#100DaysofTeaBagArt | The Dance Series | Day-10 | Can-Can Watercolours, Gouache, Pen and Ink on used tea bag skin The can-can is a high-energy, physcially demanding dance which became a popular music hall dance in the 1840's and is still maintaining its popularity in French cabaret to this day. It was originally danced by both sexes though it is now traditionally associated with a chorus line of female dancers. The main features of the dance are the high kicks, splits and cartwheels. The name can-can may be derived from the French for tittle-tattle or 'scandal'. However, the dance was also referred to as the coin-coin and this may have become corrupted into can-can. In its early days, the dance was also called the chahut (French for noise or uproar). The dance was considered scandalous for a while and there were even attempts to repress it for a while. This may have been partly because in the 19th century, women wore pantalettes, which had an open crotch, meaning that a high kick could be unintentionally revealing. Occasionally, people dancing the cancan were arrested, but there is no record of it being banned, as some accounts claim. The cancan is now considered a part of world dance culture. Often the main feature observed today is how physically demanding and tiring the dance is to perform, but it still retains a bawdy, suggestive element. #danceseries #day10 #teabagart
