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 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

Name	Birthplace	Joined the company	Female role	Male role
Robert Carter	Charleston, SC	November 1995	Olga Supphozova	Yuri Smirnov
Boysie Dikobe	Brits, South Africa	February 2011	Sonia Leftova	Andrei Leftov
Jack Furlong, Jr.	Boston, MA	September 2014	Guzella Verbitskaya	Mikhail Mudkin
Kevin Garcia	Gran Canaria, Spain	August 2017	Elvira Khababghallina	Sergey Legupski
Duane Gosa	Chicago, IL	September 2013	Helen Highwaters	Vladimir Legupski
Carlos Hopuy	Havana, Cuba	February 2012	Alla Snizova	Innokenti Smoktumuchsky
Philip Martin-Nielson	Middletown, NY	September 2012	Nadia Doumiafeyva	Kravlji Snepek
Raffaele Morra	Fossano, Italy	May 2001	Lariska Dumbchenko	Pepe Dufka
Christopher Ouellette	San Francisco, CA	May 2014	Colette Adae	Marat Legupski
Alberto Pretto	Vicenza, Italy	February 2011	Nina Immobilashvili	Stanislas Kokitch
Giovanni Ravelo	Bucaramanga, Colombia	October 2008	Irina Kolesterolikova	Boris Mudko
Joshua Thake	Providence, RI	November 2011	Eugenia Repelskii	Jacques d’Aniels
Roberto Vega	Manati, Puerto Rico	August 2017	Ludmila Beaulemova	Mikhail Mypansarov
Long Zou	Li Ling, China	May 2009; rejoined January 2016	Nina Enimenimynimova	Ketevan Iosifidi

Notable former dancers

Repertoire

From 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

^ 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.
^ "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.
^ "Review: 'Rebels on Pointe,' and in Tutus". The New York Times, November 15, 2017.

Reviews

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

[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.

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