Expanding the Cancan Stereotype Gianna Mercandetti
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Florida State University Libraries Honors Theses The Division of Undergraduate Studies 2013 The Essence of an Era: Expanding the Cancan Stereotype Gianna Mercandetti Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS, THEATRE, AND DANCE THE ESSENCE OF AN ERA: EXPANDING THE CANCAN STEREOTYPE By GIANNA MERCANDETTI A Thesis submitted to the Department of Dance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with Honors in the Major Degree Awarded: Fall, 2013 1 The members of the Defense Committee approve the thesis of Gianna Mercandetti defended on April 26, 2013. Dr. Jen Atkins Thesis Director Dr. Kathryn Cashin Outside Committee Member Joyce Fausone Committee Member 2 Strolling down a narrow boulevard in nineteenth century northern Paris, one would not be surprised to pass by a gathering of poets, to hear the notes of a musician's romantic score or the shrieks of a cancaneuse1 from a nearby cabaret, to catch a glimpse of a vibrant lithograph in the making or to be engaged in deep conversation with an intoxicated neighbor. During the fin-de- siècle2, this scene particularly flourished in the French quarter of Montmartre, a collective of artistic abodes occupied by people more or less unpinned by social constraints. It was a time of the café-concert3 and dance hall, and of the Moulin Rouge, when the infamous cancan girls laid claim to the dance floor. It was also a time when Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec and many like- minded artists flourished, not adhering to a particular artistic movement as did the Impressionists or Cubists, but instead expressing personal voices through works, glued together by the adhesive that was their inspiration: their environment.4 These artists lived in Parisian Bohemia symbiotically, feeding off of their surroundings and community for subject matter and producing timeless depictions in return. Montmartre has had a continuous existence as a distinct entity from the remainder of the city. "In 1784 the construction of the Mur des Fermiers Généraux, a tax barrier around the city that made goods sold on the outside cheaper, had given Montmartre a separate identity [it quickly became the choice drinking location for locals as it had the cheapest wine]. But its physical enclosure by the ring of fortifications built around Paris in the 1840s and its inclusion within the capital's administrative structure in 1860 had gradually absorbed it into the 1 Gordon, Dances With Darwin, 55. 2 McGuinness, Symbolism, Decadence and the Fin de Siècle, 7. 3 Gordon, Dances With Darwin, 33. 4 Cate, Chapin, Coman, and Thomson. Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre, vii. 3 metropolis."5 Despite this, the area retained its character and to a certain degree rural identity, decorated with aged architecture, windmills overlooking sloping passages, and the occasional vineyard. Montmartre was a sector characteristically separated from the remainder of the city by the boulevard de Rochechouart/Clichy,6 and known for its inviting atmosphere to souls from all walks of life: the painters, the writers, the workers, the déclassés and dandies, and all the rest. It most famously boasts an outrageous nightlife, where any trouble could be flushed away with drink, and the pleasures of life enjoyed at any dance hall or café-concert on the boulevard. The Moulin Rouge, possibly the most famous dance hall of Montmartre, flourished here. The establishment was -- and still is -- found on the Boulevard de Clichy, easily spotted by its large red windmill. It was one of the main dance halls to bring the wildly popular cancan to the forefront of 19th century Parisian entertainment. The cancan was a rambunctious, lively dance performed in duple meter. Originally danced by couples, it came to focus fully on the female performer as it transitioned from its inception in the 1830s into its fin-de-siècle heyday.7 The dancers performed a series of high kicks, leg circles, splits, and improvisation unique to their individual style. It was, essentially, a dance of idiosyncratic flair. Among the most notable aspects were the cancan costumes, a veritable list of clothes most scandalous for women to wear in the nineteenth century: black stockings, garters, short boots with heels, and various undergarments that were revealed by lifting up multi-layered skirts. This skirt manipulation was accompanied by a view of a naked thigh or other body part, and for women who lived in clothing 5 Cate, Chapin, Coman, and Thomson. Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre, 65. 6 Cate, Chapin, Coman, and Thomson. Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre, 66. 7 Price, CanCan!, 33. 