There's 14 guys from 14 different countries, who came down and all 14 of them are professional ballet dancers and they have been training on pointe under Les Ballets Grandiva Company for this show. What is so different with them besides men on pointe is they don't do serious performance. Their aim is to make the audience laugh and enjoy themselves.
Yesterday, I laughed and clapped till my hands were tired..and I did enjoy myself with a lot of guilt feeling. BTW, I MUST TYPE THIS OUT--I PAID FOR RM 75 (student price) and I SAT AT THE RM 188 SEAT (the second line away from the stage) because my teacher talked to the director. Hehe. Just a few pictures...
This guy on the right is so good and so woman like...look at his body, many women would kill for that body!!
This guy on the left is a Japanese and his "nick" gal-name is Sue Nami LOL
The guy was dancing as the main character in Swan Lake (Odette) and I totally forgot that he was a guy because he was so graceful and so pretty UNTIL he shouted because one of the other character tried to carry him (one of their tricks to make us laugh).
Some of them are really really pretty and some of them are really really scary. See for yourself.
More Pictures..
News from Star 2
When you see a man in pink tights and tutus, you immediately think drag queen. But the men in Les Ballets Grandiva are among the best ballet dancers in the world. They just happen to be men dancing as women.
It’s not every day that a world-class ballet company comes to town, and one comprising all-male dancers in tutus, pink tights and dancing en pointe (on the tip of their toes).
Combining brilliant ballet technique, tongue-in-cheek humour, dancing mishaps and en travesti (switched gender) roles, Les Ballets Grandiva is the brainchild of one man who was too short to make it in the classical ballet world.
Les Ballets Grandiva is performing a ballet boufe called Men in Tutus in Kuala Lumpur. - LES BALLETS GRANDIVA “As a professional dancer for many years and at 5’2” I knew a traditional career was impossible,” recalls Victor Trevino, 49, artistic director and founder.
“I’m so small that there were not many roles for me. Like a basketball player, you can’t make the national team if you’re short.”
For a while Trevino pondered how he might solve his predicament and at the same time bring ballet to audiences who might not otherwise attend a ballet performance. He hit on the idea of a comedy. That was how he came to start his own dance company 13 years ago.
“I knew that the comedy aspect would work better with an all-male group. A man playing a woman’s role is immediately funny to the audience. But I also wanted trained dancers with a high artistic element so that it wouldn’t be just another cheap burlesque or drag show,” explains Trevino.
He chose dancers with special dancing skills, and they come in all shapes, sizes and hairstyles.
“I look at special qualities like if they can do many turns or jumps, and interesting bodies. For example, a big boned ballerina and a petite one provide an interesting contrast. To add more fun, I made sure they learnt how to dance en pointe. We break them in slowly so in their first season, they perform the easier roles.”
Les Ballets Grandiva founder Victor Trevino. - LOW LAY PHON/ The Star Today, the New York-based company, which performs parodies of both classical and contemporary ballets, comprises 20 dancers from 13 nationalities aged between 19 and 49. They all have funny alter egos although they also dance male roles.
“We are not performing as women. We are first ballet dancers,” Trevino asserts.
He choreographs 85% of the company’s repertoire and “does everything that nobody else wants to do”.
The ongoing Malaysian performance is called Men in Tutus and Trevino himself dances his rendition of the Dying Swan, originally choreographed by Michel Fokine for Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova in 1905.
I observe the muscular men during a warm-up session, minus the tutus. The dancers amble in tardily due to late delivery of their laundry. The heat is obviously getting to them, and their faces scream lethargy. Trevino calls out a ballet sequence and asks, “You got that?”
Some nod, a couple stretch, a few are oblivious, while others fool around.
“Now you’ll see three different versions of what I asked for. Just watch,” Trevino whispers to me as he plays the music.
“Remember, it’s not a position but a movement,” he reminds them.
True enough, as long as they keep moving, the instructor has no complaints.
“Since this is a warm-up to the performance, they don’t follow everything I say. They do what they want. They’re all professionals, so they know what their bodies need. Most dancers are in their mid-30s, and that’s pretty good considering men in ballet don’t last as long as women because of all the lifting and jumping which takes a toll on the body,” says Trevino adding that their regular ballet mistress is presently in Japan.
The dancers seem to have a great sense of humour, which enables them to get into character easily.
One of them, Emanuel Abruzzo, 22, says he knew when he first saw a video of Les Ballets Grandiva that he would someday join the company. Like others in the group, he is extremely talented, agile and limber. The curly-haired Argentinean can sing, act and dance. The tango, of course, comes naturally, but the pointe was a struggle.
Emanuel Abruzzo - LES BALLETS GRANDIVA “It still hurts! And your feet swell,” grimaces Abruzzo, who’s in his fourth season with the company.
“You do gain some pain tolerance after using toe pads and silicone gels but anatomically we are not built to wear pointe or even high heel shoes as a man’s weight distribution is more on his heels. But it’s fun and challenging.”
