Tamara Matthews

Every good classic needs to be turned on its head now and then. Enter Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, an all-male professional ballet company that gives dance classics like "Giselle" and "Les Sylphides" a playful and entertaining makeover. The famous ballerina Anna Pavlova, for one, probably never imagined her definitive dying swan solo, "The Swan," becoming an over-the-top affair mixed with molting plumage.

Since 1974 the Trocks, as the company is known, have used its fresh, yet admiring, perspective on classic and modern works to poke gentle fun at the often-serious nature of dance. Of course, seeing men in tutus helps drive the humor home for audiences.

This reversal of roles offers a redemption of sorts for the male ballet dancer, usually stuck in the background in a supportive role with limited moves and unfortunate costuming. Seeing men look elegant and graceful on stage is a liberating break in the stodgy ballet mold.

Since the start, the Trocks have harnessed their international appeal. Frequent touring takes them all around the world. England, South Africa and Japan alike all love the chance to see the unusual sight of men tottering on toe shoes.

Tory Dobrin, the company’s artistic director, says that this is largely due to the universality of Trock humor. "It’s physical comedy—most people, most countries, most nationalities, respond to that naturally. It’s not particularly American humor, it’s ballet humor."

During the Trocks one-night stay in Chicago, audiences will get treated to Act II of "Swan Lake"—in which the wizard and the prince battle it out for the affections of the Swan Queen—the colorful and lively Russian classic "Paquita" and "Vivaldi Suite," a Balanchine parody. One-hundred percent of the proceeds for the event will go to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo perform January 17 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 East Randolph, (312)334-7777, at 7:30pm, $40-$75.

(2008-01-15)

Also by Tamara Matthews

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Movement Vocabulary
Think dance is all tutus and leotards? Dance Chicago is here to prove otherwise. In embracing the diversity of the local dance community, the month-long Dance Chicago Festival serves up a kinetic smorgasbord to please any palate
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The most innovative dance choreography these days isn’t springing from the mind of some wunderkind fresh out of fine-arts school. It belongs to an 88-year-old legend who continues to push dance down avenues that no one else has discovered on the map yet. No choreographer continues to reinvent and change quite like Merce Cunningham does
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"Hit a home run and knock that devil clean out of the park!" No, that’s not the fiery encouragement of a WGN sportscaster and you won’t hear those words spoken at a baseball park this weekend. They belong to Billy Sunday, the Chicago White Stockings player who took up the bat for different management—that of evangelism—and you’ll hear such commands spoken at the long-awaited revival of "Billy Sunday" at Northeastern Illinois University
(2007-09-25)

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