On Friday i went to the Birmingham Hippodrome to watch a performance from Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. The 'Trocks' as they are also known are an all male ballet company, which was founded in 1974, just after the Stonewall riots in America.The riots occurred in 1969, when a lesbian, gay and transgender group resisted a police raid at a bar in New York, the riots marked a milestone in equal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and are often accredited for the Gay Liberation Movement.
The Trocks are one of the only dance companies of this genre whose roots go back to the time of gay liberation.
The dancers are all professionally trained, combining their knowledge of ballet and an aspect of comedy, but most importantly proving that male dancers can successfully dance en pointe. The comedy comes from the accidents that could easily happen during a performance as well as sometimes exaggerating that it is obviously a male dancing what would traditionally be a female part.
I really enjoyed the performance and at times it was easy to forget that it was an all male cast on the stage, the way that they carried themselves and the ease that they had whilst en pointe meant that they could easily have been female dancers (i was sat towards the back few rows, however). With just the right amount of comedy, they bring an exciting new approach to ballet as well as breaking stereotypes.
The show involved 2 intervals, which broke the performance up nicely and probably gave the dancers a much needed break and at the end there was the option to stay for a twenty minute Q&A session with current artistic director Tory Dobrin, who gave a good insight to the company, discussing their history as well as who provides pointe shoes for the male dancers.
I enjoyed the performance by the 'Trocks' and would recommend going to watch them if you can get to a show.
No comments:
Post a Comment