At the Ballet

Way back in December, I received an email from the Carpenter Center about tickets for a dance troupe and immediately knew I had to buy a pair of tickets as a birthday treat for my friend Rob. Normally, I'm not a big dance person: other than TV version of The Nutcracker every Christmas, the only dance-specific shows I'd ever purposely attended were choreographed by Matthew Bourne. But I'd hear glowing reviews of this particular troupe, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, that I threw caution to the wind and bought the tickets.

And last night was the show!

For those who've never hears of "the Trocks", they aren't your typical ballerinas. In fact, we were in stitches the moment we sat down and read through the bios in the program, including Katarina Bychkova, "voted the girl most likely to"; Nina Enimenimynimova, "likened to a lemon soufflé poised delicately on the brink of total collapse"; Helen Highwaters, "The Prune Danish of Russian Ballet"; and the Legupski Brothers, Dmitri, Ivan, Marat and Vladimir...who aren't actually brothers. In fact, none of the ballerinas are of the female persuasion. Which just adds to the hilarity as Lariska Dumbcheko dances onto stage as Odette the Queen of the Swans from Swan Lake, turns to face the audience and WHAM! all you can see is the hairy chest peeking above the corset.

The Trocks take the dance very seriously, and they pay homage to rather than parody the different dances and choreographers. From Swan Lake choreographed in the style of Lev Ivanovich Ivanov to Paquita in the style of Marius Pepita to a more modern dance called Patterns in Space in the style of Merce Cunningham, all the dancers display the stamina and skills expected of all ballet performers. And better yet, they prove that men are just as important to the dance as the prima ballerina, spinning and flitting across the stage en pointe and displaying legs lifts higher than I ever thought a man could reach.

They simply add some slight comedic touches to the routines. A ballerina losing balance and toppling over during a too-high leg lift. A beautiful ballerina dancing onto the stage wearing thick coke bottle glasses. Another ballerina adding some Broadway kicks and flourishes to the line of Swans. Prima Ballerina Ida Nevsayneva as the Dying Swan, molting across the stage, trying to shove the feathers back into her tutu. Or my favorite, an Amazonian Katarina Bychkova being anchored by her diminutive partner Ketevan Iosifidi, at times blocking him entirely from the view of the audience.

What a treat, spending two hours watching the magic (and humor) of the dance. We enjoyed the show, joining the two enthusiastic standing ovations.

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