Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is an American all-male drag ballet corps which parodies the conventions and clichés of romantic and classical ballet. The company was co-founded by Peter Anastos, Natch Taylor and Antony Bassae in New York City in 1974, producing small, late-night shows, in off-off Broadway lofts. Their first show was on September 9, 1974, at a second story loft on 14th street, in the heart of the meat-packing district.^[1] The current artistic director is Tory Dobrin.^[2]

After receiving a favorable critical review in The New Yorker by Arlene Croce, it 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.^[3]

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 in seeing male dancers en travesti performing roles usually reserved to females, wearing tutus and dancing en pointe.

Dancers

Name	Birthplace	Joined Trockadero	Female role	Male role
ROBERT CARTER	Charleston, SC	November 1995	Olga Supphozova	Yuri Smirnov
PAOLO CERVELLERA	Putignano (Bari), Italy	November 2012	Moussia Shebarkarova	Vyacheslav Legupski
BOYSIE DIKOBE	Brits, South Africa	February 2011	Sonia Leftova	Andrei Leftov
JACK FURLONG, JR.	Boston, MA	September 2014	Guzella Verbitskaya	Mikhail Mudkin
PAUL GHISELIN	Chapel Hill, NC	May 1995	Ida Nevasayneva	Velour Pilleaux
GIOVANNI GOFFREDO	Noci, Italy	October 2013	Varvara Bratchikova	Sergey Legupski
DUANE GOSA	Chicago ILL	September 2013	Helen Highwaters	Vladimir Legupski
CARLOS HOPUY	Havana, Cuba	February 2012	Alla Snizova	Innokenti Smoktumuchsky
CHASE JOHNSEY	Winter Haven, FL	April 2004	Yakatarina Verbosovich	Roland Deaulin
LASZLO MAJOR	Mosonmagyaròvàr, Hungary	September 2014	Tatiana Youbetyoubootskaya	Araf Legupski
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
MATTHEW POPPE	Phoenix, AZ	June 2014	Doris Vidanya	Ilya Bobovnikov
ALBERTO PRETTO	Vicenza, Italy	February 2011	Nina Immobilashvili	Stanislas Kokitch
CARLOS RENEDO	Barcelona, Spain	February 2012	Maria Paranova	Boris Nowitsky
JOSHUA THAKE	Providence, RI	November 2011	Eugenia Repelskii	Jacques d’Aniels
MATTHEW VAN	Sydney, Australia	May 2014	Minnie van Driver	William Vanilla

Repertoire

From the Classical Repertory

Swan Lake Act II (chor. -Lev Ivanov; music -Tchaikovsky)
The Black Swan (the Black Swan Pas de Deux from Swan Lake) (chor. -After Petipa; music -Tchaikovsky, revised by Drigo)
Don Quixote Act I (chor. -After Petipa and Gorsky; music Minkus)
Don Quixote Grand Pas de Deux (chor. -After Petipa and Gorsky; music -Minkus)
Le Corsaire Pas de Deux (chor. -After Petipa; music -Drigo, Gerber; and Fitinhof-Schell)
Grand Pas de Trois des Odalisques from Le Corsaire (chor. -Petipa; music Adam and Pugni)
Grand Pas de Deux from Act III of The Sleeping Beauty (chor. -Petipa; music -Tchaikovsky)
The Bluebird from Act III of The Sleeping Beauty (chor. -Petipa; music -Tchaikovsky)
Pas de Trois from The Fairy Doll (chor. After Sergei Legat and Nikolai Legat, music -Drigo)
The Little Humpbacked Horse (Grand Ballabile from the Under-water scene) (chor. Petipa and Gorsky after Saint-Léon; music -Pugni)
Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux (chor. Vaganova; music -Pugni adapted by Drigo)
The Nutcracker (chor. -Pamela Pribisco; music -Tchaikovsky)
Pas de Quatre (chor. Dolin after Doin Trutti Gasparinetti; music-Pugni orch. Leighton Lucas)
Raymonda's Wedding (Act III of Raymonda (chor. Sergeyev after Petipa; music -Glazunov)
Les Sylphides (chor. Fokine; music -Chopin)
Flower Festival at Genzano Pas de Deux (chor. Bournonville; music -Paulli)
Grand Pas Classique from Le Dieu et la Bayadère (chor. Gsovsky; music -Auber)

Other works

École de Ballet
Go for Barocco (satire on Balanchine's choreography)
Cross Currents (piece for three dancers)
The Dance of Liberation
Gaîté Parisienne
The Dances of Isadora
Vivaldi Suite
La Trovatiara Pas de Cinq (from a lost Verdi opera)
Yes Virginia, Another Piano Ballet (5 dancers in a rehearsal studio, Jerome Robbins style, music - Frédéric 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 (Fokine's choreography after Fokine staged by Trutti Gasparinetti); Debut at the Opera; Ribbon Dance; Russian Dance.

References

^ Eugene MacDougal. "From the Director". Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
^ "About Us". Trockadero.org. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
^ Sanjoy Roy (17 February 2009). "Step by Step guide to Dance: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo". London: Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2010.

Reviews

Gus Solomons, Jr. (March 1996). "Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, December 12–17". Dance Magazine.
Elizabeth Zimmer (August 20, 2002). "Trocks Transcendent: Attitude With Altitude and Horsepower to Spare". Village Voice.

External links

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, official site
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at IMG Artists
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo on glbtq.com
Interview with Damien Diaz
Archive film of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo performing Le Lac des Cygnes (Swan Lake, Act II)in 2010 at Jacob's Pillow
[1], photographs of their performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Dec.9-16, 1976 and in rehearsal with Shirley MacLaine for her TV special with them, "Where do we Go from Here?"

[1] Eugene MacDougal. "From the Director". Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Retrieved 4 May 2010.

[2] "About Us". Trockadero.org. Retrieved December 10, 2011.

[3] Sanjoy Roy (17 February 2009). "Step by Step guide to Dance: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo". London: Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2010.

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