“Comedic timing and athletic prowess combine to great success in this expertly camp ballet“
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (‘The Trocks’), the all-male drag ballet troupe originating from New York, begin tonight’s performance at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre with a French-accented voiceover: “There will be some… changes in tonight’s performance”.
What could these changes possibly be? Well, the Trocks’ rendition of Swan Lake involves slightly more brow blocking and on-stage fighting than you would observe in traditional performances. The performers (an international group of professional dancers) are expert in their subversion of ballet and its many, many conventions – as an all-male lineup, roles typically reserved for female performers are given a new lease of life, as the Trocks are allowed to revel in their silliness and femininity.
They begin with Le Lac Des Cygnes Act II; our lead swan (Jake Speakman) is elegant, poised, and is effortfully batting her eyelashes to the audience for approval. Femininity truly can be very funny: the studied prettiness, the desperate desire for audience approval, the creative ways of shunning annoying men. All are consistent themes of the Trocks’ performance: they are all so comedically gifted and produce so many hilarious facial expressions throughout the performance, falsies and contour visible even from the Dress Circle.
The majority of the ballet performed tonight is perfect, a stunning display of professional dancers at work that sweeps the audience up in its pleasantness. However, what the audience are truly excited by is when things go very, very intentionally wrong – a parade of gorgeous and glittery swans suddenly no longer en pointe, but instead beating up poor Prince Siegfried, chests puffed and biceps tensed. The contrast between the ultimate femininity of ballet and the inherent masculinity of competitive dancing proves so, so ripe for comedy – and the Trocks are experts at exploiting it.
It’s all very charming, and slightly reminiscent of a primary school ballet recital (if the primary school performers were world-class professionals in drag). There’s dancers excitedly waving at the audience as they come on stage, as if spotting a parent in the crowd; there’s dancers pushing each other over in childish fits of anger; there’s dancers randomly flossing mid-ballet. ‘Go For Barocco’, specifically, puts you in mind of the kind of dance routines you’d make up as a little girl – holding hands and skipping about, wearing leotards, doing roly polys, running through human arches, squabbling over who gets the main part. It’s oddly touching (as well as obviously very funny) – there’s something in the complete absence of poise that makes you appreciate just how talented ballet dancers are in their ability to make you forget about the human tendency to be a bit inelegant.
The performance ends with an exhilarating Irish jig – again, a casual display of immense talent played for laughs. Our cast of dancers take their final bows, a rightful standing ovation for their incredible talent: lead dancer Speakman receives a bouquet of flowers and, just as the curtain begins to draw, we see it forcefully snatched away by a fellow dancer. Never missing an opportunity for a gag, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo are brilliant ballerinas and even better comedians. Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo continues its tour across the UK this June. Tickets are available here.