@onavolta: Are you a dance fan generally? I wonder did you find that the "loving lampoons" of "the conventions of ballet" were actually a mocking of women along the lines of drag? Or was it more an attack on pomposity? I've always been interested in this group but never had the opportunity to see them.
Honestly though, I think if I could see them or NYCB, I'd pick City Ballet every time. I love the "conventions of ballet." #thetrocks
@JerseyGrrrl: I am a dance fan, I've had season tickets to PNB in the past, and I danced through high school. It was definitely more of an attack on pomposity than a mockery of women, just read the dancers' profile pages! "Expert clowning" is a perfect description. They are extremely funny yes, but the physical ability is truly amazing. The dancers are surprisingly un-clunky, except when they are trying to be. That all said, if you don't enjoy drag you probably wouldn't enjoy this. #thetrocks
@JerseyGrrrl: I've only seen copious amounts of youtube clips, but it never comes across to me as mocking women, and "loving lampoon" seems a very good description. #thetrocks
@onavolta: Oh I'm glad to know that from another dance fan. I do enjoy drag, but I've always felt that there is an undercurrent of mocking that in some cases is misogynistic. That is a whole other discussion. #thetrocks
@JerseyGrrrl: I do love watching the real Little Swans, but I love that this version pays tribute to how bloody difficult the precise coordination is. I first came across clips of their Swan Lake at the same time as I saw clips of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, and much preferred the Trocks. (Blog entry and clips here: [keestone.livejournal.com] )
I loved this quote when I came across it:
"The company is not trying, actually, to emulate females. It's a company of 15 male dancers who are (and) however you want to define the word male. . . but uh, the male dancer in Ballet is really known for an aggressive attack and that's how we try to approach these roles. So just because we're in a tutu doesn't mean we're not male and and doesn't mean that we're not expressing different kinds of masculinity. And that masculinity can be a really wide range." (Tory Dobrin, Artistic Director of the Trocks) #thetrocks
@lurkerbynature: I love that quote too. God, I was thinking within the same gender binary I go on about disliking. I suppose I just assume everything is set up within it, but not Toby Dobrin.
I remember learning Little Swans in a variations class... it is insanely hard to get through it without someone getting bruised. I always hold my breath when I see it done, waiting for someone to get kneed with an ill-timed passé. #thetrocks
I got into a raging, biscotti-stabbing argument with my sister last week about the sex lives of ballet dancers. She insisted that the vast majority of male dancers (I desperately want to call them ballerinos, but I shall abstain) are gay, gay, gay. GAY.
I told her that that premise was as illogical and unlikely as saying the vast majority of female ballet dancers are gay. And while I grant that I was trying to annoy her, I do still think that she's wrong and that they can't all be gay. Are they? If so, I don't think that's fair, and I would like to know who to write a letter about it.
@Harlot Brontë: It's a common stereotype, but the majority of danseurs (male ballet dancers) are actually straight. In all my years of dancing, however, I have known several gay danseurs but have yet to meet a lesbian ballerina.
@Harlot Brontë: I currently dance with a medium-sized company in the US. Every man currently in the company is straight; in fact, most of them are married (to female dancers in the company, no less). From my observations, the number of gay men in the ballet world isn't much higher (if at all) than the number of gay men in any other profession; however, I think the men who are gay feel more comfortable embracing it since it is "accepted" that gay men dance. Ballet is HARD and in my opinion your sexual orientation has no bearing on whether you are willing to put in the time, pain, and sweat that it takes to become a dancer.
@freya_kahlo: I just read her wiki page and she built her career half blind. she could barely see out of one eye and doesn't have peripheral vision. i guess the dancing was so precise she didn't need to see everything; just feel it.
I saw the photo and knew immediately who this was - I was a school of American ballet student back in the day, and used to read every book there ever was on the subject.
Also, I love the Chorus line reference!
@pond-side-over: I believe that that is the even more rare double third-party earpalm, it hasn't been seen in public since the great earpalm debacle of 1793.
I'm happy to see dancers taking back the jazz hands. Cheerleaders have hogged them for way to long. After all, cheerleaders are just dancers who have gone retarded.
10/27/09
10/27/09
Honestly though, I think if I could see them or NYCB, I'd pick City Ballet every time. I love the "conventions of ballet." #thetrocks
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
I loved this quote when I came across it:
"The company is not trying, actually, to emulate females. It's a company of 15 male dancers who are (and) however you want to define the word male. . . but uh, the male dancer in Ballet is really known for an aggressive attack and that's how we try to approach these roles. So just because we're in a tutu doesn't mean we're not male and and doesn't mean that we're not expressing different kinds of masculinity. And that masculinity can be a really wide range." (Tory Dobrin, Artistic Director of the Trocks) #thetrocks
10/27/09
I remember learning Little Swans in a variations class... it is insanely hard to get through it without someone getting bruised. I always hold my breath when I see it done, waiting for someone to get kneed with an ill-timed passé. #thetrocks
10/27/09
09/08/09
I told her that that premise was as illogical and unlikely as saying the vast majority of female ballet dancers are gay. And while I grant that I was trying to annoy her, I do still think that she's wrong and that they can't all be gay. Are they? If so, I don't think that's fair, and I would like to know who to write a letter about it.
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
Lovely costume, but my ballet mistresses would have taken their sticks to that bent wrist.
09/08/09
08/27/09
08/27/09
08/27/09
08/27/09
Also, I love the Chorus line reference!
08/27/09
08/27/09
08/27/09
08/24/09
08/24/09
08/24/09
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08/24/09
07/17/09
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07/17/09
the human body truly IS art.
07/17/09
07/17/09
07/17/09
@IBleedGlitter: The High Priestess of Tinsel: Don't forget signs!
WARNING: JAZZ HANDS