LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO
FEATURING
Colette Adae Ludmila Beaulemova
Maria Clubfoot Holly Dey-Abroad Nadia Doumiafeyva
Helen Highwaters Elvira Khababgallina Varvara Laptopova
Anya Marx Grunya Protazova Eugenia Repelskii
Olga Supphozova Maya Thickenthighya Minnie van Driver
Jacques d’Aniels Bruno Backpfeifengesich Boris Dumbkopf
Nicholas Khachafallenjar Marat Legupski Sergey Legupski
Timur Legupski Vladimir Legupski Chip Pididouda Yuri Smirnov
Kravlji Snepek William Vanilla Jens Witzelsucht Tino Xirau-Lopez
Tory Dobrin - Artistic Director
Liz Harler - Executive Director
Isabel Martinez Rivera - Associate Director
LE LAC DES CYGNES (SWAN LAKE, ACT II)
MUSIC BY PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
CHOREOGRAPHY AFTER LEV IVANOVICH IVANOV
COSTUMES BY MIKE GONZALES
DECOR BY CLIO YOUNG
LIGHTING BY KIP MARSH
Swept up into the magical realm of swans (and birds), this elegiac phantasmagoria of variations and ensembles in line and music is the signature work of Les Ballets Trockadero. The story of Odette, the beautiful princess turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer, and how she is nearly saved by the love of Prince Siegfried, was not so unusual a theme when Tchaikovsky first wrote his ballet in 1877 -- the metamorphosis of mortals to birds and visa versa occurs frequently in Russian folklore. The original Swan Lake at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow was treated unsuccessfully; a year after Tchaikovsky's death in 1893, the St. Petersburg Maryinsky Ballet produced the version we know today. Perhaps the world's best known ballet, its appeal seems to stem from the mysterious and pathetic qualities of the heroine juxtaposed with the canonized glamour of 19th century Russian ballet.
Benno: Tino Xirau-Lopez
(friend and confidant to)
Prince Siegfried: Dmitri Legupski
(who falls in love with)
Varvara Laptopova (Queen of the)
Swans:
Artists of the Trockadero
(all of whom got this way because of)
Von Rothbart: Yuri Smirnov
(an evil wizard who goes about turning girls into swans)
~ INTERMISSION ~
PAS DE DEUX OR MODERN WORK TO BE ANNOUNCED
RÉCHAUFFÉ BRILLANTE
MUSIC BY PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JOSHUA THAKE
COSTUMES BY CORPS DANCE WEAR
LIGHTING BY ERIKA JOHNSON
Lead couple
Helen Highwaters with Jacques d’Aniels
Corps de Ballet
Ludmila Beaulemova and Elvira Khababgallina
Anya Marx Holly Dey-Abroad
~ INTERMISSION ~
PAQUITA
MUSIC BY LUDWIG MINKUS
CHOREOGRAPHY AFTER MARIUS PETIPA
STAGED BY ELENA KUNIKOVA
COSTUMES AND DECOR BY MIKE GONZALES
LIGHTING BY KIP MARSH
Paquita is a superb example of the French style as it was exported to Saint Petersburg in the late 19th Century. Paquita was originally a ballet-pantomine in 2 acts, choreographed by Joseph Mazillier, to music by Ernest Deldevez. The story had a Spanish theme, with Carlotta Grisi (creator of Giselle) as a young woman kidnapped by gypsies, who saves a young and handsome officer from certain death. Premiering at the Paris Opera in 1846, the ballet was produced a year later in Russia by Marius Petipa. Petipa commissioned Ludwig Minkus, the composer of his two most recent successes (Don Quixote and La Bayadere) to write additional music in order to add a brilliant “divertissement” to Mazillier’s Paquita. Petipa choreographed for this a Pas de Trois and a Grand Pas de Deux in his characteristic style. These soon became the bravura highlights of the evening-to the point that they are the only fragments of Paquita that have been preserved. The dancers display a range of choreographic fireworks, which exploit the virtuoso possibilities of academic classical dance, enriched by the unexpected combinations of steps.
