Le Crazy Horse Saloon or Le Crazy Horse de Paris is a Parisian cabaret and strip club known for its stage shows performed by nude female dancers and for the diverse range of magic and variety 'turns' between each nude show and the next. Its owners have helped to create related cabaret and burlesque shows in other cities. [1] Unrelated businesses have used the phrase "Crazy Horse" in their names.
The Paris Crazy Horse occupies former wine cellars (12 in all, which have been combined) of an impressive Haussmanian building at 12 Avenue George-V (from the British king George V, in French "George Cinq").
Alain Bernardin opened it in 1951 and personally operated it for decades until his death by suicide in 1994. [1] Many of the original waiters (their names stitched in large letters onto the backs of their waistcoats) were also substantial shareholders in the original company. The enterprise remained a family business, in the hands of Bernardin's three children, until 2005, when it changed hands. By this time the name "Le Crazy Horse de Paris" was used for the original venue and Crazy Horse Paris for one in Las Vegas (formerly La Femme) at the MGM Grand.
Along with its dancers, the Crazy Horse has also been a popular venue for many other artists, including magicians, jugglers, and mimes. Bernardin explained that he loved magic because it corresponded with his vision: "[Magic] is a dream. There is no show that is more dreamlike than a magic show. And what we do with the girls is magic, too, because they aren't as beautiful as you see them onstage. It's the magic of lights and costumes. These are my dreams and fascinations that I put onstage." [2]
Under new shareholders and new management from 2005, Crazy Horse started featuring famous or prestigious artists stripping for a limited number of shows, including Dita Von Teese, Carmen Electra, Aria Cascaval, Arielle Dombasle or Pamela Anderson. [3] [4] They also hired Philippe Decouflé as choreographer. [5] Kelly Brook appeared in the autumn of 2012. [6] Also in 2012, the dancers went on strike for higher pay. Before the strike, which caused the cancellation of a high-profile revue for one day but generated a fantastic buzz for the cabaret, some sources mentioned a salary of €2,000 per month. Other sources said that settlement of the strike yielded a 15 percent pay raise. [7] These numbers were denied by the management of the cabaret.
Other entertainments with varying degrees of resemblance and similar names, but unaffiliated with the original, include:
The following outline provides an overview of and topical guide to entertainment and the entertainment industry:
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "exotic" or "burlesque" dancer.
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, does not typically dance but usually sits at tables. Performances are usually introduced by a master of ceremonies (M.C.). The entertainment, as performed by an ensemble of actors and according to its European origins, is often oriented towards adult audiences and of a clearly underground nature. In the United States, striptease, burlesque, drag shows, or a solo vocalist with a pianist, as well as the venues which offer this entertainment, are often advertised as cabarets.
Heather Renée Sweet, known professionally as Dita Von Teese, is an American vedette, burlesque dancer, model, actress, and businesswoman. She is credited with re-popularizing burlesque performance, earning the moniker "Queen of Burlesque".
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. The word derives from the Italian burlesco, which, in turn, is derived from the Italian burla – a joke, ridicule or mockery.
The Folies Bergère is a cabaret music hall in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trévise, with light entertainment including operettas, comic opera, popular songs, and gymnastics. It became the Folies Bergère on 13 September 1872, named after nearby Rue Bergère. The house was at the height of its fame and popularity from the 1890s' Belle Époque through the 1920s.
Le Lido is a musical theatre venue located on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France. It opened in 1946 at 78 Avenue des Champs-Élysées and moved to its current location in 1977. Until its purchase by Accor in 2021, it was known for its exotic cabaret and burlesque shows including dancers, singers, and other performers. Famous names have performed there including: Edith Piaf, Siegfried and Roy, Hervé Vilard, Sylvie Vartan, Ray Vasquez, Renee Victor, Johnny Hallyday, Maurice Chevalier, Marlene Dietrich, Eartha Kitt, Josephine Baker, Kessler Twins, Elton John, Laurel & Hardy, Dalida, Shirley MacLaine, Mitzi Gaynor, Juliet Prowse, and Noël Coward.