Abruzzo explodes with energy on and off stage. His speciality is toe-tapping (tapping rhythmically en pointe using tap shoes — ouch!), but this routine is not part of the Kuala Lumpur repertoire.
“I have a lot of energy so I’m always given roles which require a lot of jumps and turns. I’m also naturally very flexible so I don’t have to warm up much although I have to work harder on building my strength,” he says.
Changing gender during a performance isn’t easy, either — it requires an attitude and appearance change.
“For a woman, the arms have to be gentler, the walk is graceful and they have to appear light. I watched a lot of videos of ballerinas to learn these aspects. Some people might learn it faster but it’s hard dancing, getting the comedy timing right, and trying to look funny. People love what we do because it’s not offensive. We maintain the classical ballet style but add the twisted element,” Abruzzo shares.
A professional dancer’s career is highly demanding on the body, so injuries, painkillers, muscle relaxants, sessions with the physiotherapist or chiropractor and massages are all part of the game.
“If I were to talk about my injuries, it would take a few days! We have understudies for most of the roles, except for my toe-tapping role. But, I can tell you that I have never missed a show, and that’s a good record,” he says proudly.
All dancers are on a six-monthly contract, and during off seasons, Abruzzo performs with a jazz company.
Fellow dancer Tetsushi Segawa, 30, never thought he would dance a female role — not even in his wildest fantasies.
A former dancer with a Japanese ballet company, he mostly danced the role of the prince in productions like Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.
Tetsushi Segawa - LOW LAY PHON/ The Star “When you are younger, everyone wants to dance the prince’s role but when I danced it, I never liked it. After five years I didn’t want to do it anymore so I quit and became a student at the Joffrey Ballet in New York City. When I was back in Japan, a Les Ballets Grandiva show caught my eye.”
The reaction of the Japanese audience was a big factor in Segawa joining the company.
“In Japan, the audience doesn’t make noise or even cough during an international performance. Everyone behaves politely. But when they saw Les Ballets Grandiva performing they were clapping and screaming like it was a local show. I had never witnessed anything like that, and I was surprised. I knew I wanted to belong to a company that could communicate with the audience and take the performer-audience barrier out,” he relates.
It took Segawa three years to be relatively comfortable in pointe shoes though he says it’s still hard and he continues to get blisters. The chap is known for his remarkable turning ability — he’s literally a spinning top.
And how many pirouettes can he do?
“People ask me that all the time and honestly, I’ve never counted them because I tend to lose count after eight!” he laughs. “I always think about balance so I have no time to count, although once someone counted for me and said it was 12.”
His favourite role is playing the female character in a pas de deux from Le Corsaire. At the height of the performance, he does 32 fouettes (one leg is used to whip around to create the impetus to turn) en pointe to rousing applause.
Since he has a lot of experience playing male roles, Segawa often reprises his princely roles. For now, he’s happy dancing en travesti but hopes to go into teaching eventually.
“I’m glad that my family and friends are supportive of what I do. Even my grandparents queue up to buy tickets when I perform in Japan!” he gushes.
Brian Norris decided, after more than 15 years as a professional ballet dance, to retire from performing. He was in his mid-30s and contemplating his future when he received a call from Trevino.
Brian Norris - LES BALLETS GRANDIVA “He told me to get out of retirement and join his company. As you get older, it’s more challenging to dance at a professional level but he convinced me to give Les Ballets Grandiva a go. And here I am, enjoying every moment,” says the 42-year-old American who’s been with the company six years now.
Prior to this company, Norris only danced male roles, so the transition was awkward.
“Initially, it felt strange dancing a female role because I had never done it before. But, if I just think of myself as playing a character, not necessarily female or male, then it becomes easier. It allows me to show my versatility in playing different roles,” he says.
Unlike Abruzzo, Norris had no problems dancing en pointe because he had been doing it for the past 14 years — to strengthen his ankles.
In the performance here, Norris takes on the roles danced by Marie Taglioni (known for her sylph-like figure and credited as being one of the first ballerinas to dance en pointe) in Pas de Quarte and as Odette in Swan Lake.
“Sometimes I’ll take a pointe class with a different teacher to learn something new,” Norris says.
When the troupe is not on a world tour, which takes up three to four months a year, they perform in New York City. It’s a gruelling six-hour daily rehearsals, plus a morning ballet class to hone their technique. They might sigh and roll their eyes but for the sake of art, they get into the thick of things when the music begins.
And when the curtains open, these men in heavy make-up, tutus, corsets, feathers, false eyelashes and wigs dance with such technical precision and vigour that they deserve nothing less than a standing ovation.
o Les Ballets Grandiva’s Men in Tutus ends tomorrow at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, Jalan Strachan, Kuala Lumpur. For performance details, visit www.gardnerandwife.com or call the box office at (03) 4047 9000.
I really envy them for able to do the things I should be doing like pirouettes on pointe. I am having hard time turning but to them it's like SO EASY!!Anyway, blogging coz Esther asked me to =P
