Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Moulin Rouge, La Goulue, poster for the Dance Hall Le Moulin Rouge, 1891
Chahut
The biggest dance craze was the chahut – an extreme version of the cancan, in which the grinning dancers waved their legs about wildly to reveal their frilly underwear.
Artists turned the swishing skirts into decorative expanses in their prints, capturing the energy of the performers and their audience.
The ruling class meanwhile, dismissed dancing like this as ‘hysteria’ and ‘epilepsy’.
Experimentation and freeform dance
In addition to these provocative dances, the ethereal style of Loïe Fuller was a favourite subject for printmakers. Her elegant choreography served as a contrast with the standard image of the dancer as femme fatale.
Artists also depicted the dance-halls where both bourgeois and working-class men and women came together to swirl around the dance-floor, the ultimate leisure pursuit.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Miss Loie Fuller, 1893
Pierre Bonnard, Quadrille (Quadrille) from the series Petites scènes familières, 1893
Further reading
- Richard Thomson et al., Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre, Washington 2005
- Annette Dixon et al., The dancer: Degas, Forain, Toulouse-Lautrec, Portland 2008
- Rae Beth Gordon, Dances with Darwin 1875-1910, Aldershot 2008