Northrop Presents
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
2025–26 Northrop Season
Thu, Jan 29, 7:30 pm
Part of the 50% Off Sale, Nov 28–Dec 11! Use promo code 2026WINTER50
Clamor no more, the “Trocks” are back! “The World’s Foremost Gender-Skewering Comic Ballet Company”—famed for performing polished parodies of classical ballet en pointe and en travesti—continues its quest for global adoration after more than 50 fantastic years of artistic hilarity. Dance aficionados, drag lovers, and novices to both art forms alike will revel in the technical skill and uproarious antics of the Trocks, as they are affectionately known. A Northrop audience favorite returning for the first time since 2000, the Trocks promise “the funniest night you’ll ever have at the ballet” (The Guardian), amazing viewers worldwide with their virtuosity and utter cleverness.
Top image: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Photo courtesy of the artist.
To Help You Decide
You might enjoy this performance if you love(d):
- The Joffrey Ballet
- American Ballet Theatre
- Dance Theatre of Harlem
- The State Ballet of Georgia
- BalletMet
- This will be the Trocks' 8th performance at Northrop; the last was in Apr 2000.
Create Your Own Package
Our flexible Create Your Own package lets you choose your experiences from any three or more in-person events from the 2025–26 Northrop Season! Subscribers enjoy:
- Savings of 15%—when you buy three+ 2025–26 Northrop Season events
- Early prepaid parking reservations—order when you purchase tickets
- Invites to exclusive, behind-the-scenes events
- Flexibility at no extra cost—get unlimited free ticket exchanges
- Our appreciation for supporting Northrop programming and Centennial Commissions! Your purchase helps make a difference.
Explore Single Ticket Discounts *
- First Year Free Ticket for new UMN students and staff/faculty
- Children 17 and under: 50% off base price, always
- 20% off tickets for groups of 10 or more
*Some exclusions apply.
Articles & More
The New York Times Review: “The Trocks Fill Out the Laughs With Dancing Chops”
“One of the most unusually gifted dance companies in existence.”—The Stage
“The amalgam of ballerina finesse and daft diva antics is brilliant, unsettling, riveting: the epitome of Trocks style.”—The New York Times
“The magic of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is guaranteed to warm any frozen heart that dares walk into their show.”—Ballet Herald
“They are the best kind of artful parodists, capable of illuminating the most gripping sections of academic classical ballet, albeit via a wink and smile and the occasional well-placed shtick.”—Calgary Herald
“The Trocks gracefully and ingeniously combine slapstick, farce, and clowning with the pure artistry of dance.”—The Berkshire Edge
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo website
Ballerina Boys (2021) documentary film
Related Event(s)
Know Before You Go
Event Information
- Seating: Ticket Required
- Performance Begins: 7:30 pm
- Tickets: Check the email you provided when you placed your order to locate your digital ticket. Be sure to check your spam or junk mail folders if you do not see them.
- Detailed Event Information: Check back for more information closer to the date.
If you need assistance, please call 612-624-2345, email umntix@umn.edu.
Important Links–Planning Your Visit
Learn More - Explore These Themes
The content below derives from the Northrop Across Campus Program that supports Northrop's mission towards intersections between performing arts and education for the benefit of all participants now and for generations to come.
Find ways to make thematic connections to these suggested topics:
- Dance: Ballet, Contemporary
- Theatre Arts: Stage Makeup
- Comedy & Parody
- Community Engagement
- American Studies
- Gender & Sexuality Studies
Dive deeper with these resources that provide additional information about the performers, the history of the artform, and the artistic process.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo website
"Men in Tights and Tutus: The Trocks Turn 50, Humor Intact"—The New York Times
"Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo Review—Arabesques, Pratfalls and a Swan on Wheels"—The Guardian
"The Trocks, an All-Male Dance Troupe, Balance Camp and Skill"—The New York Times
Coleman, Bertram E., III. “Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo: A History of the Company, 1974 to 1990.” PhD dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, 1993. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (9413466).
"The Trocks Celebrate Their Golden Anniversary"—Pointe Magazine
LGBTQIA+ Studies: A Resource Guide. “1969: The Stonewall Uprising."—Library of Congress
"The Trocks’ Deadly Serious Spoofing; City Ballet’s Revitalized Coppélia"—Observer
Video: "Ballerina Boys, Official Trailer"—PBS American Masters
Start a conversation about the performance or encourage reflection, using these questions as inspiration.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the world’s foremost gender-skewering comic ballet company, was founded in 1974 in the wake of the Stonewall Uprising, a monumental clash between police and LGBTQ+ protesters in New York. Since the company’s inception, their highly subversive viewpoint has grown into crowd-pleasing, globe-spanning entertainment, presenting playful parodies of traditional, classical ballet, with men performing all the roles.
- How does the Trocks’s self-described gender-skewering comedic ballet company subvert and celebrate historical ballet traditions?
- How might the experience of a dancer performing for the Trocks be similar or different today versus 50 years ago? How might the experience of an audience member be similar or different?
Dance aficionados and first-time audiences alike will revel in the technical skill and uproarious antics of the "Trocks," as they are affectionately known. “The level of dancing is now so high that we’re less and less inclined to laugh and more and more likely to ponder the ambiguities of a male dancer who can actually be convincing as Odette, Giselle, Paquita,” Robert Gottlieb wrote in The New York Observer in 2009.
- How might the Trocks’s advanced technical skills be utilized to both engage audiences and subvert ideas of gender in culture and dance?
- How might dance, or art more generally, change cultural ideas of gender?
According to The Berkshire Edge, “The Trocks gracefully and ingeniously combine slapstick, farce, and clowning with pure artistry of dance … The company has a knack for expertly walking the fine line between caricature of ballet and dance (and themselves), and complete reverence for that same art form.”
- How does comedy break down barriers between artists and audience members, preparing the audience for a more participatory and collaborative experience?
- What differentiates clowning, parody, and slapstick comedy, and how might they each bring unique elements to caricature and reverence of ballet and dance?
Acknowledgments
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
