Peter Anastos
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Peter Anastos

Choreographer

b. 1948

 “It's very rewarding for me to know I founded this company 50 years ago … it's a testament to … people's unquenchable desire for laughter and happiness.”

Peter G. Anastos is an accomplished choreographer famous for blending classical ballet and comedy as a cofounder of the parodic dance company Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.

Raised in a Greek family in Newtonville, New York, Anastos discovered his passion for dance in junior high during a class trip to see “Oliver!” in New York City. Instead of attending the play with his peers, Anastos slipped off to a Saturday matinee at the Royal Ballet. Although the adventure infuriated his teachers, it altered the course of his life.

Anastos studied classical dance in New York and Leningrad and began choreographing for various companies. In 1974, he cofounded Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, an all-male dance company created to parody classical ballet and, later, modern dance. The troupe quickly gained a following, including sophisticated New York ballet enthusiasts, for its clever send-ups of traditional American and Russian works, along with pieces from 20th-century masters like George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.

Anastos served as artistic director, principal choreographer, and prima ballerina of the Trockadero from 1975 to 1978, performing under the stage name Olga Tchikaboomskaya. He choreographed the troupe’s debut ballet, “Go for Barocco,” a spoof of George Balanchine’s “Concerto Barocco,” performed in a loft. Within a year, the company had made its Broadway debut. Since then, the Trockadero has toured throughout Europe, Asia, South America, and Russia and continues to perform 50 years later—a testament to Anastos’s vision.

Anastos left the Trockadero in 1978 to test his range as a choreographer. He became a sought-after artist, choreographing for some of the most respected companies in the United States, including the Eglevsky Ballet, the Dallas Ballet, and the Pennsylvania Ballet, as well as for companies around the world. “Cinderella “(American Ballet Theatre, 1983), “The Lost World” (Miami City Ballet, 1992), and “Peter Pan” (Ballet West and Cincinnati Ballet, 1994) are among his best-known pieces.

Anastos served as resident choreographer for the Garden State Ballet from 1979 to 1981 and for the Santa Fe Opera in 1983. He received the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for choreography in 1981 and again in 1991.

Anastos served as the artistic director of the Cincinnati Ballet for two years before returning to freelance work. In 2001, the Trockadero coaxed him back to choreograph “La Trovatiara Pas de Cinq,” a ballet set to Verdi.

In 2007, Ballet Idaho hired him as its artistic director. He remained with the company until he retired 2018. Anastos lives in Boise.