The history of the cancan is surprisingly confusing and unusual, as is its evolution. Over the years of its existence, its original appearance- from the couple ballroom dances in 1830 to the current choreographic spectacular production, which acquired its final form in the 1920s.
The cancan today is seen primarily as a music hall dance performed by a group of dancers lined up. The classic cancan robe today is long skirts, petticoats and black stockings, which brings the viewer back to the fashion of the 1890s. The main features of the dance are: lifting and rotational movements of skirts, throwing legs high up, jumping. The dance was also known as chahut. Both cancan and chahut are French words: cancan means "gossip" or "scandal", i.e. - " scandalous dance', chahut means 'noise'.
Cancan dancers or "windy ladies" as they were called, appeared over time in Paris, France. At the end of the 19th century, Paris was the dancing center of the world. The current cancan is a descendant of the quadrille and gallop, popular dance, which was danced literally everywhere - from squares to dance halls Paris in the early 19th century. When it first appeared in 1830, the can-can was indeed an exaggerated form of gallop, with high-up legs and other exaggerated gestures.
It was originally performed by men and then by women. The dance began to be universally condemned, it was seen as "shocking respectable people" because it implied a lack of self-control and much more physical contact between participants than was considered acceptable. Women, in particular, according to the moral principles of that time, were not supposed to look out of breath, but was it possible in such an energetic dance? The cancan was one of the causes that undermined Victorian values and was part of a growing movement for change.
The dance shocked many with its bold challenge to the social, moral and political conventions of the time when morality had become cornerstone society. Patron of the Moulin Rouge famous artist Toulouse-Lautrec, described it poetically with the exclamation: “La vie est belle, voila le quadrille!”, which means “Life is beautiful, here comes the can-can!”.
By 1890, individual cancan dancers had become very famous and highly paid for their performances at the Moulin Rouge cabaret and elsewhere. In Britain, the United States and Canada, the can-can gained popularity in concert halls, where it was performed as a dance of a group of women in a choreographic production. This style also migrated to the homeland of the cancan - to France in the 1920s, which made tourists incredibly happy. Thus was born the French can-can in its present form, a complex choreographic production lasting ten minutes or more. The original square dance, which is one of the founders of the cancan, is very demanding on its performers: they must have an excellent sense of balance, rhythm and endurance.
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When it comes to cancan, the imagination immediately draws spectacular girls raising their legs high. Today, this dance is strongly associated with the famous cabaret "Moulin Rouge", but its origins originate from the usual square dance. 
One version of the name of the dance is associated with ducks. The French believe that their ducks quack can-can. As you know, one of the characteristic steps is the movement of dancers waddling one after another. 
Cancan. Natalia Papirna, 2011. In general, the word "cancan" is translated from French as "noise, din." Some claim that the classic cancan was performed at the Moulin Rouge in 1890, but this is not entirely true. The first similarity of the cancan originated in the working-class districts of Paris back in the 1820s. He transformed from a quadrille and a gallop. Swinging legs was added to the dance by the dancer and acrobat Charles Mazurier. When stockings with garters came into fashion, they became an invariable attribute of cancan performers. The dance began to be considered completely obscene. 
Cancan dancer. 
The cancan melody belongs to the composer Offenbach. It was first performed in the operetta Orpheus in Hell in 1858. 
In the famous Moulin Rouge, the cancan was performed for the first time at the opening of the cabaret by the dancer Celeste Mogado. At first, not only women took part in the dance, but also men, who also raised their legs high. 
Moulin Rouge cabaret poster. A. Toulouse-Lautrec. The modern can-can has an 8-minute performance. The dance involves swinging legs, jumping, splits and other movements that are only accelerating every minute. Everyone who finds himself in the Moulin Rouge is simply obliged to see the famous incendiary dance with his own eyes.
Cancan is french dance Algerian origin. Character traits dance throwing legs, jumping and fast pace. It especially gained its distribution in the 19th century, when it was used in operetta and variety shows.
The origin of the dance is still a big question. By official version this provocative dance owes a country dance from England, which has been known in the territory of foggy Albion since the 16th century.
