Blackpink’s Lisa is no stranger to fabulous and revealing stage outfits – and she’s also an incredibly talented dancerSo what’s the truth about the famous venue, its history, dancers and previous celebrity collaborations? From Christian Louboutin’s involvement to Pamela Anderson’s Valentine’s Day performance, Beyoncé’s music video and more, we take a look behind the scenes to find out the truth ahead of Lisa’s show dates from September 28-30.
1. Crazy Horse has a proud history
Crazy Horse was founded in 1951 by artist Alain Bernardin. Situated in a prestigious location just off the Champs Élysées, it sat beside fashion houses YSL, Givenchy and Balenciaga, per its website. Bernardin was fascinated with American burlesque showgirls and decided it was time to take the cabaret show Paris was famous for – like the one at Moulin Rouge – and turn it into an art form, per New York Post.
As reported in Artefact magazine, Bernardin was a visionary at the time, “integrat[ing] elements of the New Wave, new realism, pop art and fashion” into his shows in a way that would revolutionise the industry.
Crazy Horse’s current chief creative officer Andrée Deissenberg agrees: “Alain Bernardin was fascinated by femininity in general. It wasn’t about sex; it was about seduction, about making the mind work. For him, imagination was everything. And he created an art form out of it,” she said in an interview in 2017.
2. Dancer auditions are brutal
Bernardin was famously a perfectionist who chose the music and even sketched the show’s costumes, according to Schön magazine. And while Bernardin is no longer alive, the tradition continues. “All the dancers that we hire are classical dancers because we want the pointy toes,” Deissenberg said in 2017, adding that the women undertake three months of training once they’ve passed auditions to become so-called “Crazy Girls”.
In addition to the tough audition requirements – where hopefuls are required to improvise moves to a surprise song in front of a panel of judges – women cannot be taller than 173cm due to the venue’s tiny, intimate stage.
3. Lisa will perform two of the show’s classic numbers
Each Crazy Horse show comprises a series of short performances – some group, some solo – with Lisa reportedly taking part in several segments with the troupe as well as in one or two numbers by herself, including “Crisis, What Crisis?” and “But I am a Good Girl”, per WWD.
According to the venue’s website, “Crisis, What Crisis?” is a tongue-in-cheek performance that “offers a unique and irreverent view of the financial crisis that shook the West in 2008”.
The segment will see Lisa play a female executive on the verge of a nervous breakdown with Paris stock exchange rates and graphs projected on stage behind her. “The indices [get] more and more erratic as the clothes start flying off,” the website explains.
Meanwhile, “But I’m a Good Girl” is one of Crazy Horse’s classic tease numbers, with its dancer performing a slow peek-a-boo act from behind a curtain in little more than carefully placed pearls before revealing herself to the audience. Described as having “lively and energetic choreography”, it sounds tailor-made for Lisa, whose dancing skills are legendary.
4. It’s famous for its collabs with fashion designers
Then, in 2007, one of the cabaret’s most defining tie-ups was born. Deissenberg claims that as “two symbols of Parisian nightlife”, Crazy Horse and Christian Louboutin were made for each other, and a new show was born in collaboration with the luxury shoe designer. The show’s “Crazy Girls” have been wearing his signature 12cm red soled shoes on stage ever since.
5. Lisa isn’t the first celebrity guest at “Le Crazy”
In its early days, as Crazy Horse gained fame for its avant garde take on burlesque, the venue became akin to a European Studio 54. Better known as “Le Crazy”, it even boasted many of the same clientele – Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí included.
. Beyoncé’s “Partition” music video was inspired by the venue
Contrary to popular belief, however, the video wasn’t shot at the venue itself, but on a reproduction of the Crazy Horse stage in a chateau near Paris.
