Behind cabaret’s racy sagas lie veiled political satires and caustic takes on norms. A glittering orchestra, using bawdy punches and raising unsettling questions, the traditional cabaret has travelled around the world to morph into new themes and styles in every place and era that it was brought into.

Known as La belle époque, the pre-war period of 1871 to 1914 is widely held to be the time when the French cultural and artistic prosperity was at its peak and led to creation of numerous masterpieces in literature, music, theatre and visual art.

This golden age of French culture saw the completion of the iconic Paris Opera, the building of Haussmann’s Paris, the construction of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre, the arrival of Paris Métro and several other landmarks that continue to define Paris even today.

It was in this epoch that construction of the Eiffel Tower began, in 1887, just a year before the birth of another Parisian cultural icon that continues to remain one of the key landmarks of the French cultural landscape.

Back in the 1880s, in the artistic Montmartre district, cabaret sprouted as a form of frivolous entertainment over drinks and discussions. It started with amateur acts, portraying the elation of Parisian Belle Époque mainly through song and dance routines, held together by a Master of Ceremonies.

Cabarets were frequently performed inside small, informal clubs, where societal figures got together to try out their creations. In 1881, young Rodolphe Salis created the leisure establishment of Le Chat Noir which hosted the first modern cabaret shows. Essentially, this early cabaret featured a cat that could sing, dance, be a mystic and a teller of broad tales.

Layered with poetry readings, shadow plays, songs and comic skits blending a rather tangy humour directed against the conventions of bourgeois society, the acts stood out. Le Chat Noir or ‘The Black Cat’, where Salis presented each performance himself with an intellectual mix of political satire in his introductions, turned out to be a massive crowd magnet. Among its patrons was a group of radical young writers and artists named ‘Les Hydropathes’ or those averse to water who instead preferred wine and beer!

The group played an integral part in convincing Salis to shift to 12, Rue VictorMassé, which went on to become the birthplace of the Salon des Arts Incohérents, or Salon of Incoherent Arts, that combined shadow plays and comic monologues. The Chat Noir also published a weekly magazine covering literary writings, local cabaret news, poetry and political satire. The arthouse unfortunately closed down with Salis’ death in 1897.

La Belle Époque ended with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. However, as one of its finest creations, cabaret evolved not just artistically and socially, but also politically and poetically.

Though it was performed at numerous places, perhaps the most iconic spot linked to cabaret right from its origins is Moulin Rouge, which opened in 1889 and has carried on the tradition ever since.

“In the Moulin Rouge, we have had French painter ToulouseLautrec and dancer Josephine Baker performing. Paris is well-known and is very famous because of all these shows. So, the DNA of cabarets is Paris and not another country. It is born here, it has always been cheeky, at the Moulin Rouge, the French Cancan has always been the cheeky number, it is the most famous dance in the world, everybody knows the French Cancan and if you say cabarets, it is like you say Paris,” Claude Micallef, a travel expert, who has over 30 years of experience in cabarets, tells India Outbound.

Moulin Rouge’s success led to the opening of many new cabaret houses across Paris and beyond, though most of the bigger establishments were set up after the end of the World War II, when France began to rediscover its love of culture and arts. What followed was a string of new cabarets across the streets of Paris and beyond.

“By 1980s, cabarets like Lido, Moulin Rouge, Paradis Latin, Crazy Horse and even Folies Bergères were at the top range. Everybody wanted to go to cabarets because it was fashionable, people there were very famous and wanted to see each other. It was an amazing thing to see, we had a lot of different attractions that you couldn’t see around the world. And at that time, Paris was at the top as well because of the technical stage and would do everything to be special. Meaning, in the 1980s Las Vegas was there but all the cabarets and shows in Vegas were copying Lido because of the technical advancement we had at that time. Obviously, it was good for the actors and actresses, people shown in a cabaret were very famous,” he adds.

Moulin Rouge: Whirling legs under the wheeling windmill

The most emblematic of French cabarets, or even cabarets per se, Moulin Rouge is the birthplace of the high-energy French Cancan dance which led to the introduction of a string of cabarets across Europe. The whirling legs of the Cancan dance is synonymous with the Moulin Rouge. A giant moulin rouge, or red mill, is the main attraction, sitting atop the theatre.

As a token of history, it represents that Montmartre was dotted with windmills for flour but also served as dance halls while its signature red signifies a place dedicated to pleasure. Alluring and colourful costumes, feathers, diamante and flakes; there are 80 artists who perform on the Moulin Rouge stage that was established in 1889. A part of the Belle Époque glamour, its colourful lights in the façade outline the windmill’s silhouette to be spotted even from far away.

“The legacy of the Moulin Rouge, which is about 130 years old now, is the legacy of Paris. We used to go there to drink and for music and entertainment. People performing on the stage started getting famous because it was fashionable to be a part of these cabarets. After the war, in 1945-1946, the Lido was born as well. This is how everything started to be even more modern because the Lido was technically advanced than other cabarets. But the Moulin Rouge continued to the top. I believe it is the number two monument to be photographed in Paris after the Eiffel Tower,” says Micallef.

