BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – IU Auditorium is partnering with Ryder Film Series to present two screenings of the PBS documentary Ballerina Boys, a behind-the-scenes portrait of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (affectionally known as The Trocks) on February 2 and 23 at 7:30 p.m. The films will be shown in the IU Radio/TV Building Theater (1229 E 7th Street, Room 251). Tickets are $8 and will be available at the door at TheRyder.com/Films.  Ryder Film Series is sharing 50 percent of the proceeds from these events to Bloomington Pride.

 

The February 23 showing will also feature a post-film Q&A with the company’s ballet master, Raffaele Morra. All of this is in anticipation of the live stage performance by the company taking place at IU Auditorium on Saturday, February 24 at 8 p.m.

 

Ballerina Boys tells the story of The Trocks and how it became the world’s foremost gender-skewing comic ballet company. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the company has shared their signature style and message of equality, inclusion, and social justice with audiences around the world. The men perform classical ballet en pointe and in drag, challenging the art form’s rigid gender norms as they mix rigorous technique with comedy and satire.

 

Inspired by the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the company was fueled by the spirit of defiance and creative exuberance that the gay rights movement unleashed. The film follows The Trocks on tour in the Carolinas, an epicenter of continued struggles for LGBTQ rights. Ballerina Boys interweaves original interviews and contemporary and archival performance footage to tell the remarkable history of the company and culminates with The Trocks’ 2019 performance at the Stonewall 50th anniversary concert at Central Park’s SummerStage in New York City. In the words of ballerina Kevin Garcia, “Every time the curtain opens, we represent progress for equality. We just do it dancing.”

 

The Trocks Performance at IU Auditorium – February 24 at 8 p.m.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo brings its internationally beloved troupe of male dancers to Bloomington on Saturday, February 24 to perform a brilliant combination of skillful pointe work and hilarious parodying of classical ballet favorites like Swan Lake and more. Founded in New York City in 1974, the company, affectionately known as the Trocks, began by appearing in late-late shows in off-off Broadway lofts for small audiences who appreciated the iconoclastic humor of it all. In the nearly 50 years since then, the company has grown to achieve great appeal among more mainstream audiences who, each season, flock to theatres throughout the world to see these prima ballerinas perform. Revered by ballet aficionados as well as the uninitiated—those who don’t know a plié from a jeté—the Trocks are “a guaranteed hoot for people who know nothing of ballet and an absolute must for those who think they know the originals.” (Sydney Star Observer).

 

About Ryder Film Series

The Ryder Film Series has presented the best in international, independent, and classic American films in Bloomington for 40 years. A monthly film program is published in The Ryder magazine, Bloomington’s free magazine of the arts and popular culture. The magazine is distributed in over 250 locations in and around Bloomington and the Indiana University campus.