San Diego Theatres presents Les BALLETS TROCKADERO De MONTE CARLO

The Wait Is Over! ~ At Long Last, the Return of
Les BALLETS TROCKADERO De MONTE CARLO
At the BALBOA THEATRE
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18 ~ 7:30PM!

San Diego Theatres’ season at the historic and nationally acclaimed Balboa Theatre continues with something very different – the long-awaited return of the ever popular Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo on February 18, for one performance only.  The “Trock’s” all male company provides a playfully entertaining view of ballet in a parody format.
 
Meet Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, or as they’re affectionately known, the Trocks. And should there be any lingering doubt, there’s not a woman among them – despite the high quota of tutus, tiaras and tights onstage.  In the words of their online blurb, the show is a playful, entertaining view of traditional, classical ballet in parody form and en travesti. Or, to put It bluntly, ballet performed by blokes in drag.  However, as noted by the New York Times, “All jokes aside, they really can dance.”
 
Tickets range from $39 – $69, on sale now; and can be purchased by calling (619/858/760) 570-1100; or online at www.sdbalboa.org or in person at either the Civic Theatre Ticket Office at Third & B Street (open Monday through Friday, 10AM to 6PM) or the Balboa Theatre Ticket Office at performance times at Fourth & E Street (Call (619/858/760) 570-1100 for hours).  Discounts available for Seniors, Students, Active Military and Groups of 10 or more…call for details.
 
The critics rave about the Trocks!
The Trocks are looking better than ever. Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, as the lovable all-male ballet company is more formally known, presented a typical program of Russian warhorses of the 19th and early 20th centuries, danced by performers with silly Russianized names, on Tuesday in the opening night performance at the Joyce Theater. It was ballet that would probably delight all who miss ballet as it once was. There was nary a modern dance step or gesture in sight, in dancing filled with the kind of infectious passion and triumph the Bolshoi Ballet once brought to the Stage… Their program of grand ballet is as much food for the mind as it is for the eye and the funny bone.”
~ The New York Times
 
“The Trocks are a guaranteed hoot for people who know nothing of ballet and an absolute must for those who think they know the originals.”
~ Sydney Star Observer
 
“…approximately 8,000 happy observers of this ever-fabulous male travesty dance company made the free Stern Grove Festival one of the happiest places in the universe Sunday afternoon.”
~ San Francisco Examiner
 
“Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo…remains one of the great comic creations of the American stage.”
~ San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo continue to rank as one of the coveted experiences in dance.”
~ The Guardian
 
Background: 
Founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts for the purpose of presenting a playful, entertaining view of traditional, classical ballet in parody form and en travesti, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo first performed in the late-late shows in Off-Off Broadway lofts. The Trocks, as the dancers are affectionately known, quickly garnered a major critical essay by Arlene Croce in The New Yorker which, combined with reviews in The New York Times and The Village Voice, established the company as an artistic and popular success. By mid-1975, the Trocks’ inspired blend of a loving knowledge of dance, impeccable comic approach, and the astounding fact that men can, indeed, dance en pointe without falling flat on their faces, was being noted beyond New York. Articles and notices in publications such as Variety, Oui, The London Daily Telegraph, as well as a Richard Avedon photo essay in Vogue, made the company nationally and internationally known. The 1975-76 season was a year of growth and full professionalization. The company added management, qualified for the National Endowment for the Arts Touring Program, hired a full-time teacher and ballet mistress to oversee daily classes and rehearsals, and made its first extended tours of the United States and Canada. Packing, unpacking, and repacking tutus and drops, stocking giant-sized toe shoes by the case, and running for planes and chartered buses all became routine parts of life.Since those beginnings, the Trocks have established themselves as a major dance phenomenon throughout the world. The company has participated in dance festivals in Turkey, Holland, San Luis Potosi, Madrid, Montreal, New York, Paris, Spoleto, Turin, and Vienna. There have been television appearances as varied as a Shirley MacLaine special, the Dick Cavett Show, What’s My Line?, Real People, On-Stage America, visiting with Kermit and Miss Piggy on Muppet Babies, and a BBC Omnibus special on the world of ballet, hosted by Jennifer Saunders. The Trocks also had their own solo specials on national networks in Japan and Germany, as well as a French television special with Julia Migenes. A documentary was filmed and aired internationally by the acclaimed British arts program, The South Bank Show, and the Company was featured in The Egg, the PBS program about arts in America. Several performances were taped by a consortium of Dutch, French and Japanese TV networks at the Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France, for worldwide broadcast and DVD distribution.The Trocks numerous tours have been both popular and critical successes – the company’s annual schedules have included six tours to Australia and New Zealand, twenty-five to Japan (where annual visits have created a nation-wide cult following and a fan club), ten to South America, three to South Africa, and fifty-five tours of Europe. In the United States, the company has become a regular part of the college and university circuit, in addition to frequent presentations in all of the 50 states. The company has appeared in over thirty countries and over five hundred cities worldwide since its founding in 1974. Increasingly, the company is presenting longer seasons, which have included extended engagements in Amsterdam, Athens, Auckland, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Brisbane, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Cologne, Glasgow, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Lisbon, London, Lyon, Madrid, Melbourne, Moscow (at the famed Bolshoi Theater), Paris (at the Théâtre Musical de Paris Châtelet), Perth, Rome, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Vienna and Wellington.The company continues to appear in benefits for international AIDS organizations such as DRA (Dancers Responding to AIDS) and Classical Action in New York City; the Life Ball in Vienna, Austria; Dancers for Life in Toronto, Canada; and London’s Stonewall Gala. In addition, the Trocks have given or participated in special benefit performances for Connecticut Ballet Theater, Ballet Hawaii, Rochester City Ballet, Sadler’s Wells Theater in London and the Gay and Lesbian Community Center and Young Audiences/Arts for Learning Organization, and the Ali Forney House, benefiting gay youths in need, in New York City.The original concept of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo has not changed. It is a company of professional male dancers performing the full range of the ballet and modern dance repertoire, including classical and original works in faithful renditions of the manners and conceits of those dance styles. The comedy is achieved by incorporating and exaggerating the foibles, accidents, and underlying incongruities of serious dance. The fact that men dance all the parts – heavy bodies delicately balancing on toes as swans, sylphs, water sprites, romantic princesses, or angst-ridden Victorian ladies – enhances, rather than mocks, the spirit of dance as an art form, delighting and amusing the most knowledgeable, as well as novices, in the audiences. After recent appearances on ABC News and for the Prince of Wales on the Royal Variety Show, the dancers of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo have become more well-known than ever. For the future, there are plans for new works in the repertoire; new cities, states and countries to perform in; and for the continuation of the Trocks’ original purpose: to bring the pleasure of dance to the widest possible audience. The company will, as it has done for thirty-five years, “Keep on Trockin’.”Date Last Edited: 27th August 2009

