Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is an all-male drag ballet corps parodying the clichés of romantic and classical ballet. It was co-founded by choreographer Peter Anastos in the United States in 1974 as a group producing small shows for friends, performing late-late shows in off-off Broadway lofts. The other co-founders: Antony Bassae and Natch Taylor.

After receiving a favourable critical essay in "The New Yorker" by Arlene Croce, it was discovered by a wider audience, and now the "Trocks" tours the world, including prolonged engagements in many major cities.

The dancers portray both male and female (mainly female) roles in a humorous style that mixes send-ups of the clichés of ballet, posing, and physical comedy with "straighter" pieces intended to show off the performers' skill (but still with a certain amount of humour). Part of the comedy is seeing male dancers "en travesti" performing moves usually reserved to females, such as dancing en pointe.

The Dancers

;Scott AustinBorn in Anaheim, California he joined the Trocks in January 2005.
He portrays "Ludmila Beaulemova" and "Jacques d'Aniel"

;Bernd BurgmaierBorn in Germany, he joined the Trocks in January 2000.
He portrays "Pavel Tord" and "Gerd Tord", the "Prune Danish of Russian Ballet", who abandoned an enormously successful acting career in Scandinavia to become respectively Trockadero premier danseur and ballerina.

;Robert CarterBorn in Charleston, South Carolina, USA; he joined the Trocks in November 1995.He portrays "Yuri Smirnov" and "Olga Supphozova".

Yuri ran away from home and joined the Kirov Opera because he thought Borodin was a prescription barbiturate, but he soon discovered that he didn't know his arias and decided to become a ballet star instead. Olga made her first public appearance in a KGB lineup under dubious circumstances and after a seven-year-to-life hiatus, she now returns to her adoring fans.

;Edgar CortesBorn in Santiago do Cacem, Portugal; he joined the Trocks in October 2000.He portrays "Klaus Youssoupovtu" and "Maria Gertrudes Clubfoot".

Klaus soared into prominence as the first defector whose leave-taking was accomplished at the virtual insistence of the defectees. Maria (after ballerina Maria Tallchief) is the last one of the great Indian ballerinas, who began her training with the Wounded Knee Ballet but was subsequently banned for use of traditional Indian weaponry.

;Calvin GentryBorn in Clarkston, Georgia, he joined the Trocks in December 2006.He portrays "Helen Highwaters" and "Jacques d'Ambrosia".

;Paul GhiselinBorn in Norfolk, Virginia, USA; he joined the Trocks in May 1995.
He portrays "Velour Pilleaux" and "Ida Nevasayneva".Velour is coming to America in conjunction with the release of his tenth cookbook, "Ma Brie". Ida is a socialist real ballerina of the working peoples everywhere and she was awarded a plastic medal for Bad Taste at the Varna Festival.

;Joshua GrantBorn in Americus, Georgia; he joined the Trocks in May 2006.He portrays "Katerina Bychkova" and "Ashley Romanoff-Titwillow".

;Joseph JeffriesBorn in Caldwell, Idaho; he joined the Trocks in May 2003.He portrays "Minnie van Driver" and "William Vanilla".

;Chase JohnseyBorn in Winter Haven, Florida, USA; he joined the Trocks in April 2004.

He portrays "Roland Daulin" and "Yakatarina Verbosovich".

Roland invented the "bad hair year" and devotes his spare time to selling his line of Michael Flatly wigs on the QVC shopping channel. Yakaterina own a walk-in wardrobe so large that it has its own postcode and has been awarded the keys to her city, Minsk (after which they changed the locks...).

;Nolan KubotaBorn in Santa Rosa, California; he joined the Trocks in September 2005.He portrays "Nadia Doumeifayva" and one of the "Legupski Brothers".

;Christopher LamBorn in Brisbane, Australia; he joined the Trocks in May 2007.He portrays "Nadezhda Bogdownova" and "Boris Nowitsky".

;Roberto LaraBorn in Mexico City, Mexico; he joined the Trocks in May 2006.He portrays "Vera Tchumpokova" and "Tino Xirau Lopez".

;Davide MarongiuBorn in Cagliari, Italy; he joined the Trocks in May 2005.He graduated from English National Ballet School in London and subsequently at American Ballet Theatre professional training program. With Les Ballets Trockadero de Montecarlo he performed corps and soloist roles in all the company's repertoire. This is his 3rd year with the company- His alter ego ballerina is Giuseppina Zambellini, after the famous Carlotta Zambelli, an italian star of Paris Opera Ballet and Ivan Legupski, one of the Legupski Brothers.

;Fernando Medina-GallegoBorn in Barcelona, Spain; he joined the Trocks in December 1998.He portrays "R.M. "Prince" Myshkin" and "Svetlana Lefatkina".Prince is Mongolian-born, cream of the Tartars, who electrified the world a decade ago when he leaped over the Wall or under the Curtain, whichever came first. Svetlana is dubbed the "Chernobyl Cherub", renowned for her portrayal of sensitive, tortured, neurotic ladies.

;Raffaele MorraBorn in Fossagno, Italy; he joined the Trocks in May 2001.He portrays "Pepe Dufka" and "Lariska Dumbchenko".Pepe recently sued 182 of New York's most ardent ballet lover for 19 years of constant exposure to rotten fruits and vegetables. Lariska in 1962 became the first ballerina to be shot into orbit, but subsequently defected to the West.

;Camilo RodriguezBorn in Mexico City, Mexico; he joined the Trocks in December 2006.He portrays "Eugenia Repelskii" and one of the "Legupski Brothers'.

;Or SagiBorn in Kfar Aza, Israel; he joined the trocks in April 2004.

He portrays "Zapoli Valenki" and "Maria Paranova".Zapoli is a revolutionary in the art of ballet, being the first to introduce crazy glue to stop supported pirouettes. Maria was discovered after 19 years in the dark as Mamie Eisenhower at a Republican fundraiser in Chicago.

The 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; 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"
*"Gâite 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)
*"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"'Dying Swan (Fokine's choreography); Debut at the Opera; Ribbon Dance; Russian Dance.

External links

* [http://www.trockadero.org/ Official site]
* [http://www.amadelio.com/amadelio_vlog/archiv/archiv_vlog_rel/vlog_2006_diaz.htm/ Interview with Damien Diaz]

References

*http://www.trockadero.org/
*http://www.imgartists.com/?page=artist&id=16
*http://www.amadelio.com/amadelio_vlog/archiv/archiv_vlog_rel/vlog_2006_diaz.htm/
*http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1083/is_n3_v70/ai_18053586
* [http://www.glbtq.com/arts/ballet_trock.html Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo] on glbtq.com
*http://www.theartscentre.net.au/whats-on_detail.aspx?view=154
*http://www.villagevoice.com/dance/0234,zimmer,37592,14.html