Moulin+Rouge

Jane Schumann ** Moulin Rouge ** Known for its flirtatious dancing, scandals and sexual experiences, the Moulin Rouge has remained infamous for its local sexual color. It not only changed the way sex was seen in the eyes of many Parisians, it revolutionized the world into a new era. In 1889 Montmartre, where Parisian nightlife was lively and windmills were everywhere, Joseph Oller and Charles Zidler started the Moulin Rouge. Literally meaning, “the Red Mill,” the Moulin Rouge opened as a dance and music hall featuring women dancers. These young Parisians being featured revolutionized how dance and sexual activity were s                   een in the late 19th century by introducing the teasing dance of the “Can-Can.” The reason why this dance was such a tease was because it raised the dancers’ legs, as well as their skirts, to reveal what was under all of their colorful layers (Rachlin, 2007, p.260). This was the beginning of how sexual communication became more than just a rudimentary subject, the Moulin Rouge transformed it into an expression of flirtation and the act of sex through dancing. Throughout the early 20th century as well as into the first World War, the Moulin Rouge continued to be a hotspot for men to watch young dancers and connect with courtesans. However, after WWI, the Broadway spectacle hit the world and in accordance with this success, the Moulin Rouge aimed its dancing and nightlife entertainment to have more of a Broadway feel to it. This was not as successful as planned and after WWII, the Moulin Rouge became very subdued. One of the most famous painters of the late 1800s was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. With his bohemian way of life, Lautrec seemed to make it his life’s purpose to capture the sexual spirit and emotion the Moulin Rouge expressed in the “belle époque” of Paris (Denvir, 1991, p.163). Although many artists, including Auguste Renoir, frequented the Moulin Rouge for the beautiful dancers, no one caught the essence of what Lautrec could in his paintings and posters for the place and the featured dancers. Among his pieces, “La Goulue,” immortalized his work with the Moulin Rouge and the famous dancer, Lautrec’s muse, Louise Weber (Johnson & Whitten, 2003, p.3). Through these works of art, Lautre    c showed what the Moulin Rouge had to offer each night without giving too much away. This form of teasing was transcended into every aspect of the Moulin Rouge’s night life with the Can-Can, showing only enough to keep patrons begging, the beautiful courtesans, and more. What started out as a dance in many ballrooms, the Can-Can was changed and cemented into the history of the Moulin Rouge. Being a flirtatious dance and performance, the Can-Can is the epitome of dances that portray sexual communication. As stated previously, the Can-Can was a dance that showed women’s legs and all that was underneath their skirts. According to Rachlin (2007), this was what made the Can-Can dance a legend at Moulin Rouge because // these // dancers wouldn’t have any undergarments on, revealing bare flesh (p. 260).  Due to the flirtatious and highly sexualized Can-Can dance, it is no surprise that most of the dancers at the Moulin Rouge were courtesans. In the high time of the Moulin Rouge, men and women would flock to Montmartre to see one of the famous shows, but the later it got, the more men would stick around to find a courtesan for the night. This is probably one of the most obvious ways the Moulin Rouge expressed sexual communication. There did not need to be as much connection as there is now between a man and woman, but usually a man would find a dancer, take her out to a meal or a walk before he would take her home with him for the night. Even though there was no real level of communication that is in our society today, it still shows that there was an initiation in communication by first courting the dancers before having sex with them (Wascher, 2008, p.47).
 * History **
 * The Affair between the Moulin Rouge and Toulouse Lautrec **
 * The Can-Can **
 * Courtesans **

Today the Moulin Rouge has become a tourist hotspot due to its past Hollywood movies, most famous being Baz Lurhman’s, Moulin Rouge! (Wascher, 2008, p.52). Although this film focused heavily on a typical love story, it was actually very accurate with characters portrayed in the film such as Toulouse Lautrec and Charles Zidler. These characters were actually very important when it came to sexual communication in the film because they pushed the main characters, Satine and Christian, into sexual acts that lead to true love. Another accurate point in the film were the scene settings, including the giant elephant behind the Moulin Rouge (Wascher, 2008, p.54). However, the Moulin Rouge in the 21st century is not the brothel it was in the 1890s. According to Alembakis (2002), the life of a dancer inside the Moulin  Rouge is not as mysterious as it used to be. Dancer, Michelle Hrushowy, gives a description of her typical day saying, “We come, we work, we go home through the back door and there's no one waiting for us with boxes of diamonds” (p. 52). Although the high time of the sexualized cabaret dancers are in the past, there are still cabaret shows that continue to do the Can-Can dance as a tribute to their ancestral dancers. The most recent show performed at the Moulin Rouge was// Feérie // which featured the French Can-Can but not as exposing as how it started out in the dance hall (Wascher, 2008, p.69). The idea of the Moulin Rouge being highly sexualized and a center for sexual communication to exist is now a faint memory. According to Alembakis (2002), the dance hall has become such a highly recommended tourist spot that it is swarmed by tour groups on a daily basis. It still has the magic of cabaret and history, but there is no real sexual communication that continues here. It is all just put on in a show now instead of being real like it was over 100 years ago (p.53). Although the Moulin Rouge has had a very vast history of starting out as a dance hall, brothel, cabaret club, movie theater, and so many other venues, it has forever been a landmark to where sexual communication has evolved. The behavior the Moulin Rouge embraced in its time sky-rocketed into the future by not involving the traditional dating rituals. Instead, the Moulin Rouge introduced the idea of casual sex with no consequences. Alembakis, R. (2002). WORKING AT THE WINDMILL. Dance Spirit, 6(2), 52-53. Retrieved from EBSCO host.
 * The Moulin Rouge Fast Forward **
 * References **

Bing, I. (n.d.). Tag Archive for ‘Moulin Rouge’ at Wunderbuzz. Wunderbuzz. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from [] (PHOTO) Сabaret “Moulin Rouge” « Travelling through Europe. (n.d.). Travelling through Europe. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from [] (PHOTO) Denvir, B. (1991). Toulouse-Lautrec. New York: Thames and Hudson.

"Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Moulin Rouge: La Goulue (2006)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. [] (PHOTO) Johnson, E., & Whitten, C. (2003). Toulouse-Lautrec. Toulouse-Lautrec. Retrieved April 4, 2011, from [] Rachlin, H. (2007). At The Moulin Rouge. Scandals, vandals, and Da Vincis: a gallery of remarkable art tales (pp. 255-267). New York: Penguin Books.

The Moulin Rouge old Paris, the belle epoque. (n.d.). Photos of Paris. Life in the city of Paris, France. Retrieved April 6, 2011, from [|http://www.paris-in-photos.com/paris-photos/] oldparis186.htm (PHOTO) Wascher, M. K. (2008). An exploration into the history of the moulin rouge, from 1889 to the present. Dissertation Abstract International. Northern Illinois University. DeKalb, IL. (UMI No.1460973). Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Dissertations and Theses database.