‘Moulin Rouge’ workshop shows locals they, too, can-can dance

Jane Valencia glanced around the room — filled with people in spandex, some a third her age — and a feeling of terror took hold.

And that was before the dance instructor announced that the routine would include a “jump split” — a maneuver that could make even the most accomplished dancer’s eyes water.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep up,” said Valencia, a one-time professional dancer who hadn’t performed in 30 years. “They said all ages and all abilities. I was hoping there would be more beginners.”

Valencia, who lives on the Northwest Side, was one of about 50 people who signed up for a 90-minute workshop Tuesday to learn the can-can, the high-kicking dance (accompanied by much shrieking) made famous by Paris’ famed Moulin Rouge cabaret. The dance — with its skin-baring, suggestive movements — was considered scandalous when it began appearing on stages in the 19th century.

Leading the class Tuesday at the Alliance Francaise de Chicago in River North was Katie Lombardo, a dance captain for the Broadway in Chicago show, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” playing through April 20 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St.

Alas, Lombardo wasn’t wearing one of the show’s expansive can-can skirts.

“I’m going to teach exactly what we do in the show. (Except) they won’t be kicking over each other’s heads because it’s too dangerous to do here,” Lombardo said.

The class started with some serious stretching and then it was on to the routine, accompanied by the rousing music from the show’s opening number, “Welcome to the Moulin Rouge!”

Or as the song goes, “Because you can can-can … because you can can-can!”

In no time, 50 women and one guy were high-kicking, leaping and shrieking. Hard to know what a group of preschoolers watching in stunned silence thought of the spectacle.

Some legs went so high it looked as though the dancers might give themselves a concussion.

Valencia did more than keep up — at one point, dropping to the floor in a roll-like maneuver. She skipped the jump split — a mid-air leap that ends with the dancer landing in the splits position — but then so did plenty of other participants.

“I had fun — lots of fun,” she said, adding that she’d happily take the class again if it were offered. “But I would work out frantically for a month before.”

Elizabeth Petrucka, 23, of Rogers Park, was fizzing with excitement after the class.

“Oh my God, I love dancing and I just love how joy filled this dance is!” said Petrucka. “I was just imagining being on stage and just like kicking my face. … It was so much fun.”:

A number of the participants were either professional dancers or aspiring professionals. After the session, Lombardo gathered the class for a Q&A.

What advice would she give to someone who hopes to get to where she is as a dancer?

“Audition as much as possible, even if you think [the show] is not for you — just for the practice,” she said.

Do you like to take a break after a show’s run before you start another?

She tries not to, Lombardo said. For one thing, it’s incredibly hard to land a job, she noted.

“I get so bored,” she said.