Ballerina and Cavalier
Varvara Laptopova
With
Nicholas Khachafallenjar
Variations:
Variation 1 - Maria Clubfoot
Variation 2 - Minnie van Driver
Variation 3 - Elvira Khababgallina
Variation 4 - Ludmila Beaulemova
Variation 5 - Varvara Laptopova
Program subject to change without notice.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
COMPANY HISTORY
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts for the purpose of presenting a playful, entertaining view of traditional, classical ballet in parody form and en travesti, Les Ballets Trockadero first performed in the late-late shows in Off-Off Broadway lofts. The Trocks, as they are affectionately known, quickly garnered a major critical essay by Arlene Croce in The New Yorker, which combined with reviews in The New York Times and The Village Voice established the Company as an artistic and popular success. By mid-1975, the Trocks’ loving knowledge of dance, comic approach, and commitment to the notion that men can, indeed, dance en pointe without falling flat on their faces, was already garnering attention beyond the Company’s New York home. Articles and notices in publications such as Variety, Oui, The London Daily Telegraph, as well as a Richard Avedon photo essay in Vogue, made the Company nationally and internationally known.
The 1975-76 season was a year of growth and full professionalization. The Company found management, qualified for the National Endowment for the Arts Touring Program, and hired a full-time teacher and ballet mistress to oversee daily classes and rehearsals. Also in this season, they made their first extended tours of the United States and Canada. Packing, unpacking, and repacking tutus and drops, stocking giant-sized toe shoes by the case; running for planes and chartered buses all became routine parts of life.
Since those beginnings, the Trocks have established themselves as a major dance phenomenon throughout the world. They have participated in dance festivals worldwide and there have been television appearances as varied as a Shirley MacLaine special, The Dick Cavett Show, What's My Line?, Real People, On-Stage America, with Kermit and Miss Piggy on their show Muppet Babies, and a BBC Omnibus special on the world of ballet hosted by Jennifer Saunders. Documentaries about the company, Rebels on Pointe by Bobbi Jo Hart, and Ballerina Boys by Chana Gazit and Martie Barylick on PBS’ American Masters, have been released in the past few years. Awards that the Trocks have garnered over the years include: Best Classical Repertoire from the prestigious Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards (2007) (UK) and nominated as Outstanding Company for 2016; the Theatrical Managers Award (2006) (UK); and the 2007 Positano Award (Italy) for excellence in dance. In December 2008, the Trocks performed for members of the British royal family at the 80th anniversary Royal Variety Performance, to aid of the Entertainment Artistes’ Benevolent Fund, in London.
The Trocks’ numerous tours have been both popular and critical successes - their frenzied annual schedule has included appearances in over 35 countries and over 600 cities worldwide since its founding in 1974, including seasons at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Chatelet Theater in Paris. The Company continues to appear in benefits for international AIDS organizations such as DRA (Dancers Responding to AIDS) and Classical Action in New York City, the Life Ball in Vienna, Austria, Dancers for Life in Toronto, Canada, London’s Stonewall Gala and Germany’s AIDS Tanz Gala.
The original concept of LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO has not changed. It is a Company of professional male dancers performing the full range of the ballet and modern dance repertoire, including classical and original works in faithful renditions of the manners and conceits of those dance styles. The comedy is achieved by incorporating and exaggerating the foibles, accidents, and underlying incongruities of serious dance. The fact that men dance all the parts--heavy bodies delicately balancing on toes as swans, sylphs, water sprites, romantic princesses, angst-ridden Victorian ladies--enhances rather than mocks the spirit of dance as an art form, delighting and amusing the most knowledgeable, as well as novices, in the audiences. For the future, there are plans for new works in the repertoire: new cities, states and countries to perform in; and for the continuation of the Trocks’ original purpose: to bring the pleasure of dance to the widest possible audience. They will, as they have done for almost fifty years, “Keep on Trockin’.”
