cancan
The cancan is a fast French dance in 2/4 time that originated in Paris around 1830 . Jacques Offenbach created the most famous music for dance in his operetta Orpheus in der Unterwelt , which premiered in 1858. At the Moulin Rouge , the can-can is still one of the attractions today.
Origin and history
The origin of the name is controversial. The most common and most plausible explanation is the derivation of "cancan", the childlike transformation of the French word "canard" (duck) - an allusion to the pronounced hip swing of the cancan dancers. According to another version, it is said to be derived from the old French word "caquehan" (tumult).
The cancan was initially a popular , "eccentric and sensational" ballroom dance that was danced primarily in the so-called café concerts . In the middle of the 19th century it turned into a stage dance that was only performed in variety shows , cabarets , music halls and revue theaters . Because one of the dancers at the typical high leg throws and Spagatsprüngen could look under the skirts, the cancan was soon banned by the police, but did his popularity no harm.
La Goulue , Saharet and Nini Patte-en-l'air (1884–1930) were famous as dancers ; the most famous dancer was Valentin le Désossé . La Goulue was the crowd favorite of the Moulin Rouge for five years , until she left the cabaret as an independent predator tamer and Jane Avril became the new star of the cancan.
music
Jacques Offenbach created the most famous music for dance in his operetta Orpheus in der Unterwelt ( Orphée aux Enfers in French ), which premiered on October 21, 1858 at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens . The two-act operetta was very successful and made Offenbach popular across Europe. The most famous piece of music here is the so-called hell cancan (in the original French Galop infernal ) in the second act , which is still often played today .
More music examples
- Hervé composed and also used can-cans in his operettas.
- Camille Saint-Saëns : Children learn the cancan at Saint-Saëns, who, in its Carnival of Animals , lets the turtles perform this dance at a slow pace.
- Dance is also the central theme in the American musical Can-Can by Cole Porter, which premiered in 1953, as well as in its 1960 film adaptation by director Walter Lang .
Other famous dancers
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literature
- Ernest Blum , Louis Huart : Mémoires de Rigolboche 1860 (fictional memoirs of Rigolboche, first dancer from the Theater Délassements-Comiques in Paris. ) Julius Abelsdorff, Berlin 1861; as: (= Edition Corvey , French-language fiction), microfilm copy , Belser Wissenschaftlicher Dienst, Wildberg 1989–1990, ISBN 3-628-59621-1 (Describes the free life of the can-can dancers, the theater business, which civil society regards as scandalous Directors, artistic directors, orchestra conductors, stagehands and the audience)
"It is the real theater of the so-called gypsy world - carefree and uninhibitedness reign here continuously ... You laugh here from morning to evening"
- Pierre Mariel, Jean Trocher: Paris Cancan. Verlag der Europäische Bücherei Hieronimi, Bonn 1959, (for the translation by Waldemar Sonntag and Sabine Weller, with photos by Daniel Frasnay and others).
- Fabienne Tsaï: Ça c'est Cancan! Le journal d'Antoinette Zouzou, chahuteuse et dansomaniaque. Illustrations de Christian Lacroix. Lithographies interprétées par Celia Canning et Antoine Rabaté. Pliages de Bertrand La Pautremat. Solar, Paris, 2004, ISBN 2-263-03706-3 .
- Michel Souvais: Moi, la Goulue de Toulouse Lautrec. Les Mémoires de mon aïeule. Les Editions Publibook, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-7483-4256-7 .
- Jiří Mucha : Kankán se svatozáří. Život a dílo Alfonse Muchy. , Životopis (German: " Cancan with a halo, the life and work of Alfons Mucha "), Obelisk, Praha 1969; German translation by Gustav Just under the title: Alfons Mucha: an artist's life . Volk und Welt, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-353-00015-1 (monograph by his father, the world-famous Art Nouveau painter Alfons Mucha, about his successful life and work in Paris and his friendship with Sarah Bernhardt and Camille Flammarion, as well as the Parisian culture - and artist life. With numerous photo documentation).
- Novels
- Jose Shercliff: Jane Avril of the Moulin Rouge. Zsolnay, Vienna 1953, (With photo of the dancer and photos after lithographs and posters by Toulouse-Lautrec).
- Françoise Dorin: Nini patte-en-l'air. Robert Laffont, Paris 1990, ISBN 2-221-05965-4 .
- Evane Hanska: La Romance de la Goulue. Editions Balland, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-7158-0739-2 .
- Photo tape
- Hans Frank: Behind the scenes. Le merveilleux French Cancan. Paris 1944. Edition Camera Austria, Graz 1988, ISBN 3-900508-05-4 (recordings by a war correspondent from the occupation).
Web links
- Personalities of the Cancan (French)
- Paul : “Mémoires. Trente ans de Café-Concert "online (French)