In France, it is believed that the spread of the cancan is associated with the name famous clown and dancer leading entertainment shows Shikara. Sometimes even the invention of this cheerful dance is attributed to this person. Others say that all these splits, skirts and swings were invented by the dancer Celeste Mogado in 1850.
But regardless of who exactly invented the cancan, from the very beginning of its existence it was a kind of square dance. And then a decent society turned away from this indecent dance, and it gradually migrated to cafes, cabarets, operettas and restaurants.
One mistake of contemporaries is also connected with the cancan. Many people think it's pure female dance. However, this is not the case. Initially, male dancers also took part in it. They did the same leg swings and jumps, but other than that, it was their job to slap the ladies on the buttocks while doing the tilt element with a skirt on their heads. It is impossible to see such dancers on the stage today - they have long been gone. But in the painting by Georges Seurat "Can-can" anyone can do it.
The official birth date of the dance is October 21, 1858. It happened at the premiere of Jacques Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in Hell. It was this composer who wrote the most famous music for this dance. But the most famous performers Dancers are, of course, the dancers of the Moulin Rouge cafe, famous throughout France, which was opened in 1889.
Beginning in 1890, Paris was literally all over the frenzy of the can-can. The names of the ladies who danced so famously on the stage were known better than the names of politicians. But in fact, girls first began to dance cancan much earlier - in 1830. And it happened like this. Several young Parisians decided to please themselves with the celebration of the arrival of autumn, and at the same time with champagne and, of course, dancing. This happened in the cafe "Mill". And models and milliners immediately joined this fun. In the midst of the fun, the girls began to undress. The fans immediately put the beauties on the table, and they, not at a loss, immediately lifted their skirts and made a couple of three strokes with their legs, lifting their skirts. A little later, the whole company in the police claimed that it was just a light improvisation, that is, an ordinary French quadrille.
Gradually, the Moulin Rouge dancers added more and more new elements to the dance, and a huge number of people came to watch this performance, and most of among them were men. But in England, the cancan did not take root. It still remains a true French dance - sparkling, fast and attractive, and the performers themselves do not just dance, they literally soar above the stage.
The advent of the can-can
Cancan dance appears as a result of the development of the English country dance in the 30s of the 19th century. Originally performed in small French taverns by local poor girls. Historians believe that the first basic movements of the cancan come up with Shikar, who is the host of entertainment shows.
The first stages in the development of dance
History of the cancan begins with a ban on the execution of this dance program, due to the presence of an element of depraved undressing, which the church condemns. But some courtesans continue to dance in this manner, trying to attract rich men in this way. At first time cancan dance performed by poor girls among the Parisian workers, only the lower strata of the population were engaged in this, but the amazing atmosphere of the dance program does not suffer from this.
With time dance number ceases to be forbidden, men begin to perform it in pairs with women, the elements become more decent. Georges Seur depicted the participation of the men in the act in his Impressionist painting. But gradually cancan dance included only in the repertoire of French women. Close attention visitors becomes the most valuable reward for the performers of such numbers.
Cancan and Moulin Rouge
In 1889, the famous cabaret Moulin Rouge was founded by Joseph Ollet. in in program professional dance groups Paris is included cancan dance. The dancers of the club are gradually coming up with new steps, so soon it is here that an integral image of an obscene, but world-famous number is formed. Moulin Rouge is the place that influences many events in dance history, here and now it is performed and attracts many viewers from all over the world. One of the most eccentric dancers in Paris at that time was La Goulue, her pseudonym literally translates from French as "glutton", the real name of Alsace is Louise Werber. Her first performance took place at the age of 19, almost immediately she becomes a bright star can-can dance.
IN program dance group The Moulin Rouge Cancan includes an eight-minute feast of colors that will amaze the audience. One of the most famous compositions for performance can-can dance becomes the music written by Offenbach for the finale of Orpheus in Hell. In the Moulin Rouge, the most common elements of the dance program are leg swings, skirt swings, jumps, splits. Gradually cancan dance becomes more and more expressive, the female performers bare their slender legs in attractive lingerie. The entire dance number was accompanied by colorful decorations.
