CAMP, CLASSICAL COLLIDE WITH DRAG LEGENDS
Founded in 1974, Trockadero remains a progressive force, writes Jim Burke.
As Bette Davis almost said: fasten your seatbelts, Montreal, it’s going to be a bumpy night when legendary drag troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo lands at Place des Arts for a one-night stand on Thursday.
The divine Miss Davis is just one larger-than-life influence cited by the company’s artistic director, Tory Dobrin, when he spoke to the Montreal Gazette by phone. As well as Joan Crawford and Bolshoi giant Maya Plisetskaya, he mentioned such highenergy comedians as Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller, Gracie Allen and Joan Rivers.
“I send videos to the guys and I say, ‘Please look at the way they use their eyes and their facial expressions, and even the way they tip their heads,’ ” said Dobrin.
The Trocks, as they’re affectionately known, were launched in New York in 1974, part of a more assertive push for LGBTQ visibility in the after-effects of the Stonewall riots.
What began as a late-night lark in off-off-broadway venues soon blossomed into a truly spectacular hothouse flower. They’ve performed with Shirley Maclaine, had think pieces written about them in publications such as The New Yorker and New York Times, and were snapped for a photo essay in Vogue. Now an international brand, they were the subject of the film Rebels on Pointe, which was nominated in
a documentary category at the 2019 Canadian Screen Awards.
“We’re almost 50 years old now, which kind of speaks for itself,” said Dobrin, who joined as a dancer in 1980. “We have staying power.”
Gender politics have obviously undergone major changes since the Trocks first jeted onto the scene, but Dobrin argues the troupe is still very much a progressive force. “When you talk about drag and its place in society, a lot of times it’s used to highlight the absurdities and inconsistencies of gender stereotypes. We’ve definitely always played with that,” he said.
As an example, Dobrin points to the Trocks’ treatment of Swan Lake. “Usually the Swan Queen is very vulnerable, while the prince is all strong and macho. We do it the other way around,” he said. “We play the prince as being some sort of insignificant, possibly clueless man, and the Swan Queen as a very powerful character running the show.”
By way of highlighting the excellence of the dancers, Dobrin cited several award-winners in the company, including Cubanborn Carlos Hopuy, who will be one of the dancers performing in Montreal.
“Carlos has won gold medals as a male in international ballet competitions. He’s top of the line.”
It’s not only the promise of first-class dancers that pulls genuine ballet enthusiasts into the Trocks’ fan base. It’s also the company’s loving guardianship of traditional ballet, both old favourites and the less familiar.
“We’ve developed a large repertory of (Russian) ballets that aren’t really done in the West,” said Dobrin. “That’s garnered some attention from critics who actually wanted to see these ballets and never had the opportunity.”
Dobrin mentioned The Little Humpbacked Horse, first presented at St. Petersburg’s Imperial Ballet in 1864, as well as Walpurgisnacht, a short piece that derives from Gounod’s Faust.
“No one does Walpurgisnacht outside of Russia anymore,” said Dobrin, with more than a hint of pride. “So the audience in Montreal will see this old Bolshoi ballet. Of course, we’ve changed it around to bring out the comedy in it, but at the same time (the Montreal audience) is going to be exposed to the kind of vocabulary that was important to that ballet. They’re going to see some sophisticated ballet stuff.”
Les Grands Ballets follow up their majestic and stirring double bill Dancing Beethoven with a triptych of ballets set to some truly beautiful choral music from Tchaikovsky.
Luna is inspired by the influence of the moon and, by extension, our influence on one another. It consists of Vessel, by Andrew Skeels (2018 winner of Paris’s Grand Prix de la Critique); From the Sun to the Moon, created by Les Grands Ballets principal dancer Vanesa Garcia-ribala Montoya; and Beguile, by Lesley Telford, a Vancouver-based choreographer who for many years has worked with the internationally renowned company Nederlands Dans Theater. Also at Place des Arts in March are two shows in the Danse Danse season, beginning with a visit from the aforementioned Nederlands Dans Theater (March 10-14, Théâtre Maisonneuve, $37 to $89).
The company presents three pieces, beginning with Vladimir, by Israeli-born, London-based Hofesh Shechter, whose stunningly apocalyptic Grand Finale played as part of Danse Danse in 2017. Shechter was nominated for a Tony for his choreography in the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, itself coming to Place des Arts in April.
Next up is The Statement, from Nederlands Dans Theater associate choreographer Crystal Pite and playwright Jonathon Young. Montreal audiences will be familiar with this dynamic duo: their previous visits included the searingly tragic, grotesquely funny Betroffenheit, which played as part of 2018’s Festival Transamériques, and the 2019 Danse Danse show Revisor. Like the latter show, The Statement uses a manipulated recording of text as a soundtrack.
The evening is completed with a contribution from Sol León and Paul Lightfoot. Singulière Odyssée is a neoclassical piece about travel and transformation, set to specially commissioned music from Max Richter.
Danse Danse follows this up with Seulement toi (March 17-21, Cinquième Salle, $31 to $44), a duet created and performed by Montreal-based Anne Plamondon, who has also worked with Nederlands Dans Theater and Les Grands Ballets, as well as being a driving force of the Rubberband company.
Plamondon performs this celebration of the many facets of love with American dancer James Gregg.