For one day, the famous Parisian cabaret, the Crazy Horse, descended on the Côte d'Azur to audition and find new “crazy girls”.
In Nice, around forty pre-selected women went into a one-minute dance improvisation where the only instructions were to be topless with heels.
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was able to discuss with about fifteen candidates for whom joining this cabaret is "quite simply [their] dream".
The blue sky of Nice is rather threatening this Tuesday and a few drops fall on the sidewalk of rue Maraldi.
About fifteen young women, all between 1.68 m and 1.73 m, wait, sometimes accompanied by suitcases or their loved ones, in front of a locked door where nothing can be seen, except a sign on which it is written: “Crazy Horse Paris auditions”.
This mythical Parisian cabaret created in 1951 is looking for new "crazy girls" to complete its troupe and has come to the Côte d'Azur on purpose.
In total, around forty candidates have been pre-selected and will spend between one and two minutes, in dance improvisation, in front of Patricia Folly, alias Psykko Tico, assistant creative director and Svetlana Konstantinova, stage director.
The “baring” of the dancers
While the women wait on the other side of the door, Svetlana Konstantinova confides: "At Crazy, there are many dancers who come from the South or elsewhere [they come from more than ten countries including France, Ukraine, Australia, Lebanon, Japan or even New Zealand].
Each place on the planet brings something to the group with its culture.
We said to ourselves that it was also good to seek out our talents and approach them.
And we love the girls here.
We note, without making generalizations, that they have a different mentality.
They are often very radiant, sunny with less inhibitions with their bodies and perhaps more used to being free and showing it”.
A criterion which is important because, during the shows, the artists “bare themselves”.
Literally.
“There are different ways to do it, continues Patricia Folly, also a former cabaret dancer.
We are going to look for emotions, we are even more exposed, there is not only a physical aspect.
And yet, during the show, you don't feel naked, there is no modesty because everything is staged, with plays of light so that the fact that you are naked takes second place.
»
She adds: “And then, finally, it's like a costume, it's my second skin.
On the beach, I wear a bathing suit, I'm never topless.
»
The "power of woman"
For the candidates, nudity is not a problem since it was a criterion to pass the audition.
Some have already had one before trying again, like Mia-Jade, 22, who came from Lyon.
Or Nina, 24, from Switzerland, to whom the casting directors had said: “Come back when you're ready.
“For five years, the young woman has been training and is even part of a troupe in Aix-les-Bains because “it is her dream”.
She remains aware that "it's very, very hard to join the troupe" but will continue to persevere.
Others are trying for the first time.
This is the case of Cynthia, a 28-year-old Toulonnaise.
She wants to be a “crazy girl”.
“They are everything we want to be, in their differences.
When I see them, I have the impression that they all represent me.
And in the show, they are really highlighted.
It's sensuality in all its beauty, not sexualization.
»
“Show who we are in one minute”
It is noon.
It's time.
“Show us what you can do best”, will simply say the two directors.
The candidates will each take their turn on a different music.
In the warm-up room, the stress mounts.
Some stay in their corner by stretching and putting on high heels, others chat to release the pressure.
All are attentive to the feedback of those returning from the ordeal.
Lola, 21, a professional dancer, is the fourth to pass.
Since the first time she saw a show at the Crazy Horse six years ago, she “knew that was what [she] wanted to do”.
A few seconds before going there, she confides: “I'm at the door there, I wonder what I'm doing there but we can't go back.
»
" What a luck !
“Spontaneously lets go of the rest of the girls when they hear the music on which the Grassoise is playing.
“It's the best one, they have it at the show”, breathes another.
Even if we feel that the competition is fierce between them, because places are rare, benevolence reigns within the group.
On her return, the 21-year-old dancer displays a wide smile and reddened cheeks: “Showing who we are in one minute is very difficult, but I am relieved.
It is done !
".
She develops [
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could not attend the auditions so as not to destabilize the candidates]: "After the mini-performance, where I did a lot of walking, showed that I was flexible through positions, they asked a few questions about my background and made me bow.
They look at every detail, even the ears and the nape of the neck.
»
The “mystery” of Crazy Horse
The directors of the auditions affirm that the criteria to enter the Crazy Horse are precise.
“The essential point is to want to express yourself on stage, to have something harmonious.
We look at the symmetry of the body, develops Psykko Tico.
The show is based on illusions.
We have the impression of seeing the same woman, we no longer know who is who.
So, yes, you have to enter into this graphic, stylistic unity with physical requirements such as size, but we need all types of women and it's the personality that makes the difference.
»
After conferring a few minutes after all the women have passed, Patricia and Svetlana tell them to meet near the door.
The dancers don't know it, but the audition managers aren't looking for someone right away.
“Maybe one,” slips the stage manager.
The latter knows in “one look”, according to her colleague, if the person corresponds to “the spirit of Crazy”.
That day, none of the group will have been selected directly but two candidates are invited to redo the tests in Paris “within a few years”.
This is the case of Lola who has "potential" but who must "work on her expressions".
As she leaves the room, the young woman cannot hide her smile, which catches the eyes of about fifteen other women who are waiting on the sidewalk, not yet knowing what to expect.
“The Crazy Horse is quite a mystery.
You only understand when you go inside,” concluded the owner of the dance studio where the auditions are taking place, delighted to be able to find out in this way.
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