MEET THE ARTISTS
COLETTE ADAE was orphaned at the age of three when her mother, a ballerina of some dubious distinction, impaled herself on the first violinist’s bow after a series of rather uncontrolled fouette voyage. Colette was raised and educated with the “rats” of the Opera House but the trauma of her childhood never let her reach her full potential. However, under the kind and watchful eye of the Trockadero, she has begun to flower and we are sure you will enjoy watching her growth.
LUDMILA BEAULEMOVA, famed country and western ballerina and formerly prima ballerina of the grand Ole Opry, recently defected from that company when they moved to their new Nashville home. The rift was caused by their refusal to stage the ballet with which her name has become synonymous, I Never Promised You a Rose Adagio.
MARIA CLUBFOOT. Last of the great American Indian ballerinas: Larkin, Tallchief (Maria and Marjorie), Clubfoot. Maria, pride of the Luni Tribe, blazed a path with her interpretation of “Slaughter on 10th Avenue,” set in the club at Mohegan Sun. Maria appears with the Trockadero under special permission from Federal authorities.
HOLLY DEY-ABROAD. Miss Dey-Abroad lacks the talent and intelligence that are required to be good at dancing and did not understand that this lack of talent and intelligence are often the same qualities needed to recognize that one is not good at dancing—and if one lacks such talent and intelligence, one remains ignorant that one is not good at dancing. Consequently she auditioned for the Trocks and was accepted.
NADIA DOUMIAFEYVA. No one who has seen Heliazpopkin will soon forget the spiritual athleticism of Nadia Doumiafeyva, a child of Caucasus who changed her name for show business reasons. Her fiery attack, combined with her lyric somnolence, produces confusion in audiences the world over, particularly when applied to ballet.
HELEN HIGHWATERS has defected to America three times and been promptly returned on each occasion -- for "artistic reasons." Recently discovered en omelette at the Easter Egg Hunt in Washington, D.C., she was hired by the Trockadero, where her inexplicable rise to stardom answers the musical question: Who put the bop in the bop-shibop shibop?
ELVIRA KHABABGALLINA, voted “the girl most likely to,” is the living example that a common hard-working girl can make it to the top. Our friendly ballerina was pounding the pavement looking for work when the Trockadero found her. Her brilliant technique has endeared her to several fans, as well as to some of the stage hands. Her motto is “a smile is better than talent.” Her nickname is... well, never mind what her nickname is.
VARVARA LAPTOPOVA is one of those rare dancers who, with one look at a ballet, not only knows all the steps but can also dance all the roles. As a former member of the Kiev Toe and Heel Club, she was awarded first-prize at the Pan Siberian Czardash and Kazotski Festival for artistic mis-interpretation.
ANYA MARX comes to the ballet stage after her hair-raising escape from the successful (but not terribly tasteful) overthrow of her country’s glamorous government. She made a counter-revolutionary figure of herself when she was arrested for single-handedly storming the State Museum of Revolutionary Evolution, where her fabulous collection of jewels were being insensitively displayed alongside a machine gun. The resilient Madame Marx is currently the proprietress of American’s only mail order Course in Classical Ballet.
GRUNYA PROTAZOVA is the missing link between the crustaceans of the old Russian school and the more modern amphibians now dancing. Before joining the Trockadero, Grunya was the featured ballerina at SeaWorld, where her famous autobiographic solo, Dance of the Lower Orders, brought several marine biologists to tears. Later, Grunya became an esteemed SeaWorld Ambassador, known throughout the world for her fight for equality in the lower depths, earning an admirable mention in the updated Ichthyologic Ohiensis manual of the Elasmobranch Society.
EUGENIA REPELSKII. The secrets of Mme. Repelskii's beginnings lie shrouded behind the Kremlin wall; in fact, no fewer than six lie in the wall (in jars of assorted sizes). Dancing lightly over pogroms and other sordid reorganizational measures, Eugenia has emerged as a ballerina nonpareil whose pungency is indisputable.
OLGA SUPPHOZOVA made her first public appearance in a KGB line-up under dubious circumstances. After a seven-year-to-life hiatus, she now returns to her adoring fans. When questioned about her forced sabbatical, Olga’s only comment was “I did it for Art’s sake.” Art, however, said nothing.
