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Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, an all-male comic ballet company, is set to perform at the Bankhead Theater next week as part of its 50th anniversary season.
The Trocks, as they’re also known, will perform a retrospective of ballets they’ve performed through the eras of their existence. They perform these as parodies to entertain, infusing the ballets with humor that ranges from subtle to exaggeration – all the while, they defy historical, gender classifications in classical ballet, by performing “en pointe,” meaning on tip-toe in pointe shoes, and “en travesti,” meaning in theatrical drag.
To deepen an understanding of the company, including its roots in LGBTQ+ history, the Livermore Public Library will host a screening a documentary about The Trocks called “Ballerina Boys” and a Q&A with the film’s co-director, Martie Barylick, one day prior to the performance.
On their return to the Bankhead, The Trocks will perform “Yes, Virginia, Another Piano Ballet,” “Swan Lake, Act 2” and “The Dying Swan,” according to artistic director Tory Dobrin. Later in the year, The Trocks will premier a new work, made specifically for them by choreographer Durante Verzola.
Throughout the Bankhead show, the audience will witness a variety of music, colors of costume and personalities, according to Dobrin.
“The performance is fun. It’s a comedy show,” Dobrin said. “People come because they want to have a good time and they walk away not (having) expect(ed) the dancing to be as good as it really is.”
The Trocks dancers infuse comedy into ballets through exaggeration, subtle jokes in choreography and/or adjustments to well-known characters’ personalities, according to Dobrin. For example, the ballerina in “Swan Lake, Act 2” is assertive, rather than stereotypically submissive. Meanwhile, the swans react campily and the prince takes on a foolish personality.
“I hope that both people who have some knowledge of ballet and those for whom it is their first introduction to the world of dance will enjoy the show and leave the theater with great joy and a desire to see it again soon,” wrote Salvador Sasot Sellart, performing ballerina at the company.
The Trocks are one of the top in their field, they’ve been around for 50 years, and they’re all about equality, celebrating pride and sharing their love of dance world-wide, according to Ruth Egherman, director of marketing at Livermore Valley Arts. She spoke for LVA when she said this is the kind of thing they want to share with the Tri-Valley community.
A closer look into the company’s history, from after the 1969 Stonewall Riots to modern day, is available through a free, public screening of the 2021 PBS Masters documentary “Ballerina Boys” at the Livermore Public Library. The film, being one of two recent documentaries about The Trocks, tells the company’s story through original interviews and performance footage, according to the event press releases.
“I think if people see the film before the performance, the performance will be a richer experience for them,” Barylick said. “If you know about the real dancer behind the makeup, wig and the costume, it gives you a whole other gleeful appreciation.”
The Trocks will be performing Monday (Jan. 29) at 7:30 p.m. at the Bankhead Theater.
The free screening of “Ballerina Boys” – made possible because of a partnership between LVA and the city library – will take place on Sunday (Jan. 28) at 2 p.m. in the Civic Center Library Storytime Room at the Livermore Public Library.
For more information, visit the LVA’s website at livermorearts.org or the Livermore Public Library’s website at library.livermoreca.gov.
