But There are White Feathers All Over the Floor!
Robert Carter arrived at the theater for company class a little earlier on this particular Tuesday afternoon. He was wearing a tee shirt that advertised, "You don't know my name but your boyfriend does," well-worn practice clothes, gobs of attractive jewelry, and carrying a new book by Phillippa Crawford. "I've read all her books," he said, taking a seat in the empty theater. The night before, as Madame Olga Supphozova, he had danced "Dying Swan" shedding white feathers all over the stage and evoking laughter that could be heard out the front door of the Joyce Theater and up Eighth Avenue. But today it was business as usual, class and performance.
Though he had not been called for this afternoon's rehearsal he volunteered to go on stage filling the center soloist spot to make it easier for the new members to learn spacing from Ballet Master Paul Ghiselin. It was a small act of helping out, but one that typifies the overall attitude at Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, better known to all as the Trocks. The company is small (18 members) dependent on one another in their concerted efforts to bring the brand of entertainment they are noted for to audiences all over the world.
Tory Dobrin has been the director of the Trocks for 27 years and has run his organization pretty much with one premise in mind. "We listen to the audience," he said. "If the audience is not having a good time, then we need to find out why. Other artists in the downtown dance world have a need to express themselves," he continued. "We are different. The audience is our mentor, and since we work about 45 weeks a year we need to get it right." The touring schedule is a killer.
The company travels continually from Japan to Portland, Oregon to London, to Russia with stops in many other cities along the way. They exist off presenter's fees, no fund raising or box office, although they would not turn down a nice monetary gift. At the moment, however, it is Dobrin's ingenuity that manages to keep them afloat. They get by on what they have in the bank.
Springing to life in 1974, the Trocks were founded precisely to give a light, hearty, jolly view of traditional ballet. Their rise to fame, from a downtown slightly "Sid Ceasar/Imogene Coca" bent to a major touring company with high artistic standards, has been a steady and exciting climb. Dobrin emphasized that the Trocks are not just a bunch of guys in drag who are impersonating ballerinas. They are a house for the Russian classics, and Dobrin insists these ballets must be danced with the style and deportment of a great classical company.
For this reason he has brought in female teachers and coaches. Ten years ago he hired Elena Kunikova, trained at the Vaganova Academy and a former dancer with the Maly Ballet Company in Moscow. Kunikova, now teaching at Steps studio in New York, is the invited coach and choreographer responsible for setting the major classics on the company. Before any humor is injected the ballet is always taught straight from the
Russian textbook. Kunikova is a taskmaster, overseeing the exactness of the porte de bras, the pointe work, the expression, the line, and the perfection of all of it.
"Sloppiness is not funny," she emphasized. "I try to give them what is glamorous and beautiful in a ballerina. To do that one must have one's own good technique and complete understanding of the style." Trained in the impeccable Russian ballet, Kunikova knows her material well. "I still have those incredible pictures of what I learned in my head," she said, remembering her training days in Moscow. "I know how best to break it down and then what is the right spice to add. These big guys are doing the Russian style. That alone adds up to humor so we must be careful. For them to achieve the Russian grand manner we need harmonious movement, in unison, coupled with coordination of legs, arms, eyes and head. Before you make fun of something you must understand it.
Then we add the soul without which Russian ballet is not Russian."
Kunikova has set "Paquita," "Esmeralda," "Flames of Paris," and "Raymonda" among others in the 10 years she has been with the company. She admits it has been rewarding to her to bring these wonderful ballets to life and help shape the quality of the dancers in the true Russian manner, which was her training. "The Trocks are not exposed to character dancing," she said. "At first it was difficult. Then as we went along the guys became hungry for details. Petipa infused character elements into his choreography using a Russian or Hungarian flavor. I was privileged to work with great teachers and artists and grew up in the time of 'Don Quixote' and 'Sleeping Beauty.'" Critics and audiences alike have noted a significant improvement in the quality of performing. What was once goofiness has been replaced by technical expertise. Both coach and company have achieved a monumental step forward together.
Perhaps no one dancer personifies the essence of the Trocks more than Robert Carter. It is not uncommon to see Carter peel off eight pirouettes, hold an arabesque finish for many seconds, than fall woozily out of balance only to recover for a dash offstage, leaving a wild-eyed audience screaming bravos. Dobrin says he does that all the time. WOW! Carter demurred for a moment than responded. "Tory is right. I do it all the time," he laughed. "But we all do some really good dancing. I don't look at myself as a man in a tutu, or a guy in drag. I look at myself as an accomplished ballet dancer intent on giving all I can on stage."
