Las Vegas Weekly

February 25, 2009 · 10:09 AM

Crazy Horse Paris welcomes first American dancer

By Robin Leach

Crazy Horse Paris' Karma.

Photo: MGM Grand

Since its debut on the Strip in 2001, the world-renowned topless cabaret Crazy Horse Paris at the MGM Grand has never had an American cast member. The dance troupe, since its inception in 1951 in Paris, has featured only beautiful and talented performers trained in France. However, after winning the first-ever Crazy Horse audition last March, Las Vegas dancer Kristal D’Arc has joined the troupe as the first American dancer.

Don’t confuse Crazy Horse Paris with other flash and glitz Vegas topless shows. This Paris-based production celebrates the female form as art, relying on raw body talent, beauty and sensuous choreography delicately displayed under amazing lighting and projection effects.

Dancing in the show, in its nearly 60-year tradition, is considered an honor, and the cabaret at its Paris headquarters has attracted world leaders and celebrities alike. Fifty American girls competed in the audition, and Kristal was one of four finalists judged by our favorite burlesque queen Dita Von Teese. Dita was the first-ever guest performer at Crazy Horse in Paris in 2006.

Eventually, Kristal became the only girl to travel to the City of Lights. She’d previously danced as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette but quit showbiz after injuring her Achilles heel. She took up studies here at UNLV in hotel management and was about to graduate when she heard about the audition. It was the first time she’d tried out for a show in three years. Her gamble paid off, and she was flown to the French capital and trained with dancers there for three months, learning all of the intricate and sophisticated movements and styles.

Crazy Horse was founded in 1951 by Alain Bernardin, an amateur artist who was fascinated with the beauty of the female form. His first show on May 19, 1951, was in a basement, and he began experimenting with light and color projected on a single girl. Through the years, the show was raised to the level of l’art du nu (art of the nude), where all the dancers are perfectly integrated into the choreography, and subtle lighting effects create mesmerizing -- almost dreamlike -- images. On its 50th anniversary, Crazy Horse creators decided to open a second show in Las Vegas originally titled La Femme. It was changed to MGM Grand’s Crazy Horse Paris in 2007 in returning to its roots and in a salute to its heritage.

I was there at the audition when Kristal was selected. Now she’s back home in Vegas, and I chatted with her about the entire experience and how she feels about being part of the lineup at MGM.

Robin Leach: Let me just take you back to that audition that we all were in with Dita. Did you ever think you would get picked and wind up as the first American dancer?

KD: I have a lot of confidence in my dance ability, but the feeling is still unreal. It is a dream that has come to life. I always knew that I could, I pictured myself up there, I visualized it, and thank goodness it happened.

I was the first girl to get to that audition, and I am still that first girl to show up for work every day.

RL: You were originally in showbiz because of the Rockettes, but then you left the business to go back to school?

KD: Correct. Not purposely. I tore my Achilles twice. I was told I would never be able to dance again, so I decided to go back and get my education. I got my degree from UNLV, and four years later, my Achilles has been feeling fine. So I decided that the first thing I would do was get back on stage and see if I could pursue my passion. It all came true!

Photo: Preferred Public Relations

The Crazy Horse Paris girls. At far right is Kristal D'Arc, the first American dancer in the cabaret.

RL: How is your Achilles handling the stress of Paris rehearsals and now dancing in the show? How long were you on tour with the Rockettes?

KD: I was there for three years. I tore my Achilles for the second time on my fourth year, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. It still does hurt, but I am doing my best to make sure I am properly warmed up getting there as early as possible. I ice it and put heating pads on it at night. I have to watch it constantly. A dancer’s body is her instrument, her tool that helps her do what she loves. If it breaks, you are in big trouble, so I try to keep it healthy.

I was in Paris a little less than three months, and it meant a lot of rehearsals. We rehearsed as much as the girls are in the shows: six days a week. On my days off, I would travel through Paris. I got to see the amazing sites: the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower. Just to be in Paris at the original Crazy Horse ... the history I felt just walking through that city and the theater was incredible. I watched the show there a lot of times, but I didn’t dance in it.