In 1905, with the outbreak of the First World War, news came of the closure of the Moulin Rouge. From 1915 to 1921 the cabaret was closed. The rest of the time, the world-famous French club runs smoothly, hosting a huge number of spectators at its performances. Over time, at the Moulin Rouge cabaret, visitors are celebrities of music and cinema, top statesmen many countries. Cancan dance attracts a huge audience even now, in the 21st century, without changing the traditions laid down at the end of the 19th century.
Story
For a long time it was considered obscene. He appeared in Paris in the 1820s and 30s at public balls in the working-class districts, as a descendant of the quadrille ( incendiary movements the last figure of this dance) and gallop (2 beats and a fast pace). Spectacular splits and energetic leg swings came from the repertoire of the famous Parisian acrobat and dancer Charles Mazurieu.
time signature 2/4. The pace is energetic, moving. Characteristic pas: throwing out arms, legs, heads, jumping upside down. Gradually, the pace and movement of the can-can became more complex. Skirt tricks entered the dance towards the end of the 19th century, when the required stockings and underwear came into fashion.
The famous cancanists, whose image was preserved thanks to the Impressionist frequenter Toulouse-Lautrec, were La Goulue and Jeanne Avril, who shone in the Moulin Rouge. Men danced together with women, then this tradition was lost.
Initially, in France, single dancers danced the cancan, but in England and the USA it was danced by an ensemble lined up - a corps de ballet. In the 1920s in Paris, the French choreographer Pierre Sandrini combined the Parisian solo cancan with the British ensemble in the Moulin Rouge, added female squeals and laughter, creating the reference "French cancan", and separately presented it in this form on the stage of his nightclub Bal Tabarin in 1928.
Music
The most famous melody is the cancan (galop infernal) by the composer Offenbach from the operetta Orpheus in Hell (1858). (A parody of it is the 4 times slowed down "Turtles" from the "Carnival of the Animals" by Saint-Saens). Also used is The Merry Widow (1905) by Franz Lehár.
Included in the repertoire of cabaret and operetta. On big stage the dance came in 1858 with Offenbach's production of Orpheus in Hell. In 1919, Leonid Myasin included dance in the ballet to the music of Rossini's "Magic Shop", and 20 years later - and "Parisian Fun" to the music of Offenbach.
To the cinema
- Cancan (film) (1960)
Links
Notes
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .
Synonyms:See what "Cancan" is in other dictionaries:
cancaner- kankaner, and ... Russian spelling dictionary
cancaner- kankaner ... Dictionary of the use of the letter Yo
- (French cancan). Dance, like a quadrille, accompanied by obscene body movements. Dictionary foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. Cancan is a seductive French dance that excites sensuality. The complete dictionary... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
cancan- a, m. cancan m. Fr. , originally a ballroom, and by the middle of the 19th century. a cafeteria frivolous dance with a characteristic throwing up of the legs. SIS 1985. Fr. pop dance with immodest body movements. ALS 1. Connoisseurs remember that in such and such a year, dandies and dandies ...
cancaner- a, m. cancaneur m. Man dancing the cancan. BAS 1. I looked like, sat, looking like Russian aristocrats, dressed in different pierrots, wholeheartedly strove to present themselves as .. desperate cancaners. Hertz. Past. // 8 5 256. He poured himself a glass… … Historical dictionary gallicisms of the Russian language
Modern Encyclopedia
- (French cancan from canard duck), French ballroom dance, later included in the operetta. Characteristic pas high tossing of the leg. Time signature 2/4 … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
CANCAN, cancan, male. (French cancan). French pop dance with immodest gestures. Dictionary Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov
CANCAN, a, husband. pop dance fast tempo with high leg kick. | adj. cancan, oh, oh. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov
Exist., Number of synonyms: 1 dance (264) ASIS Synonym Dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary
Cancan- (French cancan, from canard duck), French dance of Algerian origin, 2 beats, fast pace. Characteristic pas throwing legs, jumping. It has been widespread since the middle of the 19th century, it was widely used in classical operetta, variety show ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
