When Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo comes to town in February, the unconventional will take the stage. Sure, the program will include the second act of Swan Lake, Go for Barocco, and Paquita, but the all-male drag ballet troupe will present them as parody.
The troupe—affectionately known as The Trocks—was founded in 1974 with a very unique comic approach to traditional ballet. Company dancer Joshua Thake started dancing in classical ballet schools but came across barriers imposed by long-established standards.
“That wasn’t the body type that companies were looking for; they were looking more for a linebacker body build,” says Thake. “I guess I wasn’t masculine-enough-looking to do ballet in a more traditional ballet company, so I became kind of a misfit.”
While Thake was still in ballet school, a friend showed him a DVD of a Trocks performance. He remembers how the idea of his own dance career changed from when he first watched that DVD until he decided to audition for the company, which he considers to be the most epic career transition he could have made.
“It was my first time seeing the company and it didn’t even cross my mind to be a part of that group, because I was so dead set on being a part of a more traditional company,” says Thake. “But then that didn’t happen, and I found such great therapeutic release in drag then I started to reconsider.”
Thake acknowledges the success of Brooke Lynn Hytes, former Trocks dancer who was the first Canadian on RuPaul’s Drag Race and will be a judge on Canada’s Drag Race. In addition, Thake praises the construct of drag ballet and the funny original creations that can come of it.
“The show has so many moments that intersect both of those great dualities that I think that is the recipe that makes it a successful show,” says Thake.
The Trocks’ dancers prove that men can indeed dance in ballerina shoes, and actually do well in them. Thake laughs at the fact that he once auditioned without any ribbon or elastic on his shoes.
“People are expecting the fall, so if I happen to fall, which does happen many times, I do great,” he says. “I learned how to land without bruising too intensely.”
Thake explains that the show is structured to be enjoyable for everyone, regardless of how much ballet they’ve been exposed to, and he even sees it as possibly a great way for people to introduce themselves to ballet and to become ballet enthusiasts.
“The show is so accessible because we pander to the structure and rigours of a very well-known art form, but different people have different experiences with it,” says Thake. “So, like an onion, there are more layers that can be exposed the more exposure you have to that art form.”
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
8 pm Tuesday, February 4
$36 and up, Royal Theatre (sold out)
rmts.bc.ca