–16, 1976) and in rehearsal with Shirley MacLaine for TV special "Where do we Go from Here?"
- Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company's page on La MaMa Archives Digital Collections