Michaela Rondelli, from rural Perthshire
‘Once a Moulin Rouge dancer, always a Moulin Rouge dancer’
I’m from Almondbank in Perthshire. I’ve been working at the Moulin Rouge for three and a half years. I annoyed management by email from the age of 18 because I could never make the auditions. Finally they invited me to audition privately, which is unusual because when they audition around the world there are hundreds of dancers who turn up. I was very lucky.
I auditioned on the Thursday and started on the Monday doing my month’s rehearsals. The Moulin Rouge is iconic – it’s always been my dream job since I was a little girl. It’s so nice, it’s like being part of history.
I trained in everything, starting off in Highland dance and then moving into ballet, tap, modern. I trained at Julie Young Dance Studios in Perth, and then I was a Scottish Ballet senior associate, so I used to go to Glasgow every Saturday. When I was 16 I moved to London and trained there for three years and eventually got my BA honours degree.
Since 19 I’ve been dancing all over the world. When I started at the Moulin Rouge my hamstrings were very sore because I had to start learning the can-can, which is quite intense because of the kicking – you have six days a week rehearsal from one o’clock until five, and there are two hours of can-can training. When you are classically trained the can-can is the opposite of what you learn – in ballet you learn to turn out your feet and point your toes, but in the can-can everything’s turned in. It’s a really special, intricate dance to learn.
We do twelve shows a week, each lasting an hour and 45 minutes. I was shocked at how sore my muscles were, and how heavy some of the costumes were. It’s all very well wearing them in rehearsal, but on stage you still have to dance and look elegant. That’s difficult.
When we represent the Moulin Rouge around the world, it’s great. We do a lot of TV shows in London, we’ve been to China, Australia, Poland, Japan, Argentina. We represent French culture abroad.
There are 1,000 costumes on stage and the initial budget for the show is four million euros. The jewellery comes from Swarovski, so it’s very expensive, very sparkly and very heavy. When the lights hit the costumes it’s amazing to see. The other day was really special. Lots of old show girls from the 1960s and ‘70s came and watched the show. There were 120 of them, and when we finished they gave us a standing ovation. It was amazing and very moving for them. They say, ‘once a Moulin Rouge dancer, always a Moulin Rouge dancer’.