Crazy but beautiful

My first experience with Parisian shows that highlight feminine beauty was back in the late 1980s. I was in the late teens and that was pre-Internet era– in other words, my adrenaline was supposed to be highly affected by the Lido.
Instead, I slept through most of the show, thanks to the long bus ride from the Netherlands earlier that day, the Champagne and our seats, which were really far from the stage in that enormous theatre. In the past few years I’ve been back to Paris many times for personal and professional reasons, but I had never thought of returning to watch this so-called tourist attraction. There are other performances in Paris that require no understanding of French.
But then I met choreographer Philippe Decoufle when his company DCA was performing “Octopus” in Singapore, and he reminded me that, since 2009, he’s been working from time to time with the Crazy Horse on a show called “Desirs”.
Surprisingly enough, my woman companion was excited about this too. A native Parisian, she’d never been to the Lido, Moulin Rouge or Crazy Horse.
Walking into the theatre, I could see it was smaller and thus more intimate than the Lido. It also has the feel and the history of classy cabaret all over its interior design, in addition to some surprises in the restrooms.
The opening number remains the way it has been since the beginning, in 1951, with the women in British royal guard uniforms – though not the whole uniform, of course. The stage is not very deep, and yet the choreography makes it look so.
Decoufle's touch soon becomes evident. His choreography also overcomes the spatial limits and his production team’s use of lighting and video effects make the stage wider, deeper and higher, more three-dimensional, and yet they never overshadow the beauty of the dancers and their physical movements.
Visually, my favourite scene is “Upside Down”, in which the use of mirrors is magical. Dramatically, I enjoy “Crisis – What Crisis?” because it reminds me of many women on top of the corporate ladder.
The show reflects the mystique of a Parisian woman. She’s sincere, yet unpredictable, tasteful yet adventurous, subtle yet passionate or even wild, and you should never ask her about WhatsApp or Line – she only cares about the man who’s next to her at any given moment.
Credit also goes to the performers, who don’t look like they’ve done the same dance routines countless times and will have to do them again in another hour. It’s a thoroughly entertaining show with different levels of surprises from one scene to another. The pace and sequence have been designed in such a way that they don’t bombast you with spectacle.
And although the total performance time is little more than an hour, there’s an intermission so you can relax and enjoy your Champagne. It’s the kind of show that many Parisians probably wo uldn’t mind taking you to watch – the same way I keep taking my foreign friends to the Calypso, given the fact that Paris and Bangkok are among the world’s top tourist destinations.
“Desirs” is also the name of the film that documented the process of Decoufle's work for the Crazy Horse, as well as troubles he ran into unexpectedly, and it’s now available on DVD.
  

BOOK YOUR BILLET
- There are shows at the Crazy Horse on Avenue George V every evening, Sunday through Friday at 8.15 and 10.45 and Saturdays at 7, 9.30 and 11.45.
- Ticket prices start at 85 euros (Bt3,400) and come with a half-bottle of Champagne.
- Find out more at www.LeCrazyHorseParis.com.