For more info on Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo you can visit their official website at http://www.trockadero.org/

Topics: Ali Forney House, Arlene Croce, BBC Omnibus, Bolshoi Theater, Dancers for Life, Dancers Responding to AIDS, Dick Cavett Show, Jennifer Saunders, Julia Migenes, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, London Daily Telegraph, Muppet Babies, National Endowment for the Arts Touring Program, On-Stage America, Oui, Real People, Richard Avedon, Royal Variety Show, San Diego Theatres, Shirley MacLaine, The South Bank Show, The Village Voice, Théâtre Musical de Paris Châtelet, Variety, Vogue, What’s My Line?

Latest Headlines

• The South African Ballet Theatre returns to the stage with Carmen
• Firkin Crane – BLANK CANVAS 2011 – Call for applications
• DANCERS EXCEL AT ‘WORLD CUP’ OF BALLET AS THE CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION ENDS
• Open Dance Classes in NYC with COLLECTIVE BODY | DANCELAB Director Brian Carey Chung
• 2010 ROLEX DANCE AWARD To TWYLA THARP
• The South African Ballet Theatre’s Winter School 2010
• Tony Award Winners Join Career Transition For Dancers’ 25th Annual Silver Jubilee
• DANCE PARTY + PERFORMANCE MASH-UP TAKES 92Y’S 75th ANNIVERSARY SEASON OUT WITH A BANG
• The Ballet Bag Gives Ballet a New Spin
• The South African Ballet Theatre Forges Ahead
• TenduTV Premieres DancePulp on Hulu
• CTFD – Sono Osato Additional $250,000 Gift Announced
• 92nd Street Y Fridays at Noon | DOUG ELKINS PRESENTS
• ‘A Palo Seco’ solo debut for flamenco dancer Rebeca Tomás
• Dutch top modern ballet company Introdans visits South Africa for the fifth time, with SP!R!T

In The News

“PANDIBULAN: BATHING BY MOONLIGHT” BY KINDING SINDAW

A Yakan woman from the Philippines, half a world from home, dreams of tales from her youth as she works as a caregiver to strangers in a foreign land. April 22nd - May 2nd 2010, at La MaMa, NYC

ROLEX Presents Career Transition For Dancers’ 25th ANNIVERSARY SILVER JUBILEE

Rolex presents Career Transition For Dancers’ 25th ANNIVERSARY SILVER JUBILEE: A STAR-STUDDED RETROSPECTIVE on Monday, November 8, 2010 at New York City Center

TenduTV Premieres Dance on Camera Festival on Hulu

TenduTV announces the launch of the digital Dance on Camera Festival on Hulu.com

Diablo Ballet Promotional Video Trailer

Throughout its history the Diablo Ballet has achieved remarkable artistic success capturing enthusiastic public response, substantial critical acclaim, and international recognition.

American Tap Dance Foundation presents “Sound Check”

Tony Waag, director of American Tap Dance Foundation, announces the second annual "SOUND CHECK," a tap concert series with the singular purpose of highlighting the vast breadth and scope of tap.