While the French are progressing swiftly toward the 21st Century, they are keeping a firm grasp on the security blanket of their past. Chicagoans can get an ample sampling of their cultural achievements as our city sets out to celebrate July 14, the date in 1789 when angry, hungry Parisians demolished the Bastille prison, where a few political prisoners had come to symbolize the arbitrary power of King Louis XVI.
Today in Paris, a new opera house was recently built on the Place de la Bastille and elsewhere in the French capital architects are throwing their avant garde architectural dice in hopes of winning a place in history.
Parisians this year, however, have been eager to get a glimpse of their past. They have been flocking to see an exhibit of the works of Toulouse-Lautrec and looking back with nostalgia to the turn-of-the-century Belle Epoque.
It was a time both naughty and nice, when some saw traditional restrictions only as rules to be broken. Toulouse-Lautrec, among others, turned away from ”noble” subject matter to portray the high life of the so- called low life of Paris: the street people and the music-hall crowds and their singers and cancan dancers.
Members of Chicago`s Dancewerks Company, dressed in red with billowy layers of white ruffled petticoats, will be at Yvette and Yvette Wintergarden on Bastille Day to perform the dance that kicked its heels at the prudery of the 19th Century. Dancewerks founder Ellen Werksman notes the cancan was almost scandalous when it was first performed in dance halls in the 1830s and later in variety shows. Although the choreography is attributed to a dancing master named Chicard, Werksman says some believe that the high leg lift was inspired by ancient fertility symbolism. ”The dance was risque because the object was to see who could kick the highest or show the most,” she says.
”Flipping your skirt over your head and showing your ruffled panties was definitely not something that a prim and proper lady would do.”
In the French provinces, villagers still have their own ways of dancing, developed over the centuries. ”There is something of a renaissance now gaining momentum,” says Allen Dodson, one of a group of six Americans called Le Crancran who play traditional French dance music from the south of France. ”One of the reasons for this is that the French government is interested in promoting French culture and there is government support, particularly on the local level.”
Le Crancran will play at Kiki`s Bistro on Bastille Day. Dodson says he got hooked on the music when he heard the sound of the hurdy-gurdy that the French play. This is not the barrel organ used by the organ grinder, but an ancient instrument whose droning sound made it popular with troubadors during the Middle Ages. The members of Le Crancran (meaning ”raucous noise,” but also a nickname for the hurdy-gurdy) play small accordions, the fiddle, whistles and a variety of drums when they perform and sometimes sing the lively dance tunes.
”Most French dances are fairly quick and the steps are small so you don`t have time to get way off the ground or to travel a great distance,”
explains Dodson. ”These are bouncy, feel-good tunes and you feel propelled by the music.” He may be echoing the sentiments of everyone celebrating Bastille Day in Chicago, where events are so numerous and varied that, as Dodson says, ”The problem is not getting us to start, but getting us to stop.”
PEOPLE WILL BE KICKING UP THEIR HEELS
Here are some of the spots where you can savor the day:
The Blue Frog Bar & Grill, 676 N. LaSalle St.; 312-943-8900. Annual
”Bastille Daze” festival with music, dancing and food outdoors under a tent. Lineup for July 17: Joe Charles` Blues Party at 4 p.m., Electra Glide as well as Joe Scumaci, a winner of the America`s Talent Search contest, beginning at 8 p.m. Lineup for July 18: A variety of local talent beginning at noon, The Elvis Brothers at 4 p.m., Sunshine Festival at 8 p.m. Free admission noon-3 p.m., $5 cover charge after 3 p.m. Winner who guesses the number of frogs in an oversized aquarium will win two tickets to Paris ($2 per guess or 6 for $10 with proceeds donated to The Easter Seals Society of Metropolitan Chicago).
Hotel Sofitel, 5550 N. River Rd., Rosemont; 708-678-4488. Lineup for July 17: 5:15-5:30 p.m., singing of ”La Marseillaise” and balloon release; 5:30 p.m.-midnight, Bastille Day Weekend Food Fare; 7:30 p.m., live jazz sound stage with WNUA radio 95.5. Festivities on July 18 feature: 9-11 a.m., breakfast under the Bastille Day tent; 10-11 a.m., 5K Run and 2K Walk (race hotline: 312-868-3010; call for entry fees); 11:30-12:30 p.m., fitness demonstrations; 1-2 p.m., Waiters Races; 2-5:30 p.m., classic car show; 2:30-3 p.m., baguette race (open to public); 3-3:30 p.m., chocolate mousse eating contest (open to the public); 3:30-4:30 p.m., children`s circus; 5-11 p.m., French Food Fare; 7-10:30 p.m., WNUA live jazz sound stage; 10 p.m., fireworks. On July 19: 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Bastille Day Weekend Brunch;
events are free.
