Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo are back in Brighton this month, so GScene went to London to preview their latest show and take a look behind the scenes at this iconic ballet company.
6pm and I’m sitting in a dressing room in the depths of London’s Peacock Theatre with Trocks’ dancer, Raffaele Morra. Raffa, as he prefers to be called, is dressed smartly, and is relaxed and composed. But just a couple of hours earlier I watched him and the rest of the company as they were taken through a rigorous ballet class which lasted well over an hour. It began gently enough at the barre with light and subtle stretching exercises, but soon escalated into what seemed like a gruelling work out, the dancers given testing and repetitive routines full of jumps, pirouettes and extensions. Just watching was exhausting and you could see that they were being asked to work extremely hard. Yet in just a couple of hours’ time the company was due on stage to perform a full three act programme at the Peacock. It struck me that these dancers were elite athletes as well as true artists.
Raffa tells me he’s been with the company since 2001. He is now one of the Trocks’ two ballet masters and also dances leading roles in the company’s repertoire. But unlike many ballet companies the Trocks don’t have an artists’ hierarchy – that is, there are no principals, soloists, or corps de ballet members as such. They are all simply described as dancers, part of a company whose philosophy is both democratic and inclusive. “Everyone plays an important part and has their time on stage, their moment in the spotlight” says Raffa.
I next visit another dressing room where four dancers are carefully and ritually applying their own stage make-up, transforming themselves into their drag ballerina alter egos for tonight’s performance. Joshua Thake, AKA Eugenia Repelskii, tells me a bit more about the company: “This current group of dancers has mostly been together for about two years now. We’re a very close group”. Joshua adds that the current company is made up entirely of gay men. I can see that this creates a unique and very powerful dynamic.
So how does the company recruit its dancers? Artistic Director Tory Dobrin sheds some light: “The dancers tend to find us, usually through the internet now. We don’t hold auditions. A dancer who is interested is invited to company class. Seeing the dancer involved with the group, and the dynamic between them, is how I understand if they have a sense of humour, and if they are team players, and if they respect the protocol of the class. These elements are so important. Nice dance technique is, of course, needed, and is easy to spot right away.”
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts who wanted to present a playful, entertaining view of traditional, classical ballet, danced by men en travesty (in drag to you and me) and parodying the choreography, characterisation and narrative of classics like Swan Lake and Don Quixote. The dancers performed en pointe (in pointe shoes) and part of the fun was that they attempted to execute the demanding technical elements of the choreography as well as play for laughs.
Those early performances were given in a loft space in the meat-packing district of New York City. In the forty years since, the Trocks have grown into a first class, internationally renowned ballet company, regularly touring the world and playing to packed houses. Their repertoire had developed to include elaborate and faithful, parody productions of classical and modern ballet pieces and contemporary dance works.
The 1970s saw a drag explosion in downtown New York City following on from Stonewall. It was mirrored on the West Coast and can be seen, for example, in the first performances of San Francisco’s highly satirical and topical drag review show, Beach Blanket Babylon, which was also established in 1974. The founding of Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo needs to be seen in the context of this political activism and as part of the fight for LGBT rights. Today, this heritage and history remains an essential part of the company’s make up. The Trocks continue to be out, loud and proud, in their profile, in their performance, and in their ongoing benefit appearances supporting LGBT and wider humanitarian causes.
That night at the Peacock, the Trocks put on a spectacular show full of laughter, technical skill and bravura. In lovingly parodying the geniuses and tradition of dance, they are showcasing and preserving its legacy while at the same time keeping their audiences thoroughly entertained. They may be called a comedy ballet company, but there is so much more to them than that.
For more information, click here:
To read review of the London performance, click here:
When was the last time you cried? “Yesterday, no reason (pre-menstrual). I want someone to kick me in the c*nt so I can bleed.”
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