New York’s Ballet Eloelle is heading to Perth with their comical and entertaining show Men in Pink Tights which gives classical ballet a gender role reversal. OUTinPerth spoke to the company’s choreographer and artistic director, Victor Trevino from his home base in New York City last month.
How would you describe the show to people who haven’t seen it?
I would describe it as funny and entertaining and a whole lot more than you’d expect to get in an evening; you’re going to get some really entertaining moments and some genuine beauty. We’re pretty excited about coming to Perth, the show’s been successful, and audiences seem to like it.
How long has the show been running for?
Well it’s kind of hard to explain, I started by directing another show Les GranDiva Men in Tutus and that ran for about thirteen, fourteen years, and then we have kind of reorganized, and this is the first year of Ballet Eloelle, Men in Pink Tights, but it’s some of the same people. On one hand it’s new and then on the other hand it’s been around. It’s a revamped show, we’ve taken all the best parts.
The show does poke some fun at the world of ballet.
Well it does, but we’ve all done professional ballet. I think we make fun of the characters and the stories in ballet, and show how easy it is to change it and make it funny, but by doing that it also makes it very easy to understand what’s going on, on stage. I think a lot of people think if they go to the ballet they won’t know what’s going on. So we’re trying to break down that barrier.
What kind of response do you get to the show as you travel around the world?
We do get different responses in different places, but they’ve all love the show. The only place was China, they said it was a wonderful response, but not by our standards. We did a performance in China and they were really quiet to the end of the show and then they were really receptive, but when you’re doing comedy to have quiet audiences it’s a little unnerving…they were really quite and polite.
Is there a lot of camaraderie between the cast?
Oh yes,[laughs] there’s camaraderie, but there’s also bitch fights occasionally too, but when you get a whole bunch of boys who like to put on tutus together there’s definitely going to be some issues to deal with.
In the world of dance don’t the girls get all the good stuff?
Exactly, that’s why we’re doing this. The men are stuck having to pick them up and haul them around the stage and they look good and pretty. It’s not really fair. They end up with diamonds and tiaras and we end up with bad backs.
Tickets for Les Ballet’s Eloelle Men in Pink Tights at the Regal Theatre on Friday March 23 and Saturday March 24 are on sale now through TICKETEK www.ticketek.com.au
written By Graeme Watson
