After years at Crazy Horse, Paige Shand Haami reflects on her cabaret career and looks forward to new adventures in London. Photo / Rémi Desclaux – courtesy Crazy Horse Paris
Dressed in dazzling lights, and often little else, the avant-garde dancers of Le Crazy Horse have enchanted audiences in Paris since 1951. With artistic poise and a more-than-cheeky approach to stage presence, the stars of the show must have an “x” factor.
One such talent is Paige Shand Haami (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi), who grew up miles away from the world of cabaret, in Aotearoa New Zealand. From a creative upbringing in Wellington, she danced as soon as she could walk and became “serious” about ballet at age 7. By 2014, she had graduated from the New Zealand School of Dance with a major in contemporary dance. “It opened my world to that type of discipline and really pushing myself hard, going to the limits physically, mentally,” she says.
Shand Haami worked with dance companies across Aotearoa, including Footnote New Zealand Dance and Atamira Dance Company, and touring with productions such as Tiki Taane Mahuta and the World of Wearable Art. In 2016, she moved to Auckland with the Black Grace Dance Company and travelled with them around America. “I learned how to incorporate my world growing up as just a human being in the Māori culture with music, movement and dance.”
In 2019, Shand Haami was ready for a career pivot – and set her sights on the iconic Crazy Horse cabaret. To get her slender foot in the door, she flew to Paris for a private audition – her first trip to Europe, where it all hung in the balance. “It’s one of the most difficult companies to get into, and I only had one minute and 30 seconds to show all my history and knowledge of dance and give it my all.”
Two months later, Shand Haami was packing up her life in New Zealand for the City of Lights. She learned the show in one month, and spent another perfecting it. On her premier night, she was ordained with her stage name – Lola Kashmir – only moments before the curtain went up. “I was so ready for the choreography. I was so ready for the performance part. But I was 10 times more stressed about the name,” she says. “We have strict rules ensuring that we call each other our Crazy names inside and outside of work… You are forever known as this person.”
Lola Kashmir was the first in her training group to receive a solo – I’m A Good Girl – which happens to also be the star turn of the only other New Zealander to perform at the Crazy Horse, Roxy Tornado, and the act that inspired Christina Aguilera’s character in the film Burlesque. “I saw my name next to that solo and I just burst into tears,” says Shand Haami. “I came to the Crazy Horse because that was my dream solo.”
While the choreography for Good Girl differs between dancers, it leans into their strength, flexibility and character – and the clinking of pearl necklaces. “If I could put my personality, my athleticism and my wants in dance into one solo, it’s Good Girl,” says Shand Haami. “It gives you everything. I come off fulfilled, and it’s just fun.”
As a Crazy Horse captain, Shand Haami must ensure her fellow dancers swing their legs and toss their colourful cropped wigs to the correct counts in the group numbers, too. She also takes behind-the-scenes tours on her workplace’s colourful history – from its pop-art start to designer collaborations with Jean Paul Gaultier, Paco Rabanne, and Balenciaga (whose headquarters are next door).
As someone who has been mesmerised by the dancers of Crazy Horse since watching the Fue documentary, in collaboration with their shoe designer Christian Louboutin, I secured tickets to the show on a recent trip to Paris with my husband. (It books out in advance, so audiences must plan ahead.) As midnight approached, we followed fellow couples and close groups of friends down a mirrored staircase to a nightclub with cosy red booths, champagne service, and lipstick-print carpets. It’s a more intimate space than the Moulin Rouge show, and attracts a more demure crowd looking for a cultural experience. That is, except for an English bachelorette party whose whoops became overwhelming towards the end of the night. This was handled with good humour by the Crazy Horse team, who ensure the dancers on the stage are always applauded with respect.
The energy at a Crazy Horse show is charged. Shand Haami performs 22 days of the month, with two (and at times three) shows a night, and – if this is not exhausting enough – she often runs to work from her home six-or-so kilometres down the Seine.
In quiet moments between shows, you may find her crocheting, reading a book, or catching up with her castmates. “We’re a very tight family,” she says. “We get to hang out, have a laugh, play some games. We keep it really vibrant backstage.”
While Shand Haami didn’t speak French on moving to Paris, she now knows enough to hold a conversation, especially those with dance lingo. She’s immersed not only in Parisian culture, but a multicultural society at the beating heart of Europe. “It’s opened my eyes to other incredible things.”
Of course, Shand Haami misses home, but she brings her culture with her. “New Zealand is really far away, and when you speak to people about culture, specifically the Māori culture, what they reference it to is quite often sport. A lot of rugby, haka … ” she says. “It’s been important for me to represent my culture on this stage, especially in a dance form that is not really well known within the culture or within New Zealand.”
Nudity is not a part of Aotearoa’s dance culture, but Shand Haami’s work with Crazy Horse shines a light on the power of the female form. “Representing what cabaret is from a Māori woman’s perspective, the love I have for it, the incredible power of storytelling, the empowerment it has for women, for wāhine, has been incredible.”
Before her pivotal Good Girl routine, she’ll sometimes perform a small pukana off-stage. “It brings that kind of electricity into my body to prepare me to dance.”
Lola Kashmir’s performances have been admired by countless celebrities, including Janet Jackson, Zendaya and Tom Holland, as well as special guest performers like Lisa from Blackpink. She has also been able to express herself through choreography work, including for the new act, Vertige.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Shand Haami has joined the cast of Mana Wahine at the Ōkāreka Dance Company – touring Aotearoa and America once again at the end of this year. “That show is extremely powerful, extremely emotive,” she says.
Shand Haami recently announced that after five years with Crazy Horse, she will be stepping off its iconic stage for the last time on October 2. Her supportive parents are flying over for the finale. “I am really, really proud of where I’ve come in my journey at the Crazy Horse,” she says. “Now, I can join all of the other incredible artists that have come before me, as well and that will continue to come after me.”
She’s moving to London with her partner, where she is looking forward to reclaiming her evenings, catching up with friends and extended family over dinners and shows. Their stint in London will be about trying new things. “Whether it is working at a bookshop or in management ... There’s so many transferable qualities from what I’ve learned here in Paris and the dance world that can go in any direction I take.”
One day, Shand Haami hopes to work on the creative side at Crazy Horse and to return to New Zealand, where she has many more co-ordinated connections. Motherhood is another myriad role she hopes to take on. “My career is really important, but my family is more important to me.”
Wherever life takes her, a certain stage persona will give her the confidence to take the next leap. “Lola is like my other half and she will forever be a part of me, a part of my journey,” she says. “At the end of the day, she’s just who I am.”
Jessica-Belle Greer is an experienced editor and writer from New Zealand, who has recently moved to the UK.
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