Raising the barre: Comedic drag ballet troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo come to Popejoy

Think ballet is stuffy and boring? You haven’t seen The Trocks.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, affectionately known as the Trocks, bill themselves as “the world’s foremost gender-skewering comic ballet company.” Founded in 1974, not in Monte Carlo but New York City, their name is a nod to the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo, a famous 20th century ballet company.

The Trocks’ hilarious reinterpretations of “Swan Lake” and other famous ballets combine technical virtuosity with over-the-top acting and slapstick.

“The choreography we’re doing is very particular, even the comic relief,” Antonio Lopez, an Albuquerque native who joined The Trocks last year, said. “What you see at first is the presentation of very serious dancers — no matter male- or female-presenting — and then, once we build up enough of that seriousness within our dancing, within the style of whatever ballet we’re doing … we build up the tension in order to release it at an opportune moment that the audience, trained or not, isn’t expecting.”

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo will perform at Popejoy Hall on Saturday, Feb. 14.

Besides parodying the tropes of classical ballet, The Trocks are unique in that the dancers dress in drag and perform both male and female parts. They are sometimes called an all-male drag ballet troupe, although some of the current members, including Lopez, identify as nonbinary.

“The group of dancers I’m working with now are the most diverse and open-minded I’ve ever worked with,” Lopez said. “Some of us are nonbinary, and we’re in a world where we have to really demand our own space, because society doesn’t always have a space for us (other than) the one we make for ourselves. So, my coworkers are very skilled in regard to how they navigate society. They’re also really fun to work with. … We are kind of a group of outcasts who’ve come together.”

Lopez described traditional ballet as “very gendered” and said The Trocks allowed them much more freedom.

“I was always told that my ‘port de bras’ — the carriage of my arms — was too soft, too fluid. It’s almost like my expression was on the more feminine side anyway,” Lopez said. “So, instead of trying to shake myself off and fit into a box that had me presenting more masculine all the time, it’s actually celebrating my uniqueness, to show the fluidity and the femininity within ballet.”

Lopez has not danced in Albuquerque in about a decade.

“I’m terrified,” they said. “Yes, I’m looking forward to it, for the opportunity that I get to be home and perform, period. Yet, there is a larger part of me that is absolutely afraid of scrutiny, or being seen as something I’m not.”

Lopez said it was difficult growing up queer in a conservative environment, but many of the people they grew up with have become more accepting over time.

Lopez said they expect a number of old friends and family to attend the performance.

“I believe they’re going to have the time of their lives,” Lopez said.

The dancer hopes performances like these can help lessen the stigma of being queer and nonbinary in a way that’s fun and approachable.

“I think it’s important to talk about, because there’s a lot of conservative families who have very expressive kids, and they don’t know what to do with them,” Lopez said.

Audiences coming to Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo can expect to laugh, Lopez said, but also be inspired and amazed.

“It’s acting, it’s dancing, it’s live theater. It’s always different,” Lopez said. “It’s a rainbow of a show — every color you can imagine.”

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the Albuquerque Journal. He covers visual art, music, fashion, theater and more. Reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com or on Instagram at @loganroycebeitmen.