One of Adelaide's best dancers is doing big things in Paris, performing to thousands at the iconic and super-sexy Moulin Rouge.
Sam Reynolds is embracing Paris - the lifestyle, the nightlife and the language.
"My first glimpse of that famous red windmill, I can only imagine what my face must have looked like. My forehead was glued to the window ... (and I had) a smile from ear to ear," she said from Paris.
Sam never feels like she's far from home.
"A majority of the girls are from Australia or England. So when I'm at work it hardly feels like I'm in a foreign country," she says.
One of her close friends and lodge (dressing room) buddy is the daughter of Lisa Curry-Kenny, Morgan.
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"Morgan and I started together so it was great for us to both have a fellow Aussie girl to go through tough rehearsals, finding homes, costume trials, and settling into Paris and the show."
Two months in, Sam is still getting used to the gruelling six-day working week, which includes two shows a night.
After sleeping in until noon, the girls spend their afternoons experiencing all Paris has to offer. Picnics in the park are a favourite.
"I try to fight the urge to visit a boulangerie or patisserie every day but they are on every corner" she admits.
A stage performance is never without hiccups and Sam has already experienced her first on-stage slip-up.
"We have dancers we call swings who do a different spot on the stage every show. One night during the can-can, myself and one of the swings got too close while running to a position change and we clipped boots. I tripped and fell forward.
"Falling over or costume malfunctions are bound to happen to all of us, in a show that literally never stops. The best we can do is keep on smiling."
MOULIN ROUGE
Production "Feérie"
Paris - France
www.moulinrouge.fr