RL: Did they tell you that you had passed? Like you won your management degree, did you win your Crazy Horse course?

KD: Yes. It was a big training experience. The contract was an opportunity to work in Vegas, and I was first on stage back home on Christmas Eve!

It’s all very recent. I am still the new girl. I am loving it to the utmost extent. Being on stage in general is the most amazing feeling and the best adrenaline rush in the world, but to be on stage with such an elite group of dancers, they really are highly technically trained dancers. Then being on stage in Crazy Horse as the first American is an added bonus. I love the show. I saw it in Paris seven years ago. I always said I wanted to be a part of it but never had the opportunity to spend the money to fly to Paris for an audition that I may or may not get. Now I have a six-month contract!

RL: So what have you done with your management degree? Is it on the shelf for now?

Photo: MGM

Crazy Horse Paris' Evolution.

KD: I have my hotel degree. Las Vegas is a great city to work in, but dancer’s bodies don’t last forever. I have a few good years left in me, and I want to use them for dancing. I’ll possibly go back to hotel management, but I also want to continue in dance somehow, either in teaching or directing.

RL: Tell me what it is that is so incredible from your side of the stage at Crazy Horse rather than the viewer’s side of the stage. What makes it all work so beautifully and brilliantly?

KD: I’m not being rude, but it is unlike any other show on the Strip. We do not bounce up and down. We are not doing hip-hop topless. We don’t have big, fake bouncy things on top of our chests. Even when we are scantily clad, the lighting is done in such a creative, illusionary way that makes it almost dreamlike. The stage itself, the ceiling is so low, that it makes us look like we are in a picture frame, which adds to the art aspect of the show. The complete décor and how we hold our bodies with the arch of our backs is the most seductive pose a woman can do. We are in that position the entire show. The choreography is calculated to be very sexy and artistic.

RL: Is it the precision dancing or is it the look-alike nature of the dancers in the show?

KD: I think that adds to it. We are all between 5’4 and 5’8 inches tall. When we stand on stage, it goes from short to tall just like the Rockettes. We all have about the same bra cups. We have the same body structure, but we are allowed to have our own characters and our own personalities, unlike other shows where you are smiling the entire time and they look identical. They like the fact that we all look very different in our faces and hairstyles, and they really let us come into our own characters and mold the dances into whichever way we are feeling.

Photo: Preferred Public Relations

Dita Von Teese is flanked by Crazy Horse Paris dancers. At far right is Kristal D'Arc, the cabaret's first American.

RL: I’m curious and ask for professional reasons. How did it feel the first time you went topless and danced on stage? Was that any different than when you joined the Crazy Horse lineup? Do you feel clothed when that lighting is on you anyway?

KD: You feel clothed not because of the lighting, but your entire body is covered with paint. Before we go on stage every night, we slather up this dark, tan-colored paint all over us, which makes us have no blemishes, freckles or anything on our body. You are wearing a G-string. Yes, you are topless, but I have never seen that as a problem anyway. When I was in Europe working on cruise ships, I used to go to the nude beaches. I was used to seeing how comfortable people are nude around each other while in Europe and how nudity was not a bad or taboo thing at all. I am very comfortable with my body.

RL: Any added responsibility on your shoulders because you are the first American to ever dance in this troupe?

KD: There is a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. I could be the last American to dance in this troupe, and I don’t want that for any of the other girls. It is hard. Everyone just speaks French. Not just the French girls, but also the Polish, the Swedish, the South African. In fact, everyone speaks French but me. I bought the book and CDs, and I am learning French. All of the rehearsals are in French, and it is a challenge, but I hope to live up to the challenge they gave to me as the first American.

RL: Do they teach you French? Do you teach them English here in Vegas?

KD: Absolutely. There is a girl taking class at CSN, and she comes to me every day with her papers and homework, and I help her with them. Every day I try to learn one new word from the girls. They laugh at me because I can’t pronounce anything correctly, but it is fun. Just the fact that I got to go to Paris was amazing. The show is just so professional, so well put together. They are so friendly and open. It is everything I thought it would be -- and even more!

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