A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other erotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, and can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style. American-style strip clubs began to appear outside North America after World War II, arriving in Asia in the late 1980s and Europe in 1978, where they competed against the local English and French styles of striptease and erotic performances.
A showgirl is a female performer in a theatrical revue who wears an exotic and revealing costume and in some shows may appear topless. Showgirls are usually dancers, sometimes performing as chorus girls, burlesque dancers or fan dancers, and many are classically trained with skills in ballet. The term showgirl is also sometimes used by strippers and some strip clubs use it as part of their business name.
Pasties are patches that cover a person's nipples and areolae, typically self-adhesive or affixed with adhesive. They are usually worn in pairs. They originated as part of burlesque shows, allowing dancers to perform fully topless without exposing the nipples in order to provide a commercial form of bare-breasted entertainment. Pasties are also, at times, used while sunbathing, worn by strippers and showgirls, or as a form of protest during women's rights events such as Go Topless Day. In some cases this is to avoid potential prosecution under indecency laws.
Jubilee! was a Las Vegas Strip-based spectacular revue. It opened on July 31, 1981 at an initial cost of 10 million dollars and was originally produced by Donn Arden. Donn Arden set the standard for all the spectacular Las Vegas shows that celebrated female beauty, in combination with a demand for only the best; in costumes, set, and talent. When it closed in 2016, this resident show at Bally's Las Vegas was the longest-running production show in Las Vegas. The Jubilee! showgirls were an icon of old Vegas. The show used costumes designed by Bob Mackie and Pete Menefee. UNLV Special Collections houses many of the original costume design drawings which can be accessed online through the Showgirls collection from UNLV Digital Collections. Many of the show's sets dated back to the original production and include the sinking of the Titanic and the bull used in Samson and Delilah. The bull was 27 feet tall and collapses down to 13 feet after it has been destroyed. The bull was the heaviest single piece of scenery in the show weighing 3 tons (2700 kg). It took 9 stagehands to move it from one position to another. Jubilee!'s longest serving principal dancer from the opening night until her departure 23 years later was Linda Green. The final closing cast consisted of 3 female singers, 3 male singers, 18 male dancers, 23 topless dancers, and 19 female dancers. Within the female covered and topless dancers, they were further categorized as "short" and "tall" dancers. A "short" dancer is a female dancer between 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) and 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) and a "tall" female dancer is between 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) and 6 ft 2 in (188 cm). One may have been surprised at how tall the dancers were because of the proportions of the stage, which was three and a half stories high, giving the illusion that the performers are smaller in relationship to the stage.
Ariana Savalas is an American host, burlesque performer, singer, and songwriter. She has performed in burlesque cabarets worldwide, including as the emcee and singer for Dita Von Teese and the Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris.
Gentry de Paris is a Paris-based burlesque dancer, art director, and playwright.
Dirty Martini is an American burlesque dancer, pin-up model and dance teacher.
A vedette is the main female artist of a show derived from cabaret and its subcategories of revue, vaudeville, music hall or burlesque. The purpose of the vedette is to entertain and captivate the public. Vedettes are expected to sing, dance and act on stage. Particularly accomplished artistes are considered super vedettes or first vedettes. Vedettes often appear alongside groups of dancers, flashy and revealing costumes, magicians, comedians, jugglers, or even performing animals. Vedettes specializing in burlesque generally do striptease and may also perform nude on stage.
David Jahn is a neo-burlesque impresario, filmmaker and musician based in Prague, Czech Republic.
Jett Adore is an American burlesque dancer. He has performed as part of Stage Door Johnnies, Chicago's only all-male burlesque troop. Due to his career success, Adore has been referred to as the Prince of Boylesque and is an inductee of the Burlesque Hall of Fame.
Crazy Horse is a 2011 documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman about Crazy Horse, a cabaret in Paris known for its stage shows performed by nude female dancers.
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