Why You Need Tickets For Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at Newcastle Theatre Royal
Get ready to experience ballet like you have never seen it before
Based in New York, The Trocks are loved worldwide for their hilarious homages and sassy spoofs of classical ballet. Their impeccable comic timing is matched by their immaculate technique and daring physicality.
Every performance froths with tutus and testosterone, blush-pink ballet shoes, false eyelashes and prima ballerina attitude as the 16 dancers transform into different personas, male and female.
The dazzling programme opens with The Trocks’ signature work Le Lac des Cygnes (Swan Lake Act II) which is followed by a mystery pas de deux or short modern work, announced from the stage on the night. Next up is the company’s celebration of Balanchine, Vivaldi Suite.
Finally comes Raymonda’s Wedding, the traditionally confusing divertissements from the final act of Raymonda. A ballet in three acts and 15 scenes, Raymonda has baffled audiences since its premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1898. With choreography after Marius Petipa, The Trocks ignore all the plot intrigues and go straight for the happy ending!
Here are some fun facts about The Trocks, the world’s foremost (and most fabulous) drag comedy ballet company.
- The Trocks don’t come from Monte Carlo at all. They’re from New York, where they started life in the Meatpacking District as a downtown drag act in 1974.
- Over the years they have performed in 651 cities in more than 41 countries on 130 worldwide tours.
- In 2019 they racked up nearly 62,000 miles on tour. Multiply that by the number of dancers and they could have sent a dancer to the moon and back, twice!
- The company’s 16 dancers come from China, Cuba, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the USA.
- The Trocks head off on tour with 60 costumes, 80 pairs of earrings and 110 sets of false eyelashes.
- It takes each Trock 90 minutes to put on their make-up – and 60 minutes to take it all off again.
- Every dancer has a ballerina and a male danseur alter-ego with their own stage names – look out for Jacques D’Aniels, Holly Dey-Abroad and Minnie Van Driver.
- They’ve performed their signature work, The Dying Swan, more than 3,500 times.
- A night out at The Trocks has been described as 'one of the most entertaining shows on planet Earth’.
