THE CANCAN

France’s famous jig swept through the dance halls of Paris and its high energy and frivolity is still drawing in the crowds, finds Heidi Fuller-love

- Heidi Fuller-love

You might be inclined to cry ‘can’t can’t!’ faced with France’s iconic high-kicking dance whose name actually derives from the verb cancanner, meaning to gossip or tell tittle tattle and is thought to be related to the scandalous nature of the dance.

Little is known of the origins of the world’s most boisterous leg show: some theories say that it evolved from the antics of Charles Mazurier, a popular showman in the early 19th century who was renowned for his acrobatic antics, while other experts suggest that the physically demanding dance was an offshoot from the improvisations of working class dancers performing the quadrille, a social dance popular in 1820s France.