page_title: History of music in Paris
section_title: Dance—the Bal-musette, the cakewalk, the can-can and the tango
hierarchical_section_title: History of music in Paris / The Belle Époque (1872–1913) / Dance—the Bal-musette, the cakewalk, the can-can and the tango
context_page_description: The city of Paris has been an important center for European music since the Middle Ages. It was noted for its choral music in the 12th century, for its role in the development of ballet during the Renaissance, in the 19th century it became famous for its music halls and cabarets, and in the 20th century for the first performances of the Ballets Russes, its jazz clubs, and its part in the development of serial music. Paris has been home to many important composers, to name a few: Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Niccolò Piccinni, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Jacques Offenbach, Georges Bizet, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Hector Berlioz, Paul Dukas, Gabriel Fauré, César Franck, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, Vincent d'Indy, Camille Saint-Saëns, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, Sidney Bechet...
context_section_description: Parisians of all social classes had a passion for dancing.   The Bal-musette was a popular kind of dancing venue for working-class Parisians. It originated among the Auvergnats who came to Paris in large numbers in the 19th century.   They took place at cafés and bars where patrons danced the bourrée to the accompaniment of the cabrette (a bellows-blown bagpipe locally called a "musette") and often the vielle à roue (hurdy-gurdy).  Later Parisian and Italian musicians who played the accordion adopted the style   The Bal-musettes featured simple, fast and sensual dance steps, often with dancers holding each other very close;  it could be danced in a small space.
  The Cakewalk was introduced in Paris in 1903 by pair of American professional dancers, Professor Elk and his wife, at the Nouveau Cirque. The cakewalk was soon featured in other music halls, and was made into an early recording, with the singer Mistinguett.  Claude Debussy composed a cakewalk,  called Colliwog's cake-walk, between 1906 and 1908.
  The Can-can originated in the 1820s, and in its original form was danced in cabarets and balls by couples at the fast pace of a galop.  It was often described as immoral, because women lifted their shirts and showed their stockings. Beginning in the 1850s, it was modified into stage form, with dancers in a line facing the audience making high kicks, splits and cartwheels; a version which became known as the French can-can.  The most famous accompaniment was Offenbach's  The Infernal Galop from  Orpheus in the Underworld (1858), though it was not written for that dance.  The can-can was performed at music calls halls throughout the Belle Époque and remains popular today.
  The tango was introduced into Paris in 1905, and was popularized by the Argentinian singer and composer Alfredo Gobb and his wife, singer Flora Rodiriguez, who came to Paris in 1907.  They became professional tango teachers, and made numerous recordings of their music.   It became popular throughout Paris;  in 1913, even the President of France, Raymond Poincaré, danced a few steps of a tango at an official ball.
caption: The can-can by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1895
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