Olga Supphozova is right. The dancers are more than just guys on pointe out there for laughs. That was then. This is now. For men dancing in pointe shoes is not easy. Some are heavily muscled with less than "ballerina" feet, some are petite with shorter limbs, all must take risks climbing up on the wooden boxes to balance, pirouette, jump while keeping the upper body within the classical language. They have succeeded both physically and artistically. And, as Dobrin's top priority, they are fun to watch.
What about the jokes? Carter says that the dancers themselves usually set most of the jokes. The comic stuff is unique unto each performer. The jokes have to be natural for us and for our individual timing, otherwise they don't work." Is there anything deadlier than a joke that doesn't work, a pratfall that doesn't get a laugh especially when the perpetrator is on pointe? If it happens spontaneously in rehearsal and it makes us laugh...it stays," Carter said. "Like any group of artists we are our own harshest critics. If something occurs that makes me roll my eyes and Tory or Elena like it too, it is usually funny to the audience."
Carter remembers he always had a propensity for pointe shoes, even though in some ballets, as Yuri Smirnov, he is the handsome blonde, a black man in white tights lifting his ballerina high over his head. Back in his early training in South Carolina he would salvage worn pointe shoes from the garbage can and eventually got so strong he was asked to demonstrate in the girl's pointe classes. The Trocks appeared at the U.S. Spoleto Festival in South Carolina, and he discovered a company that loved to do what he loved to do....dance on pointe. While in New York on scholarship at the Joffrey Ballet School he auditioned and the rest is history--a long history.
Robert Carter arrived at the theater for company class a little earlier on this particular Tuesday afternoon. He was wearing a tee shirt that advertised, "You don't know my name but your boyfriend does," well-worn practice clothes, gobs of attractive jewelry, and carrying a new book by Phillippa Crawford. "I've read all her books," he said, taking a seat in the empty theater. The night before, as Madame Olga Supphozova, he had danced "Dying Swan" shedding white feathers all over the stage and evoking laughter that could be heard out the front door of the Joyce Theater and up Eighth Avenue. But today it was business as usual, class and performance.
Though he had not been called for this afternoon's rehearsal he volunteered to go on stage filling the center soloist spot to make it easier for the new members to learn spacing from Ballet Master Paul Ghiselin. It was a small act of helping out, but one that typifies the overall attitude at Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, better known to all as the Trocks. The company is small (18 members) dependent on one another in their concerted efforts to bring the brand of entertainment they are noted for to audiences all over the world.
Tory Dobrin has been the director of the Trocks for 27 years and has run his organization pretty much with one premise in mind. "We listen to the audience," he said. "If the audience is not having a good time, then we need to find out why. Other artists in the downtown dance world have a need to express themselves," he continued. "We are different. The audience is our mentor, and since we work about 45 weeks a year we need to get it right." The touring schedule is a killer. The company travels continually from Japan to Portland, Oregon to London, to Russia with stops in many other cities along the way. They exist off presenter's fees, no fund raising or box office, although they would not turn down a nice monetary gift. At the moment, however, it is Dobrin's ingenuity that manages to keep them afloat. They get by on what they have in the bank.
Springing to life in 1974, the Trocks were founded precisely to give a light, hearty, jolly view of traditional ballet. Their rise to fame, from a downtown slightly "Sid Ceasar/Imogene Coca" bent to a major touring company with high artistic standards, has been a steady and exciting climb. Dobrin emphasized that the Trocks are not just a bunch of guys in drag who are impersonating ballerinas. They are a house for the Russian classics, and Dobrin insists these ballets must be danced with the style and deportment of a great classical company.
For this reason he has brought in female teachers and coaches. Ten years ago he hired Elena Kunikova, trained at the Vaganova Academy and a former dancer with the Maly Ballet Company in Moscow. Kunikova, now teaching at Steps studio in New York, is the invited coach and choreographer responsible for setting the major classics on the company. Before any humor is injected the ballet is always taught straight from the
Russian textbook. Kunikova is a taskmaster, overseeing the exactness of the porte de bras, the pointe work, the expression, the line, and the perfection of all of it.
"Sloppiness is not funny," she emphasized. "I try to give them what is glamorous and beautiful in a ballerina. To do that one must have one's own good technique and complete understanding of the style." Trained in the impeccable Russian ballet, Kunikova knows her material well. "I still have those incredible pictures of what I learned in my head," she said, remembering her training days in Moscow. "I know how best to break it down and then what is the right spice to add. These big guys are doing the Russian style. That alone adds up to humor so we must be careful. For them to achieve the Russian grand manner we need harmonious movement, in unison, coupled with coordination of legs, arms, eyes and head. Before you make fun of something you must understand it. Then we add the soul without which Russian ballet is not Russian."
