The scandalous and provocative dance ‘of prostitutes’, can-can was to traditional dancing culture of the 19th century what rock’n’roll was to music at its origins. The physically demanding dance was not accepted that easily by the conservative society and was often banned in public. People protested against seeing women’s underwear being revealed so obviously during the performance of the famous high kicks (What would they say to modern ‘twerk’, huh?).
In fact, the origin of the now popular French dance is not so naughty. It is believed that cancan could have derived from quadrille dance (final part) or the acrobatic tricks of the entertainer known as Charles Mazurier (1820s). Moreover, at the very beginning both sexes performed the dance and there were solely male cancan groups too. The famous cabaret of Paris – Moulin Rouge – brought to light the first female cancan star-dancers (La Goulue & Jane Avril) and the notion “French cancan” turned into a national peculiarity attracting tourists from abroad.
The catchy tune that most of us would associate with the popular dance was composed by the French cellist and composer born in Germany – Jacques Offenbach. His “Can-Can” is actually titled “Infernal Galop” and is a part of the classical operetta “Orpheus in the Underworld” first performed in 1858. Just like the dance, this music work shocked the public at the premiere with too much satire in it. The entire work became a parody for the opera Orpheus and Eurydice by Christoph Gluck.
Offenbach’s ‘can-can’ was also arranged by the famous French composer Camille Saint-Saëns and appears in his renowned The Carnival of the Animals, where the piece is used for the tortoise part.
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| Cancan dancers |
The catchy tune that most of us would associate with the popular dance was composed by the French cellist and composer born in Germany – Jacques Offenbach. His “Can-Can” is actually titled “Infernal Galop” and is a part of the classical operetta “Orpheus in the Underworld” first performed in 1858. Just like the dance, this music work shocked the public at the premiere with too much satire in it. The entire work became a parody for the opera Orpheus and Eurydice by Christoph Gluck.
Offenbach’s ‘can-can’ was also arranged by the famous French composer Camille Saint-Saëns and appears in his renowned The Carnival of the Animals, where the piece is used for the tortoise part.
