Can-Can if you can
Moulin Rouge audition’s
Paris’s Moulin Rouge (translation: Red Mill) is a cabaret, one of the world’s most famous with its trademark lighted windmill, built in 1889 on the Boulevard de Clichy, close to the artsy Montmartre area.
The spicy entertainment and especially the lively can-can dance that evolved on its stage has delighted crowds ever since. Every year, tourists flock there to have dinner among the romantic turn-of-the-century furnishings and enjoy the main feature, a two-hour show from a team of approximately 50 high-spirited dancers in glittery costumes.
Every so often the maitresse de ballet, the captain of the dancers, goes on tour around the world recruiting new candidates for the show. This summer, the current maitresse, Janet Pharaoh, is on tour auditioning dancers in Toronto, Montreal, Las Vegas — and Sechelt.
Yes, the Coast Academy of Dance (CAD) facility in Sechelt has made the cut as an audition centre, thanks to Julie Izad, the dance school’s artistic director.
Izad once danced with the Moulin Rouge herself from 1978 to 1982 at the start of her professional career, and she considers it a great opportunity for dancers to get a foot in the door of Europe’s active dance world.
Izad kept in touch with performers at the Moulin Rouge and invited Pharaoh to use Sechelt for her West Coast auditions. As Izad points out, the school is closer than Las Vegas for prospective dancers from Calgary and Seattle. If dancers are interested enough to audition, they are usually forced to travel a distance anyway, since Canada’s dance scene opportunities are few and far between.
“It’s very hard for dancers in Canada,” said Izad.
Some are dancing at a very high level, she points out, but the career options are not always there.
“There’s lots of work in Europe,” she said, and if offered a job with the Moulin Rouge, dancers will receive working papers for a year in France.
Auditions take place on Aug. 4 at 1 p.m. at CAD. There are certain qualifications. Applicants must be at least five feet nine inches tall, slim and at least 18 years old. Though can-can dancers are usually women, men also perform during the revues.
“You must be an all rounder in your dance,” said Izad. “It’s very physical. The employers will be looking at how flexible you are, at your technique — being a jazz or ballet dancer helps.”
Izad saw the show as recently as three years ago and says, “It’s definitely a glittery showgirl show with lots of feathers and sparkles, but there’s real dancing too.”
Some local dancers might apply if they meet the criteria — Izad would like them to try out just for the experience — though many will come from Vancouver for the opportunity to audition. For contact information, see the Moulin Rouge’s website: www.moulinrouge.fr.
