“Tutu-Clad Studs” and “Pseudo-Ballerinas”:
The “Body Language” of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
abstract
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, affectionately known as “the Trocks,” was founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts for the express purpose of presenting “traditional, classical ballet in parody form and en travesti.” For over thirty-five years, this all-male troupe of trained dancers have garnered critical acclaim and an international following, as much as for their skill with both classical and modern techniques as for the fact that they dance “in drag” and en pointe. Although the Trocks explicitly exaggerate the characteristics of serious dance to achieve the comedy, the impact and the effect of their work derives from the paradoxes in and on the performing bodies themselves: men who look like men, dressed and behaving within a very narrowly-scripted and institutionally codified role that has, historically, been open only to women and girls.
Though their dance repertoire is generally narrative, it is the intentional play with the language of bodies that theatricalizes the Trocks’ dancing. In the company’s own publicity, they explain that “the fact that men dance all the parts– heavy bodies delicately balancing on toes as swans, sylphs, water sprites, romantic princesses, 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.” Strategic use of transparency enhances the troubling effect– tights and tutus expose the thicker musculature of male dancers, chest hair is flaunted, and occasionally one or more of the dancers even sports a beard.
In Charleston, NC, a reviewer commented that “more than one audience member [was] convinced a rogue woman had invaded the all-male cast, so petite were some of the dancers,” while in Sante Fe, a reviewer wrote that a particular dancer “played his role straight…an ironic word choice when describing a company of men who dance both female and male roles.” Clearly, the Trocks’ mapping of female bodies onto male bodies highlights and complicates deep cultural assumptions about masculinity, body shapes and features, and sexuality. In this paper I will look specifically at the language that critics, reviewers, and audiences use to respond to and describe the performing bodies of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, with particular attention to moments of tension or discomfort.
D. Ohlandt, Ph.D. 