Drag ballet. Two words that conjure images of men in tutus, tights and size 12 ballet shoes. The very idea is funny. But Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is more than mere slapstick. The all-male comic ballet company pirouettes between technical mastery and outrageous camp in performance that is part tribute to and part parody of classic ballet styles.

The Trocks, as admirers call them, are set to perform at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido on Jan. 14 at 8:00 p.m. The group performs faithful renditions of classical ballet works, along with some originals, while playing up the vanities, foibles and flukes that accompany the art.

Dancers in the troupe play both male and female roles – with Russian prima ballerina alter egos like Sveltlana Lofatkina, Ida Nevasayneva and Yakatarina Verbosovich. Part of the comedy comes simply from seeing heavy male bodies squeezed into tights and tulle, delicately dancing en pointe as swans, princesses and Victorian ladies.

The New York-based group was founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts to present a playful, campy vision of traditional ballet.

But for the real story behind the troupe’s beginnings, said Trockadero Artistic Director Tory Dobrin, you have to go back to Stonewall. The clash between police and gays, sparked by a raid of the Stonewall Inn at Greenwich Village in New York during the summer of 1969, is considered a turning point for the modern gay rights movement. In addition to triggering political change, the uprising had profound cultural implications.

“That started this huge thing happening in Manhattan – drag theater was developing, among other things,” said Dobrin in a recent phone interview from New York. “Gay culture was taking off. There started being in New York a lot of drag theater in all the different bars and clubs and off-off Broadway theaters. Basically, Trockaderos came out of that movement.”

Dobrin likens the Trocks to playwright, actor and director Charles Ludlam’s work. In fact, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was an offshoot of a dance troupe formed by three members of his Ridiculous Theatrical Company. Ludlam’s work came to typify off-Broadway theater in its edginess, mixing of high and low culture, homage to cultural icons and over-the-top camp. Ludlam, who died of AIDS in 1987, regularly acted in drag – but without any effort to conceal his deep voice, and often wearing low-cut dresses that exposed his hairy chest.

Similarly, the Trocks are “not drag in the sense that you’re trying to convince the people that are watching that you’re a woman or trying to emulate a woman, which is what a lot of club drag does,” said Dobrin. You won’t find any falsies on these boys, but you will see plenty of hairy chests and armpits. The Trocks are clearly guys in drag, even if they do have nice legs.

But while the performers can be considered comedians, they are also accomplished dancers. “This is a dance company,” said Dobrin. “It’s not a bunch of guys galumphing around on stage.” Known as much for their precise dance technique as for their comedic send-ups, the Trocks have garnered rave reviews in many of the more than 400 cities worldwide in which the group has performed.

The Jan. 14 show marks the Trocks’ return to the California Center for the Arts, Escondido stage. The group last performed at the center in 2003.

The event also signals the start of a new program at the center called “OUTstaged,” providing opportunities for gay and lesbian arts enthusiasts to take in a show and mingle over food and drinks. Following the performance, patrons can meet the Trocks at a dessert reception and participate in an auction to benefit Fraternity House, Inc.

Fraternity House, located in North County, is one of only two licensed residential care facilities for people living with HIV/AIDS in San Diego. Residents are provided healthy meals, help with medication, emotional support and activities.

The Trocks have long supported the fight against HIV and AIDS, appearing in benefits for AIDS organizations such as DRA (Dancers Responding to AIDS), Classical Action in New York City, Dancers for Life in Toronto, Canada, and others.

For the performance in Escondido, the Trocks will perform a repertoire of three works: “Swan Lake (Act 2),” one of the group’s signature pieces; “Ecole de Ballet,” the group’s two-scene homage to ballet academies; and “Go for Barocco,” a satire on venerable Russian-American choreographer George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco.

While parody is typically funniest to those familiar with the original, Dobrin insists the performances appeal to both ballet enthusiasts and detractors.

“We get a really big, great crowd. We get children. We get people who love dance and people who hate dance,” he said. “There’s really something for everybody.”

As proof of the Trocks’ broad appeal, Dobrin cited the group’s recognition last year as Time Out New York magazine’s pick of the week in three categories: in the gay and lesbian category, the dance category and the children’s category.

“I can’t imagine too many organizations which could get the pick of the week for all three of those categories. Gay, children and dance? That’s pretty good, no?”

The Trocks may be lovingly embraced by audiences, but how does the traditional ballet world view them?

One way or another, Dobrin isn’t particularly concerned.

“It’s sort of like gay marriage. You have people who have very narrow minds and people who are very expansive in their approach,” he explained. “And it’s the same thing with ballet. Sometimes you get these hardcore classical people who are very narrow minded and don’t like it. But that’s rare. It’s always the narrow-minded people who find fault with anything different. So I really don’t worry about them.”

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo performs Friday, Jan. 14 at 8:00 p.m. Ticket prices are $40-$50 for performance only, and $70-$80 for performance and OUTstaged reception. The California Center for the Arts, Escondido is located at 340 N. Escondido Blvd. For more information call (800) 988-4253 or visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the California Center for the Arts website.