Thrilling audiences from around the world since 1889,
the Moulin Rouge in Paris is the world’s most celebrated cabaret.
At its nightly shows one can enjoy an elegant two-hour cabaret
production of pure joie de vivre with dance, music and magic,
where the popping of champagne corks is just as ubiquitous as
the exquisite artists onstage.
The show’s latest edition is called "Féerie"(“magic”), and it
features a troupe of 80 artists (including 60 Doriss Girls
recruited worldwide) and 1,000 costumes of feathers, rhinestones
and sequins performed to original music recorded by 80 musicians
and 60 chorus singers. And yes, it features the signature
can-can dance, which the Moulin Rouge brought to the world
in its modern form.
In this backstage interview with seven-year veteran Sara
(all house dancers are mononymous) she talks about her
journey to the hallowed stage, the success and influence
of the show’s namesake 2001 film, and her most awkward
moment onstage.
Tell us about your background and what brought you to
the Moulin Rouge.
I’m from Scotland and I came to the Moulin Rouge when I was 19,
for the first time. It was my first job. I auditioned in Edinburgh
and got the job, and so I came here for the very first time.
But this is the third time I’ve been back—I’ve actually left
and worked at other places and decided I wanted to come here
and settle. So yeah, I love it (laughs).
What is it about the Moulin Rouge that’s most exciting for you?
How big the scale of the show is; it’s known worldwide.
The show’s fantastic to be in, the costumes are incredible,
and there’s a great atmosphere backstage—it’s one of the
best places to work, backstage-wise.
What kind of experience does one need to become a dancer here?
I did training from the age of six years old; I went to a local
dance school. And then when I was 16, I went to dance college
full-time for three years. I studied classical ballet tap,
modern jazz. So you have to basically have a good background
in dance to start with (laughs). And then get the audition
and see what happens.
How long did that process take?
I got the contract on the day of my audition. I was really lucky
that they were looking for someone at the time, so I got the
contract and took it home and read it and signed it.
How many years in total have you been with the Moulin Rouge?
This time I’m thinking it’s nearly seven.
Seven years?
Yep.
That’s incredible.
(Laughs.) Time flies by when you’re in Paris.
What’s the most difficult part of each show?
The most enjoyable?
Definitely the can-can is the most difficult. I no longer
do the can-can, but I used to, and it used to kill me
every night (laughs). It’s incredibly strenuous, and
you’re dancing two shows a night, six nights a week.
And it just takes a toll on your body. So the can-can’s
definitely the most difficult. The most enjoyable for me is,
I actually understudy the principal, so I get to be up
front and enjoy that. It’s amazing (laughs).
Is there a big number you’re a part of?
I’m actually in the line tonight.
How many dancers are there in the show?
There’s probably about 30 female dancers every night
onstage, and there’s about 15 guys.
The audience is pretty well split between men and women.
What parts of the show do they respond to the most?
That’s a hard question. We have so many different types of
audience. We have lots of tourists, we have families,
we have children. Definitely, I think the women appreciate
the costumes, and obviously they appreciate the men in the
show as well (laughs). I don’t know; I think it’s everyone’s
own taste and what they’re looking to enjoy.
The most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you
onstage is…
Falling flat on my face (laughs).
Was it easy to recover from something like that?
Yeah, you have to just grin and bear it and carry on—there’s
nothing else you can do. If you’re onstage on your own and
you fall, then you pick yourself up and carry on.
It happened to Beyoncé, too.
(Laughs.) Well, I’m not comparing myself to Beyoncé.
I had a drama teacher who once said the audience is always
a little slow. Are there moments sometimes in the show where
they don’t notice something’s a bit out of place?
Definitely, yeah. The stage, the production is so big that when
I watch the show, there’s things that I don’t see because there
are so many areas to watch, so many people, so many different
costumes. It’s very rarely that you will notice everything,
so there are definitely times when the audience will be
completely oblivious to what’s going on.
It sounds a lot like a Broadway show.
Yeah, cabaret is a lot more touristy. You’ve got the costumes
that can be a little bit cheesy sometimes, but it’s definitely fun.
Would you like to talk about some of your influences
as a dancer?
To be honest with you, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to
do when I went to college. I went to a teaching college,
actually, so my background in dance before I came to the
Moulin was in teaching children. And then I came here and
I absolutely loved it.
Regarding [another famed Parisian cabaret] the Crazy Horse,
have you seen any of the shows there?
I saw the old show.
What are the main differences between Moulin Rouge
and Crazy Horse?
To be honest with you, it’s a completely different show.
The scale of [Crazy Horse’s] show, all the dancers are
very similar there—you’ll see that they’re all the same
height, body, everything. Whereas here, we’re all different.
I’ve never seen a show like that before.
Well, they have such a small stage. The height of the
ceiling, for instance, is really small, so they can’t have
tall dancer. Whereas here, we have such a big stage that
it’s better if you can have someone with a bit of height
behind them as well.
What kind of improvisations or creative contributions
can the dancers make at Moulin Rouge?
As in choreography?
Choreography, or interpretation, for instance.
Hand gestures, role playing, things like that.
Oh yeah, there’s obviously a lot where you can do your
own little thing where they give you improvisation. It’s a
very choreographed show, but obviously there’s so much going
on you can have fun with the girl next to you, do you know
what I mean? There’s not strict, strict, strict where you can’t.
What kind of influence has the film Moulin Rouge! had on
you and the theater itself regarding its worldwide
popularity and notoriety?
I was actually here when the film came out at the time.
It was very funny in the differences in the audience.
They were expecting to see the movie and then they came
here and they were like, “Oh, but it’s completely different,
” and we said, “Yeah, that was a movie, and it’s a completely
different script. This isn’t a script, this is a show.”
I think some people actually asked me if I worked with
Nicole Kidman myself…
She wasn’t around that night?
(Laughs.) No. But it definitely gave the Moulin a big
boost in different ages. Younger children were learning
about the Moulin Rouge compared to what I knew when I was younger.
Do you have any other messages for your fans and
the fans of the Moulin Rouge around the world?
I hope you enjoy the show when you come!
MOULIN ROUGE
Paris - France
www.moulin-rouge.com