MAYA THICKENTHIGHYA’s radioactive properties prevented her from appearing with the Trockadero until her recent release from a special sanitarium on the Black Sea. A brilliant virtuoso in the Moscow style, Madame Thickenthighya’s torque was applied to the running of Generator 14 near the Gorsky Dam during the period of her political disgrace. She is, this season, reinstated to her unique position in the ballet world.
MINNIE VAN DRIVER. Always running to rehearsals, costume fittings and performances, Miss Driver has a strong sense of movement. She has performed worldwide and has a natural aptitude for touring. Famous for her beautiful port de bras, she gives credit to her many hours behind the wheel.
JACQUES d’ANIELS was originally trained as an astronaut before entering the world of ballet. Strong but flexible, good natured but dedicated, sensible but not given to unbelievable flights of fantastic behavior, Mr. d’Aniels is an expert on recovering from ballet injuries (including the dread “Pavlova’s clavicle”).
BRUNO BACKPFEIFENGESICHT soared into prominence as the first East German defector whose leave-taking was accomplished at the virtual insistence of the defectees (although in subsequent days Herr Backpfeifengesicht was accused of abandoning his joyous comrades for “a mountain of beer and an ocean of dollars”). His meteoric rise to stardom caused him to be named Official Bicentennial Porteur by a committee of New York balletomanes who singled out his winning feet and losing smile.
BORIS DUMBKOPF has been with the greatest ballerinas of our time and he has even danced with some of them. One of the first defective Russian male stars, he left the motherland for purely capitalistic reasons. Amazingly, between his appearances on television and Broadway and in movies, commercials, magazines, special events, and women’s nylons, he occasionally still has time to dance.
NICHOLAS KHACHAFALLENJAR. the demi-semi-hemi-character dancer from innermost Outer Tashkent, was awarded the Order of Stalin for his partnering techniques. Although no ballerina has ever lived to describe the thrill of his touch, he continues to astound the public (and elude the police) with his brute strength. He is fondly known in the Trockadero as "Igor the Crusher."
THE LEGUPSKI BROTHERS. Marat, Sergey, Timur and Vladimir are not really brothers, nor are their names really Marat, Sergey, Timur or Vladimir, nor are they real Russians, nor can they tell the difference between a pirouette and a jete...but...well...they do move about rather nicely...and...they fit into the costumes.
CHIP PIDIDOUDA. Renowned Greek cricket player who stumbled into the world of English ballet after a wrong turn on the M-90 to Folkestone. Chip was heralded for his simple and inspiring interpretation of “Doppe” in Dizzney’s world premiere of “La Fille de Neige Blanche.” Unaffected by technique, Chip brings his special brand of athleticism and “je ne sais quoi pas” to the Trocks.
YURI SMIRNOV. At the age of sixteen, Yuri ran away from home and joined the Kirov Opera because he thought Borodin was a prescription barbiturate. Luckily for the Trockadero, he soon discovered that he didn’t know his arias from his elbow, and decided to become a ballet star instead.
KRAVLJI SNEPEK comes to the Trockadero from his split-level birthplace in Siberia, where he excelled in toe, tap, acrobatic and Hawaiian. This good-natured Slav is famous for his breathtaking technique--a blend of froth and frou-frou centered on a spine of steel, painfully acquired at the hands and feet of his teacher, Glib Generalization, who has already trained many able dancers. As an artist in the classical, heroic, tragical mold, young Kravlji wrenched the heart of all who saw him dance Harlene, the Goat Roper in The Best Little Dacha in Sverdlovsk.
WILLIAM VANILLA. Despite the fact that he is American, he is very popular within the company. He is extremely personable, the ballerinas very much enjoy dancing with him, the management finds him agreeable, his costumes are never soiled, his fans admire his directness, he photographs well, he keeps regular hours, brushes his teeth after every meal, and he has never said a bad word about anybody. He will never really understand Russian ballet.
