Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (USA)

21-22-23 April , 2010

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.

April 21-22-23., 2010 Palace of Arts - Festival Theatre
Part of the 10th Dance Forum Festival


Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (USA)

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was 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.
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.

Photo: Sascha Vaughan

Program:

LE LAC DES CYGNES (SWAN LAKE, ACT II)

MUSIC BY PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
CHOREOGRAPHY AFTER LEV IVANOVICH IVANOV
COSTUMES BY MIKE GONZALES
DECOR BY JASON COURSON
LIGHTING BY KIP MARSH

Swept up into the magical realm of swans (and birds), this elegiac phantasmagoria of variations and ensembles in line and music is the signature work of Les Ballets Trockadero. Perhaps the world's best known ballet, its appeal seems to stem from the mysterious and pathetic qualities of the heroine juxtaposed with the canonized glamour of 19th century Russian ballet.

Benno: Boris Nowitsky
(friend and confidant to)

Prince Siegfried: Ashley Romanof-Titwillow
(who falls in love with)

Odette:Lariska Dumbchenko
(Queen of the)

Swans:
Colette Adae, Nina Enimeniymynimova, Irina Kolesteroliknova,
MariaParanova, Yakatarina Verbosovich, Vanya Verikosa, DorisVidanya

(all of whom got this way because of)

Von Rothbart: Yuri Smirnov
(an evil wizard who goes about turning girls into swans)

INTERMISSION

PAS DE DEUX (Well, it will be a surprise)

GO FOR BAROCCO

MUSIC BY J.S. BACH
CHOREOGRAPHY BY PETER ANASTOS
COSTUMES BY MIKE GONZALES
LIGHTING BY KIP MARSH

Stylistic heir to Balanchine's Middle-Blue-Verging-On-Black-and-White Period, this ballet has become a primer in identifying stark coolness and choreosymphonic delineation in the new(neo) neo-new classic dance. It has been called a wristwatch for Balanchine clock-time.

First Movement (Moderato)

Vanya Verikosa and Katerina Bychkova

with
Colette Adae,Nine Enimenimynimova,
Maria Paranova, Giuseppina Zambellini

Second Movement (Adagio)

Vanya Verikosa and Katerina Bychkova

Third Movement (Allegro)

ALL

INTERMISSON

PAQUITA

MUSIC BY LUDWIG MINKUS
CHOREOGRAPHY AFTER MARIUS PETIPA
STAGED BY ELENA KUNIKOVA
COSTUMES AND DECOR BY MIKE GONZALES
LIGHTING BY KIP MARSH

Paquita is a superb example of the French style as it was exported to Saint Petersburg in the late 19th Century. Premiering at the Paris Opera in 1846, the ballet was produced a year later in Russia by Marius Petipa. Petipa choreographed for this a Pas de Trois and a Grand Pas de Deux in his characteristic style. These soon became the bravura highlights of the evening. The dancers display a range of choreographic fireworks, which exploit the virtuoso possibilities of academic classical dance, enriched by the unexpected combinations of steps.

Ballerina and Cavalier

Olga Supphozova

Marat Legupski

Variations:

Variation 1 Sveltlana Lofatkina
Variation 2 Katerina Bychkova
Variation 3 Vera Tchumpakova
Variation 4 Nina Enimenimynimova
Variation 5 Lariska Dumbchenko
Variation 6 Olga Supphozova

LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO

Eugene McDougle General Director
Tory Dobrin Artistic Director
Isabel Martinez Rivera Associate Director
Paul Ghiselin Ballet Master

MEET THE ARTISTS

COLETTE ADAE was orphaned at the age of three when her mother, a ballerina of some dubious distinction, impaled herself on the first violinist’s bow after a series of rather uncontrolled fouetté voyage. Colette was raised and educated with the “rats" of the Opera House, but the trauma of her childhood never let her reach her full potential. However, under the kind and watchful eye of the Trockadero, she has begun to flower and we are sure you will enjoy watching her growth.

KATARINA BYCHKOVA, voted the girl most likely to, is the living example that a common hard working girl can make it to the top. Our friendly ballerina was pounding the pavement looking for work when Trockadero found her. Her brilliant technique has endeared her to several fans and some of the stage hands, too. Her motto is “a smile is better than talent." Her nickname is... well, never mind what her nickname is.

LARISKA DUMBCHENKO. Before defecting to the West, Lariska’s supreme agility aroused the interest of the Russian space program and in 1962 she became the first ballerina to be shot into orbit. Hurtling through the stratosphere, she delivered handy make-up tips to an assembled crowd of celebrities back on Earth, including the now legendary...."Whitney Houston, we have a problem...."

NINA ENIMENIMYNIMOVA’S frail spiritual qualities have caused this elfin charmer to be likened to a lemon soufflé poised delicately on the brink of total collapse. Her adorably over-stretched tendons exude a childlike sweetness that belies her actual age.

