Can-can

The can-can is a high-energy dance marked by high kicks, splits, and skirts whipped into motion. It became a signature of Parisian popular entertainment and operetta.

High kick: A dance movement in which the leg is lifted sharply upward, often above waist level. High kicks supply the can-can’s most recognizable movement.
Parisian nightlife: The clubs, cafés, theaters, and other venues that shaped entertainment in Paris. Parisian venues gave the can-can its public stages and audiences.
Celeste Mogador: A French dancer and memoirist associated with Parisian dance halls in the nineteenth century. Her career is linked to the early public history of the can-can.
Orpheus in the Underworld: An 1858 operetta by Jacques Offenbach, satirizing classical mythology and Parisian society. Its infernal galop became closely associated with the can-can.
Cabaret: A form of live entertainment combining music, dance, comedy, and theatrical performance in an intimate venue. The can-can became one of cabaret’s most recognizable dance spectacles.
Split (dance): A dance position in which the legs extend in opposite directions along the floor or in the air. Splits became a dramatic flourish in can-can performances.
Bal Mabille: A Paris dance hall that became a celebrated setting for the can-can in the mid-nineteenth century. Its performances helped establish the dance as a public attraction.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: A French painter and printmaker known for depicting Parisian nightlife in the late nineteenth century. His posters and paintings helped fix can-can performers in popular visual culture.
Infernal Galop: A fast orchestral galop from Offenbach’s operetta Orpheus in the Underworld. The tune is widely used to accompany can-can routines.
Belle Époque: A period of relative peace and cultural flourishing in France, generally dated from 1871 to 1914. The can-can became a familiar image of this era’s Parisian entertainment.

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