4 that shielded their flesh from outside eyes a tantalizing view of the leg was erotic and revolutionary for its time.8 The cancan's legacy persists through the twenty-first century, and has been brought into modern context with set choreography and changes in costume. From this, a generally accepted cancan stereotype has emerged. Today, particularly at the current Moulin Rouge, the dance is depicted as a highly sexualized spectacle, emphasized by the appearance of the model-like, scantily (but ornately clad) dancers who tantalize audiences by kicking up their voluminous skirts. In popular culture, the sexuality of the cancan has been exploited to a great extent. Halloween costumes, even those for very young children, feature suggestive bodices, frilly skirts, chokers, and feathers, all in bold colors. A general response to the mention of the very word cancan also brings about a chorus of a few notes of Offenbach's galop infernal,9 one of the musical compositions that became associated with the dance years after its creation. At the Moulin Rouge, the dance and its performers have more of a Las Vegas spectacle feel. The cancan is performed at the end of the night as homage to the tradition, but this newer, more choreographed version is in an entirely different context than that of its predecessor.10 At the turn of the century, the cancan was indeed being performed in the dance halls of Montmartre, and considered a rambunctious, somewhat licentious and entertaining affair, but the cultural context of the time colored it much differently than the twenty-first century. The cancan, while boasting its nature as an entertaining spectacle, is representative of deeper, more complex concepts embedded in nineteenth century Paris than the current stereotype 8 Price, CanCan!, 60. 9 Price, CanCan!, 108. 10 Mercandetti, Gianna. Performance at the Moulin Rouge and Backstage Tour. Summer, 2012. 5 highlights. One core cultural idea concerns the struggle of women to find modes of self- expression in a patriarchal society, where dance became an outlet for female frustration and an option while other avenues of life remained closed off. The second concept is that of the unconventional mentality of the bohemians, whose defiance of social norms gave birth to the very spirit of the dance. By extracting the essence of the bohemian era and the role of women, exploring the origins of the cancan and its development, and analyzing the immortalizing works of cancan artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the relevance of his viewpoints, the cancan surfaces as a symbol of nineteenth century bohemian culture. The dance captures an era and its ideals in motion, and is an invaluable vessel for preserving cultural knowledge. The setting of this era is Paris of 1830; Charles X has recently been deposed and Louis- Philippe installed as king. From the depths of society, Bohemia came into existence, and on February 25 of 1830, the apogee of its buildup manifested itself in the opening performance of Victor Hugo's Hernani. The drama tested the heretofore-concrete principles of its time, and encapsulated the vigor of the bohemian youth. Known as the bataille d'Hernani, the event marks the beginning of the Bohemian revolution, a countercultural movement in nineteenth century Paris.11 With roots tracing back to the Romani gypsies who emigrated from the Kingdom of Bohemia (Czech Republic) as the original Bohemians,12 the term now refers to a classification for any individual who sought to live the unconventional life. Artists, musicians, writers, and thinkers who rejected the societal and artistic conventions of the time collectively formed this group of people. The idea of a Bohemian revolution draws its roots to Paris because, unlike other 11 Richardson, The Bohemians, 27. 12 Extra and Gorter. The Other Languages of Europe: Demographic, Sociolinguistic, and Educational Perspectives. 6 areas with certain individuals that expressed the bohemian mentality (for instance Britain), Paris housed an entire class of people possessing solidarity. "It is to France, then, that we must turn for studies of this strange kingdom of poetry and lawless art, of loves and duns, of banquets and starvation, informed with a magic that holds youth too often spell-bound with a spell only broken by shameful death."13 The values ingrained in this mentality consisted of individualism, romanticism, and a rejection of social norms and bourgeois expectations. Bourgeois in this context often refers to being aristocratic, but is not solely defined by this characteristic. Bourgeoisie, as their bohemian counterparts saw them, were essentially philistine and uneducated in the arts. They represented the law and all that was not morally reprehensible. Bohemians, on the other hand, not only lived for the art they created and experienced, but also lived in the moment and for the moment, without inhibition, and with complete contempt for rules and expectations. They did as they pleased, and exploited the enticements and enjoyments of life; imbued with wildness and gaiety, rejecting all laws and showing complete disregard for public opinion.14 Bohemians often lived in dire poverty, and not without debilitating hardships; they masked the harsh reality of their world by mixing it with imaginative dreams, and pursuing a misunderstood, tumultuous life.