Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo to Return to The Joyce Theater This Holiday Season

The Joyce Theater Foundation will welcome the return of the worldwide dance and comedy phenomenon Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo for two uproarious programs of unparalleled classical ballet mastery. Intimately known as the Trocks, the all-male company brings their non-traditional holiday tradition to The Joyce Theater once more, tickling funny bones as they tip-toe and twirl en pointe from December 20-January 8. Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$75, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information and to read about The Joyce Theater's detailed health and safety protocols, including required face-coverings and proof of vaccination policies, please visit www.Joyce.org.

Replete with fiery passion and fleet-footed choreography, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo will once again add some ha-ha's to the holidays with a three-week sit down engagement at The Joyce Theater, the lauded company's New York City home. In equal measure absurd and adorable, the men of the Trocks have eschewed the rigid traditions of classical dance for nearly 50 years. Not only do they bring grace to well-loved works in the worldwide repertory for more than a century-they balance each perfect pirouette with a pratfall, breathing new life into this revered art form and bringing their funny, fabulous footwork to otherwise untapped audiences year after year.

The Trocks will make things merry and bright at Chelsea's home for dance for three weeks over the holiday season, with two programs that will have audiences laughing all the way. Program A sweeps everyone into the magical, mystical world of swans (and other birds) in the company's signature work, Act II of Swan Lake, as well as the sultry, seductive Spanish spin on classical ballet in Majisimas. Program B highlights the company's virtuosic mastery of classical dance in the enduring choreographic fireworks of Paquita and the dreamy melancholy of ChopEniana. Both programs are rounded out by a pas de deux soon to be announced and that terminal, molting bird, the Dying Swan. Both programs promise expertly-executed classical dance paired with the unrivaled comedy that only the Trocks can deliver for three weeks of holiday entertainment families will flock to again and again.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

(Subject to Change)

Program A:

Swan Lake Act II; Dying Swan; Majisimas;

a pas de deux or modern work to be announced

Program B:

ChopEniana; Dying Swan; Paquita;

premiere pas de deux or modern work to be announced

Tuesday, December 20 at 7:30pm Program A

Wednesday, December 21 at 7:30pm (Curtain Chat) Program A

Thursday, December 22 at 8pm Program A

Friday, December 23 at 3pm Program A

Friday, December 23 at 8pm Program A

Saturday, December 24 at 3pm (Family Matinee) Program A

Monday, December 26 at 7:30pm Program B

Tuesday, December 27 at 7:30pm Program B

Wednesday, December 28 at 7:30pm Program B

Thursday, December 29 at 8pm Program B

Friday, December 30 at 8pm Program B

Saturday, December 31 at 2pm Program B

Saturday, December 31 at 6pm Program B

Tuesday, January 3 at 7:30pm Program B

Wednesday, January 4 at 7:30pm Program B

Thursday, January 5 at 8pm Program A

Friday, January 6 at 8pm Program A

Saturday, January 7 at 3pm Program A

Saturday, January 7 at 8pm Program A

Sunday, January 8 at 3pm Program A

* * *

ABOUT LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE Monte Carlo

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. The Trocks have participated in dance festivals worldwide, television appearances as varied as a Shirley MacLaine special, "The Dick Cavett Show," with Kermit and Miss Piggy on their show "Muppet Babies," and a BBC Omnibus special on the world of ballet hosted by Jennifer Saunders. A documentary about the company, Rebels on Pointe by Bobbi Jo Hart, had its theatrical release in 2017, and the film Ballerina Boys by Martie Barylick and Chana Gazit premiered on PBS' American Masters in 2021." Awards that the Trocks have garnered over the years include: Best Classical Repertoire from the prestigious Critics Circle National Dance Awards (2007) (UK); 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 the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, in London. The company's frenzied annual touring schedule has included appearances in over 35 countries and over 600 cities worldwide since its founding, including seasons at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Châtelet 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'."

ABOUT The Joyce Theater

The Joyce Theater Foundation ("The Joyce," Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community for almost four decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea. Opening as The Joyce Theater in 1982, it was named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther's clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to build the theater. Ownership was secured by The Joyce in 2015. The theater is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance and has provided an intimate and elegant home for over 400 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also expanded its reach beyond its Chelsea home through off-site presentations at venues ranging in scope from Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater, to Brooklyn's Invisible Dog Art Center, and outdoor programming in spaces such as Hudson River Park. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (K-12th grade) benefit from its school program, and family and adult audiences get closer to dance with access to artists. The Joyce's annual season of about 48 weeks of dance now includes over 340 performances - both digital and in-person - for audiences of over 150,000.

The Joyce Theater presents the return of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo from December 20-January 8. Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$75, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information and to read about The Joyce Theater's detailed health and safety protocols, including required face-coverings and proof of vaccination policies, please visit www.Joyce.org.