Crazy Horse: Playing with light & shadows

Located on the classy Avenue George V, literally across the Seine River from the Eiffel Tower, is yet another famous French cabaret house, the Crazy Horse. Tasteful yet titillating, women here perform in a bath of light that eludes the senses as to where the body begins and the shadow ends.

A former painter, Alain Bernardin opened the Crazy Horse Paris cabaret in the insouciant 1951 at 12, Avenue George V, in the heart of the Golden Triangle. While Salis curated satire, in Le Crazy Horse de Paris, as it is now known, Bernardin integrated elements of the New Wave, New Realism and Pop Art movements into his elusive creations.

What made the performances here stand out was a unique, new genre of artistic entertainment with elaborately choreographed routines that featured women dressed in nothing but light, in acts inspired by current events. The revolving visual light effects corresponded with the dancers to create an illusion on the dancers.

In what he said communicated his vision, along with its dancers, Bernardin’s Crazy Horse also consisted of many other artists, including magicians, jugglers and mimes. And, the performers here are selectively chosen, after enduring a 3 to 5 months of intensive training prior to performing for the first time on stage.

“The difference between cabarets and other dance shows is that the dancers are very tall and they all learn classical dance, modern dance, jazz, they know everything. To be a dancer at the Moulin Rouge or at the Lido, at the Paradis Latin or the Crazy Horse, you need to be trained as a classical dancer. But on stage, the difference is, compared to other shows, these dancers wear big costumes which are very heavy. Even now, some of the costumes are very expensive. I remember when I was working at the Lido, one of the costumes was more than EUR 100,000. So, it was a lot of money for just one costume for the principal dancer. And it was attracting people from all around the world and it spoke to the tourists because it was visual. Not everybody would speak English but visually, you would understand what you would see. Amazing attractions, amazing dancers, amazing shows,” recounts Micallef.

“Around the 1980s-90s, the Lido used to have, around 600,000 customers per year. And now at the Moulin Rouge, they have got 97-98 pc occupancy, which makes them the top cabaret with well over 550,000 viewers every year,’’ he adds. Not only iconic, the popularity of Parisian cabarets led to the dance form being adopted by many countries around the world.

German Kabarett’s political colours

Imported from France at the turn of the century, French cabaret developed into German Kabarett with the creation of the Überbrettl or superstage venue in Berlin as a sort of artistic liberation under the Nazi regime. Though retaining its classic French character, Kabarett established its own characteristic gallows hilarity. Gradually, it absorbed mildly risqué musical entertainment played by political and social satire, whose primary audience were artists, writers, political revolutionaries and intellectuals. Mostly located in old cellars that were centres of leftist opposition to the Nazi party, its political shine often attracted Nazi retaliation for their criticism of the government.

‘The Porcupines’ rise under a Nazi regime

Deviating from the essential sizzling cabaret attire, actors Rolf Ulrich, Alexander Welbat, Klaus Becker and Joachim Teege established ‘The Porcupines’ as a melting pot of performances known to be prickly political, delightfully unruly, critical, entertaining and with lots of music and big city bourgeois social behaviour dissected with satire.

Four years after the end of the World War II, in the fall of 1949, the legendary cabaret theatre Die Stachelschweine or ‘The Porcupines’ was established near the Berlin Memorial Church and stands as the oldest surviving cabaret in Germany.

In addition to hosting guest performances by renowned cabaret artists, every year the theatre ensemble dons new productions with a different motto. Since the first one Allesirrsinnigkomisch or ‘Everything’s Crazy’ in 1949, there have been titles such as Ick habnoch `ne Pointe in Berlin or ‘I have still got a punchline in Berlin’ and so on to take travellers into a time-travel that spans over 70 years into the world of German culture, societal norms and the unique quirks of Berlin life.

A Spanish Tango

In Spain, cabaret was likely led through cultural exchange and artistic movements during the 1920s and 1930s. It might have been introduced by travelling performers, artists, or through the influence of international trends in the entertainment industry. Over time, Spanish artists and performers would have adapted cabaret to their own cultural context, incorporating local elements and themes into the performances.

El Molino: Spanish ‘Moulin Rouge’

Artistic burlesque performances celebrating the art of tease, combining dance, costume and storytelling became the signature El Molino’s identity over the years. El Molino or ‘the windmill’ is a historic cabaret founded in 1898 in Barcelona. El Molino’s regular flamenco dance concerts started as being performed by poor immigrants from Andalucía for free room and board.

Today, it attracts art aficionados as well as tourists international and domestic alike. It is one of Spain’s oldest flamenco venues. Rich and harrowing, flamenco is designed to stimulate all the senses, performed passionately by men and women typically involving a fiery singer, dancer, guitarist and ‘palmero’ who claps the rhythms. It is a powerhouse of liberal thinking, popular entertainment, open eroticism and rebellion against censorship with some of the biggest Spanish stars performing regularly.

El Molino shut down in the late 1990s only to reopen in 2011 following an extensive renovation that transformed it into one of Europe’s most beautiful and contemporary cabaret theatres.

Beyond European shores, the cabaret, as an art form, also travelled to several other countries and seduced theatre-lovers everywhere, creating monuments to this unique dance-drama that continues to pull in the crowds every time the curtain goes up.