Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at The Parker
Toeing the line between high art and high camp, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo and its 16 all-male beloved burly dancers vow to “Keep on Trockin” as the company prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary season in 2024.
A company of professional male dancers performing the full range of the classical ballet and modern dance, the “Trocks,” as they are affectionately known, boast a wicked comedic sense of humor which is only outmatched by their panache and technical prowess. Every performance frivolously froths with tutus and testosterone, blush-pink ballet pumps, fierce false eyelashes, and prima ballerina attitude.
As the New York Times proclaimed, “Ballet is a completely absurd art — and we love it to pieces: that’s what Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo proclaims with every move.”
The Trocks have established themselves as a major dance phenomenon throughout the world. Their frenzied annual schedule has included appearances in over 35 countries and over 600 cities worldwide since its founding, as well as television appearances and a 2017 feature documentary, Rebels on Pointe. The company was also featured on PBS American Masters in 2021 with a new documentary, Ballerina Boys.
After premiering in the late-late shows in Off-Off Broadway lofts, the Trocks quickly garnered reviews in New York that established the company as an artistic and popular success. By mid- 1975, the Trocks’ were gaining national and international acclaim through a Richard Avedon photo essay in Vogue as well as articles and notices in publications such as Variety, Oui, and The London Daily Telegraph which raved, “We came to laugh, but we stayed to worship.”
After nearly a half-century of boldly defying classical ballet’s conventional gender classification, The Trocks remain at the forefront as noted in a statement the company released.
“Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was founded in 1974 in the wake of the Stonewall Riots. Early performances were held on the makeshift stage of the NYC LGBTQ rights organization known as the West Side Discussion Group, an offshoot of the groundbreaking Mattachine Society, one of the first LGBTQ rights groups in the US. This historic backdrop has always underscored commitment to providing a stage for dancers often underrepresented in classical ballet due to their sexual orientation, gender identity, size, social class, race, and ethnicity. While being slyly subversive, the Trock’s global visibility has helped move drag from counterculture to its current place in the mainstream. While we recognize that there is still much to be done to achieve full diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the ballet world, within our own company, and in the world at large, we strive to build and deepen this work both on and offstage.”
The 2022/2023 Broward Center Dance and Classical Series brings Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo to Lillian S. Wells Hall at The Parker on Saturday, February 4 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
Content Courtesy of the Broward Center and Pierson Grant PR