IRINA KOLESTEROLIKOVA was discovered, along with Rasputin’s boot, adrift in a basket on the river Neva by kindly peasants. Her debut as the Maryinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, was marred by her overzealous grand jeté into the Tsar’s box, impaling a Grand Duchess. Banished from Russia, she made her way arduously to New York, where she founded, and still directs the Ecole de Ballet de Hard-Nox. Her most famous exercise is the warm-up consisting of a martini and an elevator.

SVELTLANA LOFATKINA. Lyrical, lissome, long-legged Sveltlana, “The Chernobyl Cherub," has produced frissons in audiences on every continent but two with her ineffable delicacy and refinement. This limber gamine has captivated hearts since her auspicious debut as Talyusha, the Left Nostril, in the ballet drawn from The Nose by N. Gogol. She is renowned for her portrayal of sensitive tortured neurotic ladies and other kvetches.

MARIA PARANOVA’s remarkable life story, only now coming to light after 19 dark years in near hopeless conviction that she was Mamie Eisenhower, will never fully be told. The discovery of her true identity (at a Republican fundraiser in Chicago) brought her to the attention of the Trockadero where she is slowly recovering her technical powers.

OLGA SUPPHOZOVA made her first public appearance in a KGB line-up under dubious circumstances. After a seven-year-to-life hiatus, she now returns to her adoring fans. When questioned about her forced sabbatical, Olga’s only comment was “I did it for Art’s sake." Art said nothing however.

VERA TCHUMPAKOVA. A celebrated child prodigy back in the Brezhnev era, Vera Tchumpakova astounded her parents at the age of two by taking a correspondence course in ballet. Sadly, due to the unreliable Russian postal system, she has only just graduated.

YAKATARINA VERBOSOVICH. Despite possessing a walk-in wardrobe so large that it has its own post code, Yakatarina remains a true ballerina of the people. Indeed, she is so loved in her native Russia that in 1993 the grateful citizens of Minsk awarded her the key to the city. That might well have remained the “golden moment" of this great ballerina’s career had they not subsequently changed the locks.

VANYA VERIKOSA, the hardest working living ballerina, has survived 3 revolutions, 2 counter-insurgencies and a Transit strike. Her most unforgettable portrayal was the title role of “Godzilla in Croise", praise for which was unanimous, not undue to the lengthy hospitalization required by certain hostile journalists.

DORIS VIDANYA. The legendary Vitebsk Virago, first achieved recognition as a child performer, appearing with the famous Steppe Brothers in the world premiere of Dyspepsiana (based on a unfinished paragraph by M. Gorki). As a favorite of Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and the czarevich, La Effhrvia, as she is known to her admirers, was compelled to flee St. Petersburg disguised as a Karsky shashlik.

GIUSEPPINA ZAMBELLINI created many original roles in St. Petersburg where she was the last of a long line of Italian Etoiles to appear at the Maryinsky Theater. It was her dazzling triumph in the role of “Electricity" in the extravagant “Excelsior" in her native Milan which brought her fame. However, no less electrifying was the line up of perfectly trained elephants, performing like the present day Rockettes. Unfortunately, Mlle Zambellini’s jealous scenes over the publicity given to these elephants and their ensuing popularity with the public, caused numerous problems. She subsequently refused to appear again in this role.

THE LEGUPSKI BROTHERS. Dimitri, Ivan, Marat and Vladimir are not really brothers, nor are their names really Dimitri, Ivan, Marat or Vladimir nor are they real Russians, nor can they tell the difference between a pirouette and a jeté...but...well...they do move about rather nicely ...and...they fit into the costumes.

BORIS NOWITSKY has been with the greatest ballerinas of our time and he has even danced with some of them. One of the first defective Russian male stars, he left the motherland for purely capitalistic reasons. Amazingly, between his appearances on television and Broadway, in movies, commercials, magazines and special events, and women’s nylons, he occasionally still has time to dance.

ASHLEY ROMANOFF-TITWILLOW combines a refined Southern gentility with a full-bodied exoticism. The pert and dangerously attractive Mr Romanoff-Titwillow extends his beautifully turned out leg across the Mason-Dixon line for the edification of Yankee audiences and to perhaps interest New York producers in his as yet unstaged ballet, the South Will SousSous Again.

YURI SMIRNOV. At the age of sixteen, Yuri ran away from home and joined the Kirov Opera because he thought Borodin was a prescription barbiturate. Luckily for the Trockadero he soon discovered that he didn’t know his arias from his elbow and decided to become a ballet star instead.

