Oui, c’est un cabaret scintillant et enchanteur rempli de costumes à plumes seins nus (1 000 costumes, pour être précis), de danses cancan et d’un public imbibé de champagne. Mais c’est aussi une performance athlétique.
There are four main dancing acts, each with their own, Wait did they really just do that?! moments (including an underwater dance performance), and talent performances in between. A roller skating duo had me borderline screaming in awe, while two men used the strength of their necks—?!?—to support each other’s full body weight.
The cast of 60 artists performs six nights a week, two shows a night. With a grueling schedule like that, what does a dancer do to keep their body in a state of peak performance and health?
That’s exactly what I asked one of the principal dancers, 23-year-old Allie Goodbun from Toronto, Canada. With a degree in kinesiology from the University of Toronto—plus 16 prior years of dance experience—Goodbun has a unique insight into what her body needs, and how to keep it as healthy as possible, for as long as possible.
Une journée dans la vie d’une danseuse du Moulin Rouge
Goodbun s’installe à Paris fin 2021 pour commencer son travail de danseuse à plein temps dans cette salle emblématique. Depuis, elle a adopté une nouvelle routine bien différente de celle qu’elle avait à la maison.
12h à 12h30 : Réveil
Goodbun se lève vers midi – le plus grand changement par rapport à son régime pré-Moulin. Avec des spectacles à 21 heures et 23 heures chaque soir, elle ne termine son travail qu’après 1 heure du matin, alors elle fait la grasse matinée pour compenser. « Je n’ai pas de routine matinale [anymore]; ma routine maintenant est « à quelle vitesse puis-je sortir de la maison pour pouvoir voir autant de Paris que possible ?! »
Mais d’abord, elle prend un petit-déjeuner rapide à la maison. « Quelque chose comme un bol de céréales, un œuf sur du pain grillé, un sandwich avocat-tomate – substantiel [enough] pour me tenir jusqu’au « déjeuner », dit-elle.
13h : Marchez ou faites du vélo jusqu’à un café, explorez Paris
Occasionnellement, le Moulin Rouge organise une répétition de danse obligatoire de 13h à 16h30. Sinon, Goodbun s’aventurera hors de son appartement montmartrois près du théâtre pour se rendre en ville. « Je vais probablement dans cinq arrondissements différents chaque jour », dit-elle. « J’irai à vélo partout où j’ai envie de sortir ; Je pense que je vais dans un café différent chaque jour. Goodbun aime que ses heures de travail nocturnes lui permettent de voir Paris pendant la journée et a partagé certaines de ses découvertes de cafés préférées sur son TikTok. « Il y a quelque chose dans la commodité d’une pâtisserie fraîche provenant d’une boulangerie… ce n’est tout simplement pas une chose chez nous. »
5 pm: Eat and prepare for the show
Around 5 or 5:30, Goodbun will make herself a meal to fuel her body for that night’s shows. She points out that this is during a “dead zone” in which many French restaurants are closed between lunch and dinner services, so she usually ends up eating at home, cooking herself what she calls “North American classics,” like a meat-potato-vegetable combo, chicken stir fry, or tacos. Then it’s off to the theater.
7:30 pm: Warm up at the Moulin Rouge
Goodbun’s pre-show warmup isn’t too intensive, she shares. “I’ve been active and out on my bike and walking all day, and I want to save my energy for the shows—it’s a balance between staying active and not exhausting yourself, so you’re not tired when you come into work.” She’ll do a dance-specific warmup, stretching out and activating the muscles she’ll be using in the show, then she gets her hair and makeup ready for 9 pm showtime.
9 pm and 11 pm: Back-to-back performances
With a resumé that includes Disney TV shows, modeling, and competitive dance, being on stage is nothing new for Goodbun. Though she is the principal dancer for many of the shows during the week, she also rotates (and knows every single dancer’s part!) and may play a different role depending on the night.
1:15 am: Wrap up and go home
Goodbun uses her final moments in the theater to take her makeup off, shower, put costumes away, and change into something comfortable. “When I go home I’m ready for bed!” she says.
2 am: Dinnertime
Goodbun eats her “second dinner” when she gets home, usually something quick that will refuel her body without taking much time to prep, like a sandwich and protein shake. “I basically never go out for dinner since I work those hours. The one night off I have per week, sometimes if I have plans I will eat out, but the majority of my food that I eat outside of my home is that coffee and croissant.”
3 am: Wind down
With the six-hour time difference from Toronto and the night owl schedule, Goodbun ends up being on a similar schedule to her parents and partner back in Canada. “I’m going to bed and waking up at the same time as them,” she says. She uses this window at the end of her work day to FaceTime before falling asleep.
3:30 am to 4 am: Bedtime
While some Parisians are getting up to start their day, Goodbun is finally lights out for the night.
How she stays strong and energized
Rest, rest, REST!
“Rest has been the number-one priority since moving here,” she says. “If I’m tired, it’s game over for me. I know I need to sleep as much as I can, as long as I need to, and I purposefully don’t plan anything ever before 2 pm.” That’s an unspoken rule among all the dancers, she tells me. “I knew before [moving here and starting this job] que j’aurais besoin de beaucoup de repos, mais pas autant que je le sais maintenant.
Elle dit que ce changement dans son rythme circadien et son horaire de sommeil a été le plus grand ajustement par rapport à son ancienne vie ; donner la priorité à la qualité de son sommeil et à sa récupération a été l’équivalent de son succès dans la série (et cela porte ses fruits : elle a été promue directrice en 18 mois environ). Et sortir rapidement de l’appartement pour profiter du soleil est sa façon de se réguler pour cet horaire de sommeil décalé.
En plus de dormir, Goodbun décompresse en se mettant en mouvement au quotidien, et un très French petit plaisir elle apprécie chaque après-midi un café et un croissant. «J’ai donné ma machine à café», dit-elle. « [Going out for] le café est devenu mon exutoire mental et social ; une façon de quitter la maison, de rencontrer un ami, d’explorer la ville.
Une routine fitness francisée
Bien sûr, son principal exercice consiste à danser au moins 30 heures par semaine ; six jours de travail, un jour de congé – un horaire auquel elle s’est habituée au cours de son adolescence. Quant à la façon dont elle s’entraîne ? Cela a pas mal évolué.
For Goodbun, Paris is her gym. “I haven’t spent a day inside since moving here,” she says. “I have an active daily schedule in place of cross training; this has been the best thing for my physical and mental health.”
In this way, she’s adopted a very French approach to a healthy lifestyle. Goodbun used to virtually live in athleisure and Lululemon—she even worked at the SoulCycle front desk.
“I was a big class girlie in Toronto—spin, HIIT, CrossFit, Pilates classes; always thinking ‘What gyms am I gonna go to?’” she says. “Then I got to Paris, went right into rehearsals, and tried to sign up at a gym to go in the morning before my dance rehearsals at Moulin Rouge. Come the fourth day, that was a big NO. I had no energy. I have to be cautious of not overdoing it. I need to listen to my body and not just my habits that I had in Canada.
“Fitness is a bit more advanced, more current in North America,” she says. “Because there, that is your way of feeling put together—by doing your morning routine, wearing your workout clothes, working out.”
In France, the boutique fitness craze and wellness obsession has yet to catch on. “Here, productivity is enjoying your slow morning, making sure your house is clean, putting on a really nice outfit, and going to the boulangerie—it’s a different mindset.”
She does note that many of the dancers do in fact go to a gym, but in trade they don’t necessarily get out into the city the way she does. “I prefer my active lifestyle for longer periods of the day, on foot or on my bike, and then warming up how I need to for dance.”