Insure One Bastille Day 5K Run and Reebok Fitness Walk and Block Party, 900 W. Jackson Blvd. (at Peoria Street), 7 p.m. Friday, $20 cash only includes T-shirt and goody bag, block party includes Karoake Sing and live rock and roll presented by the Blaze WWBZ/103.5; 312-274-8047.
Pops for Champagne, 2934 N. Sheffield Ave.; 312-472-1000. The Bastille Day Street Festival on Sunday (rain or shine) features entertainment and food as well as a champagne tasting from 2-5 p.m. with 20 champagnes by the glass from $2-$12. Entertainment lineup: 11 a.m., jazz brunch with the Erwin Helfer Quintet; 2-5 p.m., Chizil Brazilian Band; 5 p.m., dinner with the Jazz Members Big Band.
RESTAURANTS
While many restaurants in Chicago and the suburbs have special menus planned for Bastille Day, here is a sampling of some that also have entertainment:
Brasserie Bellevue, 21 E. Bellevue Pl.; 312-266-9212. An accordion player will perform on Tuesday.
Cafe Bernard, 2100 N. Halsted St.; 312-871-2100. A French accordionist will play on Saturday and Tuesday.
Cafe du Midi, 2118 N. Damen Ave.; 312-235-6434. Chef-owner Francis Leroux promises French music and a giant Eiffel Tower made out of thousands of lights for the outdoor patio.
Chez Paul, 660 N. Rush St.; 312-944-6680. A strolling guitarist will play and diners can win ”goody bags” containing French specialities such as wine, fine glassware or perhaps a pair of sunglasses on Tuesday.
Jean Claude, 2442 N. Clark St.; 312-525-1800. A trio of musicians playing guitar, violin and bass will perform French songs and gypsy music Sunday through Tuesday.
Kiki`s Bistro, 900 N. Franklin St.; 312-335-5454. Le Crancran, a band specializing in traditional dance music from the south of France, will perform on Tuesday.
Kinzie Street Bistro, 400 N. Wells St.; 312-822-0191. Strolling French musicians will play at the outside cafe and anyone willing to sing ”La Marseillaise” to their waiter will get a free glass of wine through next Tuesday.
La Boheme, 566 Chestnut St., Winnetka; 708-446-4600. The restaurant will be decorated with flags, flowers and balloons and musicians will perform familiar French songs on Tuesday.
Montparnasse, 200 E. 5th St.; Naperville; 708-961-8203. Musicians on the piano and the saxophone will play French favorites and jazz Monday through Saturday.
Sage`s Sages, 75 W. Algonquin Rd., Arlington Heights; 708-583-6200. Carnival games will be set up in the bar and musicians will perfom in the lounge on Tuesday.
Saint Germain Bakery-Cafe, 1210 N. State Parkway; 312-266-9900. The First Annual Bastille Day Party, co-sponsored by the French-American Chamber of Commerce, will feature door prizes and entertainment with an accordionist as well as award-winning Venezuelian Hugo Marquez, who will perform excerpts from his street theater productions, which include a play about the French Revolution, on Tuesday.
Toulouse, 49 W. Division St.; 312-944-2606. Music will be provided by Bruce Robins at the piano bar on Tuesday.
Un Grand Cafe, 2300 Lincoln Park West; 312-348-8886. The celebration features a portrait sketch artist, accordionists and mimes on Monday and Tuesday.
Yvette, 1206 N. State Pkwy.; 312-280-1700. The Tuesday celebration includes The Eldee Young Trio, who will play jazz from 8 p.m.-1 a.m., cancan dancers performing at 9:15 p.m. and cast members from ”Aspects of Love,”
including Lori Alter, singing at about 11 p.m.
Yvette Wintergarden, 311 S. Wacker Dr.; 312-408-1242. On Tuesday, singer Nan Mason and her band will perform from 6-11 p.m., with cancan dancers appearing at 8:30 p.m.
FOR CHILDREN
Hotel Sofitel, 5550 N. River Rd., Rosemont; 708-678-4488: 3:30-4:30 p.m. July 18, Children`s Circus; free.
Kohl Children`s Museum, 165 Green Bay Rd., Wilmette; 708-256-6056: 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday; 1:30 p.m. Sunday: A museum staff member will appear as French film star Maurice Chevalier and lead children in a sing-along including ”Thank Heaven for Little Girls” and the French classic ”Frere Jacques”; 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, celebration of the contribution of France to the world of art features the reading of excerpts from ”Linnea in Monet`s Garden” by Christina Bjork and Lena Anderson. Children will also be able to create their own works of art to take home; free with admission to museum, $3, children under 1 free.