PRESS QUOTES

"The Trocks are looking better than ever. . .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

“Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo... remains one of the great comic creations of the American stage."
~ San Francisco Chronicle

“But the Trocks aren’t simply a bunch of guys with pins to burst the ballet bubble. They are also serious dancers, both on and off pointe, and underlying the pratfalls and the high-strung histrionics are respect and affection for their art."
~ The Guardian

“From the Trocks, it’s just another night at the theater: a program accessible to balletomanes and neophytes, and wholly spectacular."
~ The New York Times

THE DANCERS

Olga Supphozova and Yuri Smirnov Robert Carter

Colette Adae and Dimitri Legupski Claude Gamba

Ida Nevasayneva and Velour Pilleaux Paul Ghiselin

Katarina Bychkova and Ashley Romanoff-Titwillow Joshua Grant

Vanya Verikosa and Andrei Verikosa Brock Hayhoe

Yakatarina Verbosovich and Roland Deaulin Chase Johnsey

Nadezhda Bogdownova and Boris Nowitsky Christopher Lam

Vera Tchumpakova and Tino Xirau Lopez Roberto Lara

Giuseppina Zambellini and Ivan Legupski Davide Marongiu

Sveltlana Lofatkina and R.M. (“Prince") Myshkin Fernando Medina Gallego

Doris Vidanya and Ilya Bobovnikov Christopher Montoya

Lariska Dumbchenko and Pepe Dufka Raffaele Morra

Irina Kolesterolikova and Marat Legupski Giovanni Ravelo

Maria Paranova and Zapoi Valenki Or Sagi

Nina Enimenimynimova and Ketevan Iosidfidi Long Zou

ROBERT CARTER
Birthplace: Charleston, South Carolina. Training: Robert Ivey Ballet School, Joffrey Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: November 1995. Previous Companies: Florence Civic Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem Ensemble, Bay Ballet Theater.

CLAUDE GAMBA
Birthplace: Nice, France. Training: Paris Opera Ballet School, Rosella Hightower School of Dance. Joined Trockadero: August, 2008. Previous Companies: Nice Opera Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Zurich Opera Ballet, La Scala Opera Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo.

PAUL GHISELIN
Birthplace: Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Training: Tidewater Ballet Academy, Joffrey Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: May 1995. Previous Companies: Ohio Ballet, Festival Ballet of Rhode Island.

JOSHUA GRANT
Birthplace: Americus, Georgia. Training: Pacific Northwest Ballet School, The Harid Conservatory. Joined Trockadero: May, 2006 Previous Companies: Pacific Northwest Ballet, National Ballet of Canada.

BROCK HAYHOE
Birthplace: Toronto, Canada. Training: National Ballet of Canada School. Joined Trockadero: May, 2008. Previous Companies: Cape Town City Ballet.

CHASE JOHNSEY
Birthplace: Winter Haven, Florida. Training: Harrison Arts Center, Virginia School of the Arts. Joined Trockadero: April, 2004. Previous Company: Florida Dance Theatre.

CHRISTOPHER LAM
Birthplace: Brisbane, Australia. Training: Betsy Sawyer’s School of Dance, Australian Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: May, 2007. Previous companies: The Australian Ballet, Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve, Gotheburg Ballet, Croatian National Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadien de Montreal.

ROBERTO LARA
Birthplace: Mexico City, Mexico. Training: National School of Classic Dance. Joined Trockadero: December, 2006. Previous Company: National Dance Company of Mexico.

DAVIDE MARONGIU
Birthplace: Cagliari, Italy. Training: English National Ballet School, American Ballet Theater School. Joined Trockadero: May 2005.

FERNANDO MEDINA GALLEGO
Birthplace: Madrid, Spain. Training: Rudra Bejart School (Lausanne), Escuela Victor Ullate (Madrid). Joined Trockadero: December 1998. Previous Companies: Classical Ballet of Barcelona, Basler Ballet, Introdans, Ballet de L’Opera de Nice.

CHRISTOPHER MONTOYA
Birthplace: Springerville, AZ. Training: Phoenix School of Ballet, Dance Incorporated, University of Arizona. Joined Trockadero: January 2010. Previous Companies: David Taylor Dancer Theater, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Center Dance Ensemble, Scorpius Dance Theater.

RAFFAELE MORRA
Birthplace: Fossano, Italy. Training: Estudio de Danzas (Mirta & Marcelo Aulicio), Accademia Regionale di Danza del Teatro Nuovo di Torino. Joined Trockadero: May 2001. Previous Company: Compagnia di Danza Teatro Nuovo di Torino.

GIOVANNI RAVELO
Birthplace: Bucaramanga, Colombia. Training: Ballet Anna Pavlova (Bogota), The Rock School, Escuela del Ballet Nacional de Cuba. Joined Trockadero: October, 2008. Previous Companies: Roxey Ballet, Ballet Nacional de Colombia.

OR SAGI

Birthplace: Kfar Aza, Israel. Training: Shahar Ha Negev Dance School. Joined Trockadero: April, 2004. Previous Companies: Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, La Companiya de Dansa de Neo Classical de Catalunia.

LONG ZOU

Birthplace: Li Ling, China. Training: Central School of Ballet (London), Guangzhou Art School. Joined Trockadero: May, 2009. Previous Companies: Ballet Central (UK), Guangzhou Ballet.