DANCE REVIEW : TROCKADERO: FEATS OF FINESSE AND FUN

Tripping in travesty is the name of the low art practiced by Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. And although these dancing damsels trade on the hilarious sight of thick necks and muscular shoulders bulging above satin bodices (but no longer hairy chests), they have also acquired degrees of finesse over the years that are altogether astonishing.

This weekend, such primo ballerinos as the ever-so dainty Tatiana Youbetyabootskaya and the terminally coy Margaret Lowin-Octeyn, D.B.E., traipsed across the Royce Hall stage at UCLA, bringing their signature swan feathers and assorted terpsichorean bonbons to the laughing hordes.

But it was a far different sight to see “The Dying Swan” as danced by Karina Grudj than that of his/her various predecessors. This primo got all the way up on pointe (no bent knees) and actually had an enviable turnout, not to mention the longest and prettiest legs. To keep the comic tone, there were arm-flapping exaggerations and much mugging (but only a few falling feathers). The curtain calls featured whole scenarios of tearful mime, followed by exultant heroism.

As for new choreography, there was Natch Taylor’s “Anarchic Heart,” another inspired ode to Martha Graham’s Greek works like “Cave of the Heart.” Funniest of all was Olga Supphozova, as the not-so-mythic symbol of feminine tragedy. In a ‘30s crepe de chine playsuit and sort-of snood, this heavily lipsticked Martha cavorts with her husband (Adam Baum) to the pleasant piano tinklings of a C. McCosh score. Finally, comes the inevitable stage birth of Oedipus (Igor Teupleze), who hops about on the leash of mama’s umbilical cord.

A blind man in toga (Alexis Ivanovitch Lermontov), a seductress (Antonia Antoniova) and the Noguchi-influenced Furies (Sveltlana Leftova and Felina Goudolova) completed the cast.

Incidentally, the concluding work on the program, “Don Quixote,” was brought to a sudden halt shortly after beginning, when a cable supporting the main curtain snapped, sending part of the curtain and supporting metal track on to the stage. Two audience members in the first row were struck in the lower leg by part of the curtain mechanism. They were examined by the house doctor and returned to their seats for the restart.