American Masters “Ballerina Boys”

Premiering Friday, June 4 at 8 p.m.

Ballerina Boys is a portrait of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (“The Trocks”), an all-male ballet company and international dance sensation. For over 45 years the company has shared its signature style and message of equality, inclusion and social justice with audiences around the world.

The men perform classical ballet en pointe and in drag, challenging the art form’s rigid gender norms as they mix rigorous technique with comedy and satire. Inspired by the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the company was fueled by the spirit of defiance and creative exuberance that the gay rights movement unleashed.

The film follows The Trocks on tour in the Carolinas, an epicenter of continued struggles for LGBTQ rights. American Masters—Ballerina Boys interweaves original interviews and contemporary and archival performance footage to tell the remarkable history of the company and culminates with The Trocks’ 2019 performance at the Stonewall 50^th anniversary concert at Central Park’s SummerStage in New York City.

In the words of ballerina Kevin Garcia, “Every time the curtain opens we represent progress for equality. We just do it dancing.”