FACEBOOK
TWITTER
Dancing the Night Away
DANCING THE NIGHT AWAY – LE BAL DE l’ELYSEE
MONTMARTRE
by Jane Rosenstein, Bureau Chief, Paris
The ad to celebrate the 18 th birthday and the 300 th occurrence of Le Bal de Elysée Montmartre featured on a French internet site attracted my attention.
It was held on January 26, 2013 at the Porte de Versailles Convention Center in Paris instead of its usual location at La Machine du Moulin Rouge next to the famous Moulin Rouge with a red windmill in Montmartre where Can Can is performed. It was originally held at Elysée Montmartre , a building built in 1807 , but it burned down in March, 2011 and is still not reopened. La Machine du Moulin Rouge has the capacity to accommodate the usual 1500 attendees who pay 15 Euros to dance to rock and top hits played by Le Grand Orchestra de l’Elysée Montmartre which features singers and about 10 musicians.
It is held monthly and produced by Garance Productions. People from all walk attend. Although the majority of the crowd is French and from 25-40 years old, all are welcome. Natacha from Garance invited me to have this incredible experience .Why would people pay 25 Euros to go to a dance when the usual rate to enter a disco is between 10 and 20 Euros? I was curious!
The line up of invited guests for this special occasion included Jimmy Somerville, Patrick Hernandez who sang “ Born to Be Alive, Kim Carnes from Nashville who sang “ Bette Davis Eyes” and Partenaire Particulier which translates as individual partner because each one of us searches his/her individual partner, Richard Sanderson and Michel Vedette.
It was advertised as the biggest “boom” ever organized and it was with 4,000 attendees.
Katy Perry Impersonation by Le Grand Orchestre de l’Elysée Montmartre Photo Credit Anthony Soimié
Richard Sanderson photo credit Anthony Soimié
When I arrived about midnight some people were lining up to get in but the crowds were not there yet. I was early. I looked for the coat room but the line seemed about a hour long so I just kept my coat as did many others. A DJ was spinning tunes. Where were the invited guests and the large crowd?
Then I met Maxence Ariasylucas , a sports editor who likes to speak English. I told him that I was planning to stay until 2 A.M. He told me that no one leaves at 2 A.M. but rather at dawn! Most people arrive at 1 A.M. or a little later and stay the whole night. The live entertainment starts at about 1 A.M. I asked Max why so many people come and why this night was special. He told me people come to dance and also meet new people. Some marriages result. He said people like the idea of no dress code “ come as you care.”
Most of the ladies wore dresses and the men were dressed casually. People came in pairs or as groups. I was the only one alone but not for long because Max invited me to join his group of friends. Max told me that this ball was special because of the invited guests. Usually it is just the singers from the band and the musicians who perform.
Abba Impersonation by Le Grand Orchestre de l’Elysée Montmartre Photo credit Anthony Soimié
As the evening progressed, I enjoyed the rock music and international hits like Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes.” She sang this song and then said ” J’aime Paris” which means I love Paris. There was plenty of room on the dance floor and the drinks of beer, soft drinks and champagne were reasonably priced.
Kim Carnes photo credit Anthony Soimié
Le Grand Orchestre de L’Elysée Montmartre, G.O. L.E. M., is composed of three male singers, four female singers, one bass player, one guitarist, one drummer , one keyboard player and three brass instrument players. They play music from the 50s to music of today. Their original style includes outrageous costumes, hair styles and unique choreography.
The DJ Peter Pan who often is the DJ for Le Bal de l’Elysée Montmartre has performed in London, Cannes and in Miami. He knows how to please the crowds. All the perfomers came except for Jimmy Somerville who had a health problem with his throat and who wrote a letter in English which they projected on a large screen. A man intepreted the letter into French. I came to take a look and enjoyed the Bal so much that I stayed until 6 A.M. Le Bal de Montmartre is like a villlage party Parisian style. Gérard Michel, the founder, wanted to create a dance evening with live music. He wanted a change from the typical Parisian clubbing scene.
Le Bal de Montmartre is very interesting for the Parisians because they enjoy a great evening of dancing to live music with a live orchestra and singers . Garance, the producer has been having these monthly balls since 1995.
Birthday Cake for 300 th Ball photo credit Pénélope Bagieu a famous French illustrator
Foreigners visiting Paris would have a great experience meeting locals and dancing the night away at these balls. Information can be found in local advertising online or by going to the website of Garance Productions. Information about the monthly balls can be found at www.elyseemontmartre.com. The website for Garance is www.garanceproductions.com.
