Anthony Bassae

Negro Dance Theater
New York Negro Ballet
Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
Les Ballets Trockadero de la Karpova (1976-1983)

Anthony Bassae (at that time Basse) was one of the founding members of New York Negro Ballet, performing with the company in the United States and Great Britain.

After performing with The Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company, Anthony Bassae co-founded Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. As a dancer with the Les Ballets Trockadero, he used the stage name Tamara Karpova. In 1976, Bassae left Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo to form his own company, Les Ballets Trockadero De La Karpova (1976-1983).

Former dance critic for the New Yorker called Bassae, “a great ballerina.” Tory Dorbin, artistic director of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, said of Bassae, “There was Antony Bassae who was ‘the black rhinestone of the Russian ballet,’ who was a big burly black guy who said, no joking, do it totally seriously and the jokes will come from the seriousness.”

Bassae passed away in 1985.

Sources:

Drag Ballet: Can Men Make It In a Women’s World?, The New York Times 
10 Questions for Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo’s leader Tory Dobrin, The Arts Desk
Black Swans Shattering the Glass Ceiling: A Historical Perspective the Evolution of Historically Black Ballet Companies—From Katherine Dunham to Arthur Mitchell, La’Toya Princess Jackson
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, glbtq Encyclopedia