Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is an all-male drag ballet troupe that parodies the conventions of romantic and classical ballet. In 2008, they performed at the Royal Variety Performance in front of Prince Charles.[1] The company's current artistic director is Tory Dobrin.[2]

The troupe performs with Shirley MacLaine (center) on her 1977 television special "Where Do We Go From Here?"

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

Prior 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,[3] 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[4][5] and 1977,[6] then returned in 1982,[7] twice in 1987,[8][9] and in 1990, with Madame Ekathrina Sobechenskaya's Original Trocadero Gloxinia Ballet.[10]

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.[11] 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 2017, the troupe were profiled in the documentary film Rebels on Pointe.[12]

Dancers
NameBirthplaceJoined the companyFemale roleMale role
Robert CarterCharleston, SCNovember 1995Olga SupphozovaYuri Smirnov
Boysie DikobeBrits, South AfricaFebruary 2011Sonia LeftovaAndrei Leftov
Jack Furlong, Jr.Boston, MASeptember 2014Guzella VerbitskayaMikhail Mudkin
Kevin GarciaGran Canaria, SpainAugust 2017Elvira KhababghallinaSergey Legupski
Duane GosaChicago, ILSeptember 2013Helen HighwatersVladimir Legupski
Carlos HopuyHavana, CubaFebruary 2012Alla SnizovaInnokenti Smoktumuchsky
Philip Martin-NielsonMiddletown, NYSeptember 2012Nadia DoumiafeyvaKravlji Snepek
Raffaele MorraFossano, ItalyMay 2001Lariska DumbchenkoPepe Dufka
Christopher OuelletteSan Francisco, CAMay 2014Colette AdaeMarat Legupski
Alberto PrettoVicenza, ItalyFebruary 2011Nina ImmobilashviliStanislas Kokitch
Giovanni RaveloBucaramanga, ColombiaOctober 2008Irina KolesterolikovaBoris Mudko
Joshua ThakeProvidence, RINovember 2011Eugenia RepelskiiJacques d’Aniels
Roberto VegaManati, Puerto RicoAugust 2017Ludmila BeaulemovaMikhail Mypansarov
Long ZouLi Ling, ChinaMay 2009; rejoined January 2016Nina EnimenimynimovaKetevan Iosifidi

Notable former dancers

Repertoire

From the classical repertoire

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

References
  1. 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.
  2. "About Us". Trockadero.org. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
  3. La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Sobechenskaya Dances (1972)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
  4. La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya + Tamara Karpova with the Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Co. (1976a)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
  5. La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya + Tamara Karpova with the Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Co. (1976b)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
  6. La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya + Tamara Karpova with the Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Co. (1977)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
  7. La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya and the Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company (1982)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
  8. La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya and Her Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company (1987a)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
  9. La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ekathrina Sobechanskaya and Her Original Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company (1987b)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
  10. La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Madame Ekathrina Sobechanskaya's Original Trocadero Gloxinia Ballet (1990)". Accessed August 7, 2018.
  11. Eugene MacDougal. "From the Director". Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
  12. "Review: 'Rebels on Pointe,' and in Tutus". The New York Times, November 15, 2017.

Reviews
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