#BoysDanceToo: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo Express Love for Dance through Comedy

Infusing humorous, drag-inspired renditions of ballet favourites with new interpretations of contemporary dance, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (the Trocks) delights viewers with performances that dwindle at the intersection of parody and rigor. The all-male, New-York based company was founded by a group of professional dancers in 1974, and has since toured the world in over 30 countries and 500 cities. This February, Show One Productions is inviting Vancouver audiences to take in the Trocks glitz and glamour for a one night only performance at Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

The Trocks pays careful attention to the minute components of classical and modern dance—both respectively and in relation to each other— to create a new, theatric world filled with laughs and awe. The company deliberately highlights every accident and slip-ups, balancing out the discipline’s more serious aspects to enhance the spirit of the dance.

Hailing from Bucaramanga, Colombia, dancer Giovanni Ravelo has found a sense of home within the company since joining in 2008. Ravelo plays both Irina Kolesterolikova, a recently banished ballerina from St. Petersburg, and Boris Mudko, a recovering alcoholic dancer from Dzerzhinsk. Having stumbled upon a DVD of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at a library years ago, Ravelo was immediately excited by the challenges the company posed against the intense discipline of ballet.

“In Trockadero I found my niche—not just a place where I have danced the roles I dreamed of, but also roles I would have never imagined when I decided to become a dancer,” says Ravelo. “Trocks has given me the opportunity to grow as a person, to overcome personal and artistic obstacles, to travel the world, to give me the sense of belonging to something very special that is making a change in the world through dance and laughter.”

Though the show playfully toys with the more rigorous aspects of dance, constructing a parody goes beyond making fun of something serious. Ravelo points out that you have to master the rules before you can break them. Paying homage to ballerinas, the disciplined dancers at the Trocks train hard in order to look effortless. By intertwining “exquisite comedy skills,” they take their performances to the next level.

In its whimsical displays of dance and humorous interludes, the mission of the Trocks is to present each of the dancers’ love of ballet through comedy, and to spread that message around the world. Welcoming diverse audiences with various levels of dance knowledge, this message of love aims to transcend the performance and resonate with every viewer.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo performs at Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 1 at 8pm. Tickets start at $25.