No need for passport or a 12-hour flight to enjoy the romance of Paris! The French Cabaret Versatile recipient of the Best Cabaret and Variety Show of the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2012 — has prepared an eight-hour show on the theme ‘French Bohême & Troubadours’ to premiere at the Bastille Day Los Angeles Festival on Sunday, July 15. Get ready for a day of Cancan, feathers and glitz “à la mode de Paris” with dancer/choreographer Lola Ohlala who will gather at Bastille Day a medley of talents performing in French and English. Around Lola Ohlala, the personalities of five Parisian Cabaret dancers unfold to the sensual music of Juliette Greco, Serge Gainsbourg, and Max Raabe among others. ‘French Bohême & Troubadours’ will include many performers such as:
– Jenny Eloise Rieu aka ‘The Lady in Red’ — a French ‘vintage singer’ as she calls herself — who will take attendees on a trip to a different time, a time where elegance and glamour came first;
– Momo Casablanca, a former Cirque Du Soleil clown, taught by the legendary Marcel Marceau, who will give Angelenos a ‘French taste’ of his one-man show;
– Yesteryears Dancers, an authentically-costumed vintage dance troupe who will re-create court and ballroom dances from the time of Marie Antoinette, Napoleon I, and La Belle Époque and invite spectators to join in. Yesteryears dancers will perform with Les Plaisirs Champêtre, a group playing historical instruments such as vielle à roue (hurdy gurdy), musette de cour (French Baroque court bagpipe), or cornemuse (French Folk bagpipe);
– Johan & The Panache Band who will embark on a mythical Old-School R&B Funk voyage and invite Bastille Day participants along on the journey and on the dance floor! C’est Magnifique!
Parlez-vous Cabaret?
While the contemporary American cabaret came into being in the 1970’s, its traditions reach back more than a hundred years. The first cabaret Rodolphe Salis’ “Cabaret Artistique”, later renamed “Le Chat Noir” (The Black Cat), opened in France in 1881 in the Parisian district of Montmartre.
The famous French Cancan first appeared in the 1830’s working-class ballrooms of the Montparnasse quarter in Paris. The Cancan, meaning “tittle-tattle” or “scandal” was perceived as a scandalous dance and for a time, the French authorities attempted to repress it. Occasionally people dancing the cancan were arrested but it was never officially banned.
Parlez-vous Bastille Day?
Bastille Day Los Angeles will kick off its eleventh celebration of independence and freedom, commemorating the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789 that marked the beginning of the French Revolution.
Throughout the day, attendees will once again share in the spirit of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, the very ideals of democracy and faith ushered in by the French revolutionary spirit of 1789.
The 11th Annual Bastille Day Los Angeles festivities will be held:
Sunday, July 15th, 2012
Noon to Dusk
Kenneth Hahn Recreational Park – Lower Olympic
4100 La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90056
The Event is FREE for kids (under 13). Adults: $5
To purchase tickets, please visit: www.
