Ballet is a great and glorious thing – and often rather serious. Not so when the Trocks are on stage, the all-male company dupes classical and modern dance with impeccable calm, flaunting cool “drag” names from Minnie Van Driver to the Legubski brothers. The fun begins with their full drag run on the particularly cool show, revealing a dancer who defected three times to the US (and returned) and who didn’t have the talent or intelligence to be good at dancing (and so was instantly accepted into The Trocks), as well as The damned “uninvited” guest artist.
Established in 1974, The Seasons have been cheerfully altering the classics for decades, but their streak always keeps dropping because it is done with a clear love of art form and an impressive respect for technology. Among the pratfalls and visual gags, they also take time to bloom nicely, no more than at some point when you’re in pointe.
Coffee rang incessantly during the last London race at the Peacock Theater as they slowly and deliciously roasted Swan Lake throughout the first act, led by Varara Labtopova (Takaumi Yoshino) as she leaps and rolls as she merrily steals into the crowd as the Swan Queen.
All the while, make sure you watch the faces as much as you see the movement of the foot and feel them and you’ll get bounties galore. The playful pas de trois rinses off the old comedy of a young male dancer with two towering ballerinas and the tricky classic Dance of the Cygnets is so much fun that you agonize when you get up and join in.
Also impressive is the scene-stealing solo scene The Dying Swan, performed by Olga Supphozova, aka Robert Carter, who has been with the band since 1995. He descends home with every articulating flick and whimpering moan as the falling feathers begin to stick to him. His hands and face are amidst extraordinary ingenuity. Very exciting.
The London race has two programmes, last week also featuring the sly Night Reptiles, making fun of Jerome Robbins’ “oh casual” elegance. The cool elegance of Valpurgeyeva Noch (Walpurgisnacht) brought Program A home, led by Regal Minivan Driver (Ugo Cirri) with Yoshino returning as another male character Boris Dembkov to play Endless Fleet.
This week, Program B replaces the last two pieces with the Vivaldi Suite, full of Spanish cheer and hysteria at Majisimas.
When the UK tour resumes next week in Brighton, audiences will enjoy Swan Lake and the Vivaldi Suite as well as Raymonda’s wedding.
It’s one of my favorites from their repertoire and wisely abandons all the serious plot about wars and suffering from the original Raymonda and just skips to an endless parade at the happy ending. Best of all, it preserves Marius Petipa’s exquisite choreography for twenty sublime minutes as laughter, for once, overshadowed the divine dance.
Trolleys at the Peace Theater in London on September 17 and then the UK tour
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