JENS WITZELSUCHT. Mr. Witzelsucht has a pure and rare neurological disorder characterized by a tendency to make puns or tell inappropriate jokes or pointless stories in socially inappropriate situations, along with a pathological giddiness with lunatic mood swings. As he does not understand that this behavior is abnormal, he has found a place in the company as one of the more comedic artists.
TINO XIRAU-LOPEZ, a well-known figure to the Off-Off-Off audiences, returns to the Trockadero flushed from last season's Nutcracker, in which he played the fiendishly difficult role of the Father. His numerous theatrical successes have not prevented his stern, aristocratic family from disavowing any claims he might make to title.
LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO
Box 1325, Gracie Station, New York City, New York 10028
DANCERS
Olga Supphozova and Yuri Smirnov - Robert Carter
Minnie van Driver and William Vanilla - Ugo Cirri
Elvira Khababgallina and Sergey Legupski - Kevin Garcia
Maria Clubfoot and Tino Xirau-Lopez - Alejandro Gonzalez
Helen Highwaters and Vladimir Legupski - Duane Gosa
Anya Marx and Chip Pididouda - Shohei Iwahama
Nadia Doumiafeyva and Kravlji Snepek - Philip Martin Nielson
Holly Dey-Abroad and Bruno Backpfeifengesicht - Felix Molinero del Paso
Ludmila Beaulemova and Jens Witzelsucht - Trent Montgomery
Grunya Protazova and Marat Legupski - Salvador Sasot Sellart
Colette Adae and Timur Legupski - Jake Speakman
Eugenia Repelskii and Jacques d’Aniels - Joshua Thake
Maya Thickenthighya and Nicholas Khachafallenjar - Haojun Xie
Varvara Laptopova and Boris Dumbkopf - Takaomi Yoshino
COMPANY STAFF
Artistic Director - Tory Dobrin
Executive Director - Liz Harler
Associate Director - Isabel Martinez Rivera
Production Manager - Shelby Sonnenberg
Ballet Master - Raffaele Morra
Lighting Supervisor - Erika Johnson
Wardrobe Supervisor - Olivia Kirschbaum
Production Assistant - Anthony Feola
Company Teacher - Bivi Kimura
Company Pianist - Tamara Kushe
Education Manager - Roy Fialkow
Digital Engagement Manager - Anne Posluszny
Fundraising Consultant - LG Capital for Culture
Costume Designers - Ken Busbin, Jeffrey Sturdivant
Stylistic Guru - Marius Petipa
Orthopedic Consultant - Dr. David S. Weiss
Photographer - Zoran Jelenic
COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES
ROBERT CARTER.
Birthplace: Charleston, SC. Training: Robert Ivey Ballet School, Joffrey Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: November 1995. Previous companies: Florence Civic Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem Ensemble, Bay Ballet Theater.
UGO CIRRI.
Birthplace: Lausanne, Switzerland Training: Vevey Youth Ballet School, Association pour la Formation des Jeunes Danseurs, Kirov Academy of Ballet of Washington D.C., Ballettschule Theater Basel, Miami City Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: June 2019. Previous Company: Los Angeles Ballet.
KEVIN GARCIA.
Birthplace: Gran Canaria, Spain. Training: Centro Coreografico de Las Palmas Trini Borrull, Conservatory of Dance Carmen Amaya. Joined Trockadero: August 2017. Previous companies: Ballet Jose Manuel Armas, Lifedanscenter , Peridance Contemporary Dance Company.
ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ.
Birthplace: Holguin, Cuba. Training: Camaguey Academy of Ballet, Habana National School of Ballet Provincial Ballet School, Holguin, Cuba. Joined Trockadero: May 2019. Previous companies: Holguin Chamber Ballet, Ecuadorian Chamber Ballet, Municipal Ballet of Lima, Peru.
DUANE GOSA.
Birthplace: Chicago IL. Training: University of Akron, Ailey School. Joined Trockadero: September 2013. Previous companies: Jennifer Muller/The Works, Brooklyn Ballet, The Love Show.
SHOHEI IWAHAMA.
