Written by David for Theatre and Tonic

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review. All views are our own

Campness and elegance rarely go together; the internationally acclaimed ‘Trocks’, however, have been doing it for fifty years. Since the all-male troupe’s inception in New York in 1974, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo’s repertoire continues to warp the gendered confines of ballet with slapstick comedy and a diva aura in their anniversary tour.

Aided by flashy false eyelashes and muscles poking through white leotards, The Trocks’ opening sequence: Les Lac de Cygnes from Swan Lake aptly introduces the company’s approach to ballet with a wooden swan being drawn on stage and then (if the sound effects serve correctly) killed.

The Trocks’ paramount skill is their ability to tastefully integrate comedy into technically precise dance. In the famous Dance of the Little Swans, dexterity is a vessel for parody — sixteen pas de chatin unisonis all too much for one dancer who gains a sprained ankle in return for athletic prowess. And yet the Trocks’ technicality is still awe-inspiring; their ability to remain en pointe becomes a celebratory tool for the gender-skewed troupe, feeding into a sense of community that reaches the audience.

With a feather-shedding take on Anna Pavlova’s signature dance The Dying Swan performed by ‘Olga Supphozova’ (Robert Carter) and numerous onstage tiffs, laughter supersedes restrained applause. Its self-conscious frivolity is an ethos of inclusivity for an art form met with withering eyes from certain Hollywood actors.

Perhaps a little pantomime-y, all the same, a sumptuous display of skewed elegance.

Limited run until Wednesday 17 June before heading to His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen from Friday 19 June to Saturday 20 June.

★★★★

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