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IMPRESSIONS: Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo at The Joyce Theater
By Cecly Placenti
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Published on January 28, 2025
Photo by Zoran Jelenic
Artistic Director: Tory Dobrin
Executive Director: Liz Harler
Ballet Master: Raffaele Marra
Costumes: Mike Gonzales; Ken Busbin
Staging: Yelena Tchernychova after Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa
Choreography: Durante Verzola
What better way to usher in 2025 than with tutus, tiaras and tights? Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo’s male dancers in drag offer plenty of those as well as an evening of belly shaking laughter and silliness, providing audiences with a refreshing take on a classical dance form. The Trocks (as the company is affectionately called) reminds us not to take ballet, or ourselves, too seriously.
Celebrating their 50th year as the queens of satirical dance, the company’s double bill program at The Joyce Theater opens with Giselle (Act II.) Adolphe Adam’s original score remains the same, as does much of the choreography and basic storyline: an innocent peasant girl (Giselle) is betrayed by a cynical nobleman disguised as a peasant (Albrecht.) Giselle goes mad, stabs herself and dies with a broken heart. Her spirit is then claimed by the Wilis, spectres of maidens who were also betrayed by lovers who died before they were married.
The Trocks, however, shake things up a bit. Gone are the elegant long white tutus and ballerinas in tidy, precise buns. In their places are dusty grey tulle skirts designed by Mike Gonzalez, teased out bed-head hairdos, and garish vampire makeup. These zombies Wilis don’t tip-toe lightly into view, they stomp and stagger, their hands forming claws as they bare their teeth in menacing grimaces. They rush clumsily across the stage with pointed fingers, hop loudly in arabesque. The wield plastic shovels to awaken Giselle from her grave, only fall asleep during her pas de deux. A dreadful delight!
The company dancers each have a male and female persona, their female moniker an ironic nod to the days when Russian names dominated the roster of ballet’s biggest stars. Varvara Laptopova (Takaomi Yoshino) is a domineering Queen of the Wilis, a long-stemmed lily quivering comically atop his head with every bourrèe the Wilis iconic and dainty yet needle sharp traveling step. Anya Marx (Shohei Iwahama) is wilting and mournful as Giselle, enduring all the foolery around her as she attempts to protect her mortal lover.
There is no shortage of slapstick comedy or witty quips in the company’s repertory that poke fun at the absurdity of many of the great story ballets (such as a pack of human/swan hybrids or flippant royalty who can only recognize a woman by the size of her foot.) But this type of humor only works if the dancing is good. The Trocks dancing is great. Balancing humor with artistry is no easy task, and the company excels without sacrificing skill for a gag. Their comedy is achieved by mastering and then exaggerating the foibles and underlying incongruities of serious dance. They are highly trained professionals with stellar technique and ability. They are also muscular, athletic men delicately balancing on their toes as swans, sylphs, princesses and sprites, shaking up gender stereotypes and giving normally female dominated roles a new perspective. Anyone who has ever strapped on a pair of pointe shoes knows how much strength is required to execute even the simplest steps. Ballerinas work very hard to look ephemeral and effortless, especially in classical corps roles like Wilis. The Trocks, however, do not hide their strength and athleticism, yet also dance with the grace and lightness often associated with female dancers.
Ballet Trockadero’s second presentation, Symphony, choreographed by Durante Verzola, is a take on George Balanchine’s Symphony in C. Brisk and rigorous, the ballet delights with sparkling footwork and more subtle humor. Andrea Fabbri (Tatiana Youbetyabootskaya) is joyous in the first movement, her broad chest and rugby player physique incongruous with her pale blue tutu and sparkling tiara. When she gets caught in the middle of ballerina crossings, her annoyance is short lived and she flashes a broad, showbiz smile. Youbetyabootskaya stands out not only for her size, but also the precision of her technique and the speed of her footwork.
Kevin Garcia (Elvira Khababgallina) is leggy and elegant in the third movement of Symphony, and Yoshino impresses with crystalline technique and musicality. As a choreographer, Verzola understands the impact of formations, the dancers crisscrossing the stage in dazzling arrays in a structure similar to Balanchine’s. He allows an irritated look here and there and a few smirking, hands-on-hips moments, but the focus in this work is more on technique and the pure exhilaration of dance. In Balanchine fashion, Verzola’s grand finale showcases the entire cast in a series of unison turns reminiscent of Symphony in C’s whirling closer. The Trocks do it well, and with gusto. The program’s curtain call is a kickline to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” the dancers wearing spongy Statue of Liberty crowns over their glittering tiara’s. If this performance is any indication, I think 2025 is going to be a fun and feisty year!