Related Posts:
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=241945
Posted by Jane Rosenstein on Mar 6 2013, With 0 Reads, Filed under Editor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
COMMENTS
To post, we ask that you login using Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail in the box below.Don't have a social network account? Register and Login direct with VT and post.
Before you post, read our Comment Policy - Feedback
This is a great article. I would love to go to Paris and go to this ball. Especially since my father’s ancestors came from Paris, 400 years ago. They decamped for North America during the Maunder Minimum, when it was cold, crops were failing, and rebellions and wars were brewing.
I haven’t been to France yet, but the trip is being planned. So far, I need about a year to do everything I want.
Some of us live in France…either part of the time or all of the time.
We also use our press credentials to get every free meal possible.
Spending a summer in Provence…now that would be nice. Tour the Champagne district and sample the more than 12 thousand different varieties.
How about a last Tango in Paris.
…And I feel her from across the room, it was love in the third degree….
Oohh, baby, baby, won”cha turn your head my way
ooh, baby, baby
Ah, come on! Take a chance
Your old enough to
Dance, Dance the night away
Where exactly did I leave that stick o butter
This early morning Parisienne sensory stimulation – grooving with Kim Carnes and 4,000 of your newest party mates – would beat driving from Midland to Lubbock any day of the week.
Ms Rosenstein’s article speaks to the wish of some veterans to feel alive, cosmopolitan and appreciative of a vital pulse • like Indian drumming it taps a dimension. Since one can easily get to Paris from anywhere in Europe, this is an accessible hot spot. Qui n’aimerait pas Paris?
Amen, And for that matter you could ask why would I spent my Thanksgiving with the French resistance?
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/11/23/my-thanksgiving-with-the-french-reistance/
Answer…Because I wanted to, and had the opportunity. A lot of what you see up on VT have those two components behind them.
Thank you for sharing that link, Mr Dean. I don’t care what others say about patting writers on the back – consider it patted.
I read that the intelligence reports from French resistors were indispensable to British and Allied operations.
My high school French teacher had been a close friend of Camus and used to relate stories to our class. Being a very dense 16, I took this as no special honor to be in her presence … and, … why wouldn’t everyone know Camus?
In 1942, Camus had begun working for the clandestine newspaper Combat, the journalistic voice of the French Resistance movement. His singular intellect still resonates -
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
*The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
*Always go too far, because that’s where you’ll find the truth.” {Albert Camus}
This 12 year old kid who was the youngest ever decorated, he got screwed. His family was turned in, lost everything, but survived the camps. The kid made a harrowing trip to Britain, often with the Gestapo one day behind him.
But the kid hero never got a pension or paid a dime by the French government. Why? Because he worked for a British network. He ended up as a forester…so he could be away from people.
I never thought about it but it’s possible that WWII created one more than one Forester. The tree-hugging movement of the 1960s could have been a response to Nam. Plus, a lot of guys ended up in the Alaskan wilderness in the 1970s, a mini-migration, I recall.
“This isn’t … France!” – Annie Clarke in Calendar Girls.
But, didn’t our Ben Franklin have some good times at Paris parties? There’s a long and august tradition for wayfarers.
My cousin, a sculptor, earned a scholarship to travel and study across Europe for a year. While in Paris, a girl befriended him at a café and he was invited to visit her grandmother’s home on Île Saint-Louis, an interesting community. I hear that the homes are historic.
Why? Come on people!! It’s Paris…Foreign Affairs and a major European espoinage center…wine…lots of old old history including people who have Roman walls as part of their house…and all of us here would like to live there three months a year !!! And of course there is Jane.
I especially liked these details, I wasn’t planning on asking for them, who knew such enlightened commentary existed:
“Most of the ladies wore dresses and the men were dressed casually. People came in pairs or as groups. I was the only one alone but not for long because Max invited me to join his group of friends. Max told me that this ball was special because of the invited guests. Usually it is just the singer from the band and the musicians who perform.”
Reads like a Romance Novel, so I was waiting for some new kinky Paris action to follow, which never came.
I’ve been to some parties that started out that way, but then went a different way. You were required to bring a woman with you that would “perform” that was a mandatory requirement.
I think my mind picked up on the words in the last sentence….ball,…special,…invited guests,…singer,….musicians who perform
When you meet Jane…all will be known to you.
Glad I am not alone in thinking this article is an odd fit here at VT.
Would Mr. Dean or anyone explain why this piece is on VT?
“Après moi, le déluge”
It is part of the French culture and of interest to people reading VT who might come to visit Paris.
Jane,
I didn’t give your article a fair chance and I’m sorry for any offensive remarks. they were in jest and maybe too off color. I will read anything you write with a more open mind.
What ?