What can you please with all kinds of restaurants, from simple to cool "five-star" on the Michelin scale, except for the performances of the Filipino or other exotic trios and quartets that still sing the same composition of the Eagles group "Welcome to the Hotel California" in different ways? What to do if you want a real holiday?
Until recently, I had never been to a cabaret. All my ideas about what it really is came down to shots from the musical “Moulin Rouge” with Nicole Kidman and Evan McGregor in the lead roles. But it turned out that today the Dubai public can quite easily begin to equate themselves with the Parisians, because we have our own Theatrium cabaret, which opened its doors to the Ascot Royal hotel. The cabaret genre was born in the mid-19th century with the opening of the first music and dance institution on the Champs Elysees. It could not have arisen anywhere else, except for the city of Paris, where it is easy and beautiful. After all, as the French themselves say, "cabarets are songs, sketches, cancan and a little vulgarity." I don’t know which of the following is lacking for the modern public, but the cabaret of today's Paris no longer cares about where to find sponsors for tailoring the next batch of costumes for the show, like the heroine Nicole Kimdman from the musical Moulin Rouge. The public throws itself into the famous Moulin Rouge in Montmartre, Lido on the Champs Elysees and other popular places for tourists and residents of the city. The surge in cabaret popularity in Europe occurred in the 1930s and the post-war period. A vivid illustration of this is the Bob Foss film musical “Cabaret” (1972) - a film adaptation of the famous Broadway play staged in the English novel of the 1930s with the great Lisa Minelli in the title role. Lisa played cabaret singer Sally Bowles, who lives her life in an atmosphere of nightclubs, while Hitler is rushing to power on the ruins of the Weimar Republic. For this role, Lisa received an Oscar, and her image - a short haircut, huge eyes, a bowler hat and black fishnet stockings for many years was associated with the word "cabaret". Everything is arranged in the Dubai Theatrium, in general, in the image and likeness of the Moulin Rouge - a large stage surrounded by densely standing tables, a balcony - and again rows of tables. This is not done by chance. The audience enjoys a colorful show - with sparkles, flowers and feathers, sitting at a hundred faces, and to get up and leave, you need to sweat at least five or six neighbors on the right or left. Therefore, no one roams the hall, and all attention is focused on the artists. And, frankly, their performance is simply mesmerizing. Well, and who said that the Emirates is a country where everything should be modestly, grayly and without any frills? Life, guys, is such a thing that always proves the opposite to us. So the opening of the first cabaret became possible in a Muslim (!) Country. Paradox…
To my first question: "Are there any new Lisa Minelli or Nicole Kidman in your team?"and all subsequent ones concerning a form of relaxation so unusual for Dubai, the troupe choreographer Vladimir Prokopenko kindly agreed to answer.
- Our team consists of artists from different countries: Russia, Belarus, most of the dancers are from Ukraine. All of them are professionals of the highest level who have received academic choreographic education. Before arriving in the Emirates, they had already traveled to many countries, became laureates of competitions in Monte Carlo and in France.
- Vladimir, please tell us a little about yourself. - I have been working as a choreographer for a long time. Before that, of course, he danced - first in a children's group, then in a folk group, after which he switched to pop dancing and modern choreography. For nine years he worked with the People's Artist of the Soviet Union Sofia Rotaru, and then he created his own dance group - the only male ballet in Ukraine. In 2005, Alexander Mikhailovich Sologub suggested that I take up the project of reviving the cabaret genre.
- And right away everything worked out? “We did a tremendous job together.” We started rehearsing the show back in Ukraine, in the fall of that year. In 2006 we came here, prepared rooms, costumes. The program of today's show is very diverse and technically complex. Cabaret, of course, is not designed only for Russian visitors. Tourists and locals come to us. A completely different audience.
- Probably, for different audiences you need different numbers in the program? - Perhaps in Europe it was a little easier for me to work, nevertheless their mentality is closer to ours. Here is a completely different life, a different culture. But for me the most important thing is to see that the public likes the performance, the audience cannot be fooled. This is the most important mark for a choreographer. To get the love and recognition of the audience you need to work very hard. I love that everything was perfect for me, only then the show can go global and compete with such cabaret brands as Moulin Rouge, Las Vegas or Lido. And then I got the opportunity to talk with the costume designer of the cabaret show Lyudmila Bobrova.
- Tell me, please, how much time did you need to come up with and sew such a number of colorful costumes? - Costumes for the show have been prepared since May last year. At the cabaret there is a sewing workshop where 10 craftsmen work. They are just fans of their job. In total, we made about seven hundred handmade costumes using embroidery and semiprecious stones. New models are constantly being created for new numbers. Costumes are invented by Tatyana Viktorovna, and together with seamstresses and technologists we bring them to life. Thanks to our combined experience and professionalism, we get such unusual stage costumes.
- And do you somehow take into account the fact that the cabaret is still in Dubai? - In Europe, of course, the outfits are more open than here. But we try, in accordance with local standards, to remain no less attractive and erotic. I think we are succeeding. Following the words from Lisa Minelli’s song “Come to the Cabaret!”, I invite everyone to Theatrium. Maybe the glory and brilliance of the Parisian “Red Mill” (Moulin Rouge) does not wait for him, but certainly now a chic place has appeared in our city where you can put on your best evening dress and the most beautiful jewelry.
The performance starts at 21:45.
The duration of the program is 1 hour 45 minutes.
Ticket price - from 400 drx.
All in a cabaret!
/ Irina Ivanova /
