Jane Avril

Jane Avril (9 June 186817 January 1943) was a French can-can dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and a frequent subject of painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's art. Extremely thin and "given to jerky movements and sudden contortions", she was nicknamed La Mélinite, after an explosive.

Biography

Early life She was born Jeanne Louise Beaudon on 9June 1868 in Belleville, a neighborhood in the 20th arrondissement of Paris (though her biographer, Jose Shercliff—whose account of the dancer's life is highly romanticised—employed the surname “Richepin” in her publication). Her mother Léontine Clarisse Beaudon was a prostitute who was known as "La Belle Élise," and her father was an Italian aristocrat named Luigi de Font who separated from her mother when Avril was two years old. Avril was raised by her grandparents in the countryside until her mother took her back with the intent of turning her into a prostitute. (1=Sources state this was either at the age of 13 or 16.) with the movement disorder known as "St Vitus' Dance", with symptoms that included nervous tics, thrashing of limbs, and rhythmic swaying. Under the care of Dr.Jean-Martin Charcot, an expert on "female hysteria", she received various kinds of treatment, and claimed in her biography that, when she discovered dance at a social ball for employees and patients at the hospital celebrating Mardi Gras, she was cured; a modern biography of her argues that this story is unlikely, however, as she was discharged in June 1884, months before any Mardi Gras celebration would take place. She was certainly known for her unusual style, which was described as "an orchid in a frenzy." Using the stage name Jane Avril, suggested by an English lover, she built a reputation that eventually allowed her to make a living as a full-time dancer. During this time, she became known by various nicknames: La Mélinite after an explosive, L'Etrange ("The Strange One"), and Jane la Folle ("Jane the Crazy"). Lautrec captured her mental and physical absorption in her movements. The popularity of the can-can became such that Avril travelled with a dance troupe to perform in London in 1896. Graceful, soft-spoken, and melancholic, Avril gave a dance presentation that was the opposite of the very boisterous La Goulue. Nevertheless, the club's patrons adored her, and she became one of the most recognizable names in Parisian nightlife. Unlike most dancers, she frequently performed alone. Avril's elegant performance quality was called "Botticelli-like" by painter William Rothenstein. From another liaison, she bore a son, half a century later, the semi-fictionalized character was reinterpreted by Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge! (2001). Avril is one of the characters in Per Olov Enquist's book The Book of Blanche and Marie, which portrays the lives of Marie "Blanche" Wittman and Marie Curie.