Red Light District: The Culture of French Passion and Night

Author: Li Ping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Though (can-can dance) and the Moulin Rouge are not as prestigious as musicals and Broadway, their popularity is no less remarkable. Originating in France, the can-can dance was originally an entertainment form for working-class women such as laundresses and seamstresses, who would sing and dance together. In the 1830s, the can-can dance began to gain popularity at various balls in the Montmartre district, and by the 1950s, it had spread to cabarets. The can-can dance is characterized by its "skirt-flipping and leg-kicking," embodying a lively and exuberant spirit. The rise of the can-can dance is closely tied to the famous cabaret, the Moulin Rouge. This place not only gave birth to generations of burlesque stars but also nurtured renowned painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, talented stage designer Joseph Grimaldi, and inspired Colette, a legendary figure who rose from a dance star to become an outstanding writer and president of the French Goncourt Academy. From the silent film From Woman to Woman made in the early 20th century to the 2001 Hollywood film Moulin Rouge, the screen presence of the can-can dance and the Moulin Rouge has remained timeless. The can-can dance and the Moulin Rouge represent not only a form of entertainment and visual culture but also a way of life. As the saying goes, "The grand cabaret of the Moulin Rouge is always wonderful, and the life of Paris is always joyful." If anyone were to write a history of the world's entertainment culture, the Moulin Rouge and the can-can dance in Paris would undoubtedly be immortalized. The Moulin Rouge is not only a symbol of Parisian nightlife and cabarets but also a venue for cultural exchange between nations, and it has long been a trendsetter for the global entertainment industry.
——Book author
！！—— Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
The can-can dance is the embodiment of Parisian fantasy. It defies all rules. The soul of a can-can dancer should be as extraordinary as her legs—she must be both joyful and melancholic, indifferent yet passionate. In short, she must dance the can-can—madly, with her legs. ——Famous can-can dancer Rigolboche