Susan Buckland: I get a kick out of you

COMMENT

The high-kicking can-can dancers of the Moulin Rouge in Paris have travelled to Australia for the first time at the invitation of a Sydney grande dame. The landmark Sydney Wentworth Hotel, which first opened its doors in 1855, has been relaunched with Parisian pizzazz by its new French managers.

So I stepped into the lobby of the new Sofitel Wentworth to see a row of tall and gorgeous creatures in flouncing red skirts and white petticoats. And after tripping unceremoniously over a television camera cord I regained my composure to join the young concierge clutching my suitcase, he being too bedazzled by the world's most beautiful showgirls to have noticed my encounter with the floor.

After smiling lusciously into the cameras, the glamorous dancers disappeared up the escalator in a flurry of ostrich feathers and frills. The star-struck concierge enthusiastically advised that I should follow them into the hotel's Grand Ballroom where they were to perform a dance for a live television show.

I was invited to a full performance of the Moulin Rouge dancers later that evening, but the idea of a preview appealed. An inspection of my 14th-floor boudoir, with its French toiletries and down-filled duvet and pillows, could wait.

I headed for the ballroom, the same one in which Princess Diana danced with Charles in 1983. Their photo, with those of the Queen, Prince Philip and Audrey Hepburn, were displayed in the lobby. The Wentworth has hosted many famous people since becoming Sydney's first international hotel in 1966.

On the ballroom stage, two Amazonian girls from the Moulin Rouge posed head and shoulders above the television show host. They were resplendent in rhinestone bikinis, feathers and sequins. The television host wore a confection of pink. Standing about 165cm, she fell well short of the minimum height for Moulin Rouge dancers of 170cm.

The stage backdrop depicted the Moulin Rouge windmill, which has been turning since dancers first performed there in 1889, and a sketch of Toulouse Lautrec, the famous French artist who immortalised the dancers in his paintings.

One hundred and 15 years later the twice-nightly shows in Paris continue to perform to packed houses. Audiences must book several weeks in advance for weekend shows and at least a fortnight in advance for weeknight shows.

Moulin Rouge closes only once every eight years - for five weeks - to launch a new show.

A slender young woman sitting two seats along had guessed my thoughts. Rachel retired as a Moulin Rouge dancer to marry and have children. She was Australian, like a few of the Moulin Rouge dancers.

She said the exacting disciplines of rehearsals and twice-daily performances meant the young women and men - yes, there are Moulin men these days - became her family. And she would never regret the chance to know a city many thousands of kilometres from her own. But young legs, no matter how strong, can withstand only so many head-high kicks, The can-can is especially hard on knee joints.

Like many of her dancing colleagues, Rachel trained in ballet from a young age. However, the original Moulin Rouge dancers were amateurs. Mainly washerwomen and seamstresses by day, they transformed themselves on stage at night to earn a few extra francs.

Cheered on by their mostly male audiences, they mocked the pomposity of the church and the heavy hand of the gendarmerie with revolutionary and raucous movements. To whooping cries and boisterous rhythms, they raised their skirts to reveal legs and scant - and sometimes no - underwear.

Today, the dancers wear lavish headgear that can weigh several kilos and requires skilful balancing while they are kicking legs up to touch their foreheads. The nude line was much easier on the legs, said Rachel, but she preferred to stick with the can-can line, as the idea of going topless didn't appeal.

The pinnacle for a Moulin Rouge dancer is to become a principal or soloist. And in the full show that would be performed later that evening, Rachel said I should look out for the principal dancer who hailed not from Paris but from Newcastle, Australia.

French people don't go to the Moulin Rouge much any more - they leave it to the tourists who book it out every night.

But, says Rachel, now living back in Sydney, everything else about it is "tres Francais". And having Moulin Rouge experience on their CVs is something hundreds of young dancers willingly risk their knee joints for.