www.thestar.com/entertainment: Being fabulous is no cakewalk.
Just ask any glammed-up member of Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo. The Trocks, as the company is fondly known to its legions of fans, is the New York-based, world-travelled guys-in-tutus travesty dance troupe that has delighted Toronto audiences for almost half a century and returns this weekend for its first visit since the pandemic.
1 comment:
I’d never heard about “The Trocks” before! The group, as an all-male ballet group performing in tutus, is smashing gender and ballet norms. I looked into the origins of ballet, and found out it was originally seen as a masculine activity! Once the French monarchy fell, ballet companies, distancing themselves from the monarchy, feminized the arts, having women cross dress to perform male parts! Men were even ostracized for being “homosexual” due to dancing for a male audience.
Now, of course, ballet is dominated by women. Men in ballet often support female dancers. Les Ballets Trockadero, with an all-male cast, breaks that. They are the stars, and clad in bright flashy tutus cross dress to take on female parts, a direct parody of original French dance companies.
It did strike me that the group performs parodies and humorous shows. I wonder if seeing a comedy show takes away some of the impact that men performing in tutus have. Does the audience just see the group as a joke? I would hope not.
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