MEN ON THEIR TOES HAVE CROWD ON ITS FEET (DANCE REVIEW)

A near-capacity audience gave Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo perhaps one of the most tumultuous standing ovations in the history of the Rose Theatre Thursday night.

The Trocks, as they are known, deserved every cheer.

The spectacle of sumptuous costumes, beautiful sets, music by the likes of Tchaikovsky and the all-male Trocks' trademark, uproarious parodies of classical ballet had the audience swooning from the opener, Act II of "Swan Lake." The familiar dramatic music and wafting fog set the scene for Olga Supphozova as Odette, a sensation with her look-at-me flights about the stage and superb technique.

With 200 dancers and faculty members in attendance from the Central Region Dance Festival under way at Southeast in attendance, the audience had a particularly acute appreciation for the Trocks' extraordinary skills. Men dancing en pointe with the grace of prima ballerinas is an extraordinary sight.

So are size 12 toe shoes.

The Trocks parody classical ballet by paying their respects without quite achieving homage. In the Trocks handbook it must be written that the primary goals of every dance are to stay out of everyone else's way, to keep from getting lost in the chorus, and to steal the bouquet of flowers awarded at the end of each dance.

Nadia Rombova drew appreciative screams for her dancing in the second piece, "La Vivandiere," a ballet set in a Hungarian village. The high-kicking, coquettish Rombova made the extraordinary look easy.

The diminutive Igor Slowpokin was a whirling dervish of pirouettes and provided a visual joke simply by partnering with the much taller ballerinas.

"The Black Swan" might have been more moving but for the storm of feathers that fell from the ballerina's tutu as she moved about the stage.

In "Gaite Parisienne," the Trocks exuberantly can-canned about the stage for nearly half an hour, a feat of marathon endurance as well as artistry.

At some point in the performance, the humor in the ballets was overwhelmed by the simply beautiful dancing. Much more than the laughs, the Trocks' talent was the reason for the final ovation.

For an encore, the troupe kicked up a "Riverdance" parody that sent the audience to the doors happy to be part of a world that includes Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.