Can-can

An 1895 poster

Offenbach Can-can

The can-can (also spelled cancan) is a music hall dance, performed by a chorus line of female dancers who wear costumes with long skirts, petticoats, and black stockings, like the fashions of the 1890s. The can-can was first danced in low class ballrooms of Montparnasse in Paris about 1830. The dancers of the 1890s, such as La Goulue and Jane Avril, were highly paid for their appearances at the Moulin Rouge and elsewhere. The female dancers of the French Second Empire and the fin de siècle developed the various cancan moves.

The Galop from Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld is the tune most often played with the can-can (a somewhat simplified form and a more evolved one Can-Can (Orpheus in the Underworld). Performed on the accordion Archived 2007-01-11 at the Wayback Machine).

The can-can was adapted as an American movie titled "Can Can"(1960), acted by Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine with music by Cole Porter.