21 October: Can Can Day

Today is Can-Can Day. In 1858 the Can-Can was first performed as Jacques Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the Underworld premièred in Paris.

1. No-one really knows the origins of the can-can, but one likely explanation is that it evolved from the quadrille, a social dance for four couples (which is, incedentally, an English dance).
2. It was heavily influenced by a popular entertainer of the 1820s, one Charles Mazurier, who was known for his acrobatics during dances. In the 1830s, it was being performed in dance halls under the name "chahut", which means "uproar".
3. It's thought the name can-can comes from the French verb "cancaner" meaning "to quack", because the dancers were known for wiggling their bottoms like a duck. "Cancan" was also French slang for gossip or scandal.
4. The can-can is nowadays associated with a line of female dancers, but in its early days, it was danced by men, as well. Originally, too, there would be one individual performer, rather than a chorus line.
5. It was the Americans who popularised the form of a group of women performing the can-can, in music halls. In the 1920s, this format was imported back to France.
6. In the 19th century, women wore pantalettes, underwear with an open crotch. There's no evidence that can-can dancers wore anything different; so it's not surprising the can-can was considered scandalous back then.
7. While people could be arrested for performing the can-can, and sermons were preached in church against it, there's no evidence that it was ever actually banned.
8. One of the most famous can-can dancers was Louise Weber, who started out at 16. Her early costumes were "borrowed" from her mother's laundry - rich ladies had sent them there to be washed. She was a muse of the artist Renoir and became the highest paid performer at the Moulin Rouge. She was nicknamed "La Goulue" meaning "the Glutton" because during her performances, she'd snatch up the drinks of members of the audience and down them in one. Another thing she'd do was remove gentlemen's hats by kicking them off.
9. The best known can-can music is by Jacques Offenbach, It was written as the gallop infernal for his opera, Orpheus in the Underworld. The dance also features inPoncielli's La Gioconda and Franz Lehar's operetta, The Merry Widow.
10. The dance has featured in a number of films, including Cancan, a 1955 film in which a cafe owner revives the cancan in his struggling cafe; Can-Can (in English the word is hyphenated, in French it is not) a 1960 film starring Frank Sinatra which included the song I love Paris; and more recently, the 2001 film Moulin Rouge with Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman.

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