Kunikova has set "Paquita," "Esmeralda," "Flames of Paris," and "Raymonda" among others in the 10 years she has been with the company. She admits it has been rewarding to her to bring these wonderful ballets to life and help shape the quality of the dancers in the true Russian manner, which was her training. "The Trocks are not exposed to character dancing," she said. "At first it was difficult. Then as we went along the guys became hungry for details. Petipa infused character elements into his choreography using a Russian or Hungarian flavor. I was privileged to work with great teachers and artists and grew up in the time of 'Don Quixote' and 'Sleeping Beauty.'" Critics and audiences alike have noted a significant improvement in the quality of performing. What was once goofiness has been replaced by technical expertise. Both coach and company have achieved a monumental step forward together.
Perhaps no one dancer personifies the essence of the Trocks more than Robert Carter. It is not uncommon to see Carter peel off eight pirouettes, hold an arabesque finish for many seconds, than fall woozily out of balance only to recover for a dash offstage, leaving a wild-eyed audience screaming bravos. Dobrin says he does that all the time. WOW! Carter demurred for a moment than responded. "Tory is right. I do it all the time," he laughed. "But we all do some really good dancing. I don't look at myself as a man in a tutu, or a guy in drag. I look at myself as an accomplished ballet dancer intent on giving all I can on stage."
Olga Supphozova is right. The dancers are more than just guys on pointe out there for laughs. That was then. This is now. For men dancing in pointe shoes is not easy. Some are heavily muscled with less than "ballerina" feet, some are petite with shorter limbs, all must take risks climbing up on the wooden boxes to balance, pirouette, jump while keeping the upper body within the classical language. They have succeeded both physically and artistically. And, as Dobrin's top priority, they are fun to watch.
What about the jokes? Carter says that the dancers themselves usually set most of the jokes. The comic stuff is unique unto each performer. The jokes have to be natural for us and for our individual timing, otherwise they don't work." Is there anything deadlier than a joke that doesn't work, a pratfall that doesn't get a laugh especially when the perpetrator is on pointe? If it happens spontaneously in rehearsal and it makes us laugh...it stays," Carter said. "Like any group of artists we are our own harshest critics. If something occurs that makes me roll my eyes and Tory or Elena like it too, it is usually funny to the audience."
Carter remembers he always had a propensity for pointe shoes, even though in some ballets, as Yuri Smirnov, he is the handsome blonde, a black man in white tights lifting his ballerina high over his head. Back in his early training in South Carolina he would salvage worn pointe shoes from the garbage can and eventually got so strong he was asked to demonstrate in the girl's pointe classes. The Trocks appeared at the U.S. Spoleto Festival in South Carolina, and he discovered a company that loved to do what he loved to do....dance on pointe. While in New York on scholarship at the Joffrey Ballet School he auditioned and the rest is history--a long history.
Another big plus for Carter is the travel. He is curious and intelligent and thrilled with the exposure to new cultures provided by the intensive touring schedule. "Living out of a suitcase isn't always pleasant," he admitted. "But I have seen the world. I phone home a lot, and my family is always eager to hear where I am, what I am seeing, visiting places they can only dream about. Meanwhile, my real family now is the company. We are always together. Indeed, we have our moments, but we love what we are doing, and we impart that to the audience. We also have a chance to interpret a role whereas in a big company we would be obliged to do the choreography--that's it!"
Carter has both physical prowess and a risk-taking personality. He is a dancer even die-hard balletomanes applaud. Is there a more supreme test than dancing in Russia? "We were nervous," Carter recalled. "What will the Russians think of us? I don't think they expected us to be as good as we were. These people were brought up in ballet. It is their state of the art, their culture, and they know it well. By the end of the run the costume ladies, none of whom speak English, were fighting over who would fasten my tutu. It was a great reception." In January of 2007 the company returned to Moscow brought back by popular demand for a repeat visit.
The "Raymonda" variation remains Carter's tour de force, and he has been astonishing audiences with it for as long as he can remember. "Some nights are better than others," he noted, "and I try not to do it the same each night. I think it out while I am doing my makeup. One has to do something for the hour or so it takes to do the eyelashes, and all the rest, so I might as well figure out if I am going to give it my all tonight or not. Usually I decide in the affirmative."
As a member of the Trocks for 12 years, Carter is very aware of the audience response. If the audience seems laid back, he may have to step up his repertory of dazzling steps.
Sometimes the program has to be altered. It is Dobrin's job to get a reading on what works. It is also a sign of a good director who knows when to pull a piece from the program if the response is not good. Dobrin takes his responsibilities seriously. "These are my children," he mused, "They are all eccentric, but they are good people, and I want them to succeed. If I have to change things, I do."
