The Dior Dancers

Further investigations in the bygone night-club era

In our investigations of the bygone nightclub era, we hope our followers remember the unveiling of the miraculous Charlivels from our vaults. In the current times of spandex vestuary, canned new-age music and skilled understudies from the athletic world, we are pleasant to remember once again the era when acrobatics, music and theatrics werea blend of pure art. The Dior Dancers, a prestigious variety act lived between 1958 and 1963, was the master example. They inherited the aesthetic of the remote “apache dance” (a specialty you’ll soon face on this blog) with the vocabulary of “adagio” acrobatic dance. Dior Dancers was produced by Bob Ganjou, who made famous the act of Ganjou Brothers (between late 20s and 1947), and starred his wife Merian Ganjou.

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Dior Dancers starred in the British variety circuit, and in the opening show of Las Vegas Tropicana Hotel with the “Folies Bergeres” French imported production, where they starred for two years.

For you today, a selection of the lobby pictures of Merian and her boys, and their 1960 tv appearance in ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’ hosted by Bruce Forsyth.

Please, take the necessary 9 minutes to enjoy the act. Appreciate the drama and pre-Actor’s Studio innocence in interpretation; the quality and timing of the musical selection and the quality of the live band; be amazed at the ease of skills that nobody in this world is likely supposed to see anymore, forever.