Dancers from “The Trocks,” an all-male comic ballet company describe how performing in drag is empowering, even extending in to wearing pointe shoes, which are normally reserved for women. While they are painful, the enable some of the “best moments” in ballet.
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(upbeat music) (curtain rustling) (up beat music) - The first time I saw the Trocks, I was 12, and my reaction was seeing heaven open.
(upbeat music) And I just, and my parents, and it was like, that's the perfect place for me.
I think that everything starts when we are doing our makeup.
I start getting in my own bubble where Kevin is aside, and I become a ballerina.
(upbeat music) This company bring me the opportunity to be finally Kevin, without any wall.
- There is something really - Yeah.
- empowering about performing in drag.
- Let's go and do it.
(gentle music) - In the traditional companies, you end up dancing the male roles, behind the girls, just partnering, and I felt that wasn't enough for me.
I always put the pointe shoes, by the side, hiding.
(pointe shoes tapping) Girls classically trained to go en pointe when they're 11.
I wore pointe shoes at about 22 years old, so my body wasn't ready for that.
(gentle music) It is painful, and it never really gets better, but there is that moment when your body is really used to it, and you're just, don't feel it anymore, and those are the best moments.
(gentle music) I feel that when I wear the pointe shoes, the whole alignment of my body is different.
I can move more like a ballerina.
(gentle music) (pointe shoes tapping)