Though creating fun for the audience is primary, it is only a part of Dobrin's multiple tasks. Making sure the costumes look free of obvious wear and tear; the shoes do not look shabby; the choreography well rehearsed; and every dancer has a "face." "When I sit in the audience I have to see everyone with a 'face,' Dobrin emphasized. "Not just an expression but also a great memorable face that gives off good energy. I always remind them to engage their cheekbones. For our audience, the faces of our dancers are supremely important. Have you ever sat in the audience at a ballet and watched the faces of the corps dancers? Some are sleepwalking. Our company cannot do that. It is from the face that a personality gets going, and our dancers must have an individual personality."
Putting humor in the appropriate spots to buoy up the ballets is a collaborative task for Dobrin, Kunikova, and Paul Ghislin, the ballet master. "We have a whole body of 'schtick," Dobrin admitted. "If one piece is weaker, we simply take the humor from one and put it in the other. We can't have our audience saying, 'we've seen the same mugging all night long.'" The "schtick" notebook, plus spontaneous mistakes made during rehearsals that get a laugh, plus ideas from company members, keep the supply of funny moments going, but the real treat of the Trocks is its high quality of dancing. It makes the funny parts more endearing as when a sleepwalking cygnet (Maria Gertrudes Clubfoot) falls off the stage (on purpose) and has to scramble back up to her place in line practically without missing a beat. It was an obvious vaudeville pratfall. The audience roared its approval.
Speaking of faces it was Paul Ghislin chiseled features that often mastered hilarious expressions. The icy stare, as well as a sorrowful poignancy, or a giddy smile were his specialties in his many portrayals as a dancer for the Trocks. In his 'Dying Swan" the 6ft. 2" dancer (taller in pointe shoes) captured the nuances to perfection. Ghislin has made a smooth transition from dancer to ballet master drawing from his long experience with both the Ohio Ballet (as a leading male dancer) and the Trocks (as a ballerina.) "I started dancing on pointe when I was 33," he said. "It was a lot of body on those little toes, and I was really too old to train on pointe. So I handled the repertory I could handle, did some male roles, Von Rothbart being a favorite, and meanwhile kept my hands in two pots, running rehearsals and performing." Ghislin was absorbing the Russian style from Kunikova feeling as if he was just beginning to learn about ballet, (and he had already danced for 13 years.) "All this style our company is learning is not taught in American dance institutions," Ghiselin remarked. "It has been washed away in favor of doing eight pirouettes and consecutive double turns."
"I have a job of love," he said, angling his long fingers around a coffee cup. "The people, the material ...every day I go into work and I thank God for my good luck." He admitted his job on the "other side" now means telling his dancers what to do. "I like to be
everybody's best friend," he added. "But I do not believe one has to be abusive to get an effect. Instead of putting them down, I try to support, push, and keep after them with my corrections."
Watching him conduct the "Paquita" rehearsal for new dancers, one could see his dedication to detail. "Elena wants it this way," he was heard saying as he adjusted the hand of one dancer. Instantly, it was a Russian ballerina's hand position, and Ghislin was pleased. "We are men dancing," he noted. "We must be big and bold not dainty even though we are ballerinas. We run with vigor into a chaussee and jump with force. We dance like a man even with tiaras and false eyelashes."
Ghislin is constantly seeking out old photographs and videos to better understand Kunikova's approach. "She is an encyclopedia, and learning from her is exhilarating because you understand it is the correct way." Kunikova does not go on tour with the company, so someone has to be artistically in charge. That is Ghislin's job. "The hardest thing is the travel," he said. "Since I have been ballet master I don't hang out with the troops as much, and it can be very lonely in those faraway places. What does one do for two months in Japan, traveling to the outlying cities from north to south?"
The Trocks begin every performance with a recorded announcement much like every show and ballet company does, only the off stage voice is a very pronounced Russian accent:
"WE WISH TO REMIND YOU THAT THE TAKING OF FLASH PHOTOGRAPHS IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. SUDDEN BURSTS OF LIGHT TEND TO REMIND OUR MORE FRAGILE BALLERINAS OF TERRIBLE BOLSHEVIK GUNFIRE, AND FINALLY, WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT ALL OF OUR BALLERINAS ARE IN WARY--WARY GOOD MOODS THIS EVENING.
BOLSHOI SPASSIVA!"
We in the audience are smiling already. The curtain lifts, and Von Rothbart is seen pulling a cardboard swan across the stage. Soon the swans assemble in their familiar formations wearing smashing white tutus, eyes heavy with mascara, tiaras pinned tightly to the wigs, lips painted a bright red. Soon the titters begin, then the guffaws, then gales of laughter. One will hardly notice the tufts of black hair curling around the bodices of the tutus or a black patch of hair under each wing-like arm. Everyone is too busy laughing.
EPILOGUE: Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo were awarded The Company Prize for Outstanding Repertoire (Classical) at the 2005 Critics' Circle National Dance Awards announced at Sadler's Wells, in London on January 25, 2007.