Birthplace: Komae-shi, Tokyo, Japan. Training: Sam Houston State University, The Ailey School, Miyako Kato Dance Academy. Joined Trockadero: March 2022. Previous Companies: NobleMOtion Dance, James Sewell Ballet, Hope Stone Dance.
PHILIP MARTIN-NIELSON.
Birthplace: Middletown, NY. Training: Natasha Bar, School of American Ballet, Chautauqua Institution of Dance. Joined Trockadero: September 2012. Previous company: North Carolina Dance Theater.
FELIX MOLINERO DEL PASO.
Birthplace: Granada, Spain. Training: Hochschule fur Darstellende kunst Frankfurt am Main.
Joined Trockadero: August 2019.
TRENT MONTGOMERY.
Birthplace: McGehee AR. Training: Arkansas Academy of Dance, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Accademiá dell’Arte, Florida State University. Joined Trockadero : August 2021.
Previous companies: Arkansas Festival Ballet, Tallahassee Ballet.
SALVADOR SASOT SELLART.
Birthplace: Lleida, Spain. Training: Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza de Madrid Mariemma. Escuela de Ballet Camina Ocaña and Pablo Savoye. Joined Trockadero: August 2019. Previous company: Severočeske Divadlo Opera a Balet.
JAKE SPEAKMAN.
Birthplace: Philadelphia PA. Training: Marymount Manhattan College Joined Trockadero: November 2021. Previous companies: New York Dance Project, New York Theater Ballet.
JOSHUA THAKE.
Birthplace: Providence, RI Training: Boston Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, Brae Crest School of Classical Ballet. Joined Trockadero: November 2011. Previous company: Man Dance Company of San Francisco.
HAOJUN XIE.
Birthplace: Xi’an, Shaanxi, China. Training: Beijing Dance Academy, Joffrey Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: August 2018. Prevous company: Columbia Classical Ballet Company.
TAKAOMI YOSHINO.
Birthplace: Osaka, Japan. Training: Vaganova Ballet Acaemy, Ellison Ballet. Joined Trockadero: August 2018. Previous company: Atlantic City Ballet.
LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO, Inc. is a nonprofit dance company chartered by the State of New York. Martha Cooper, president; Jenny Palmer, vice-president; Tory Dobrin, secretary/treasurer.
James C.P. Berry, Amy Minter, Mary Lynn Bergman-Rallis
All contributions are tax-deductible as provided by law.
Facebook: @thetrocks
Instagram @lesballetstrockadero
Special Thanks to our Major Institutional Supporters:
The Howard Gilman Foundation
Mertz Gilmore Foundation
The Max and Victoria Dreyfus foundation
The Rallis Foundation
Shubert Foundation
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Thanks to our local and state cultural funding agencies for their contributions to our work in New York with support, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; The Harkness Foundation for Dance; and the NYU Community Fund.
Thanks to our Board of Directors and individual supporters for their generous contributions that make our nonprofit mission possible.
Make up provided by
MAC Cosmetics <insert logo if possible>
Nikolay <insert logo if possible>
The official Pointe Shoe Provider of
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
Music for ChopEniana, Go for Barocco and Paquita
is conducted by Pierre Michel Durand
with the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Pavel Prantl, Leader
BOOKING INQUIRIES:
Liz Harler
Executive Director
liz@trockadero.org
Theater
The Eccles Center is the largest theater in Park City, Utah with 1,269 seats. It is home to Park City Institute's Main Stage Season from October through April each year, presenting a broad range of world-class performing arts from international dance companies to Broadway icons to beloved author/humorists to virtuosos in a host of musical styles from Chamber Music to rock'n'roll.
Health and Safety
The Park City Institute and the Park City School District have taken measures to assure the health and safety of our patrons, staff, and performers. We are constantly adjusting our COVID protocols based on the recommendations of the CDC, and directives of local and state health departments. Permanent changes include, updated HVAC, touch-less restroom faucets, electronic ticketing, electronic programs, enhanced cleaning, and all volunteers and staff to be fully vaccinated.
We recognize that being fully vaccinated and wearing a mask are the best ways to prevent the spread of the virus. If you don’t feel well or have a cough or a fever we ask that you remain home.