Crazy Horse Paris opens first permanent show outside France in Dubai

The latest:

Crazy Horse Paris will stage its first permanent production outside the French capital when The Dubai Edition opens on November 12 at Zabeel Theatre inside Jumeirah Zabeel Saray on Palm Jumeirah. The 200-seat room will host 18 international dancers nightly, with tickets starting at Dh400. Organisers say the show was conceived specifically for Dubai audiences.

Details:

• The venue: Zabeel Theatre at Jumeirah Zabeel Saray has been converted into an intimate cabaret seating 200 guests, a layout organisers say is designed to place audiences closer to the performers. The Dubai production is being operated by 111 Management, a hospitality group based in the emirate.
• The adaptation: While the Paris original is known for provocative performances built around artistic nudity, organisers say The Dubai Edition has been reimagined to reflect regional culture and customs. How the more revealing routines will be altered has not been detailed.
• What stays: The production retains the techniques the brand is built on: precisely positioned lighting, shadows, optical illusions, visual projections and tightly choreographed routines, alongside new elements created for the venue and its audience.
• The cast: Eighteen dancers were selected from hundreds of international applicants and completed six months of specialised training in Paris before joining the Dubai cast. The show runs under the artistic direction of Andree Deissenberg, chief creative and brand officer of Crazy Horse Paris.
• The brief: Deissenberg said the aim was a production “immediately identifiable as Crazy Horse Paris” while conceived specifically for Dubai, drawing on the company’s artistic heritage and visual language.
• The formats: Two experiences run each evening. The Show is a 90-minute performance with dance routines, visual effects, a DJ and a master of ceremonies. The Show & Dinner pairs the performance with a three-course meal across roughly three hours, followed by a DJ set.
• Prices and access: Tickets for The Show start at Dh400 and The Show & Dinner at Dh900, with higher categories offering premium seating and added hospitality. A private Crazy Suite accommodates groups of up to 14. Admission is restricted to guests aged 21 and above.
• The schedule: Performances are scheduled daily from November 12. The Show begins at 7pm with doors at 6pm, while The Show & Dinner starts at 9.30pm with doors at 9pm.
• The brand: Founded in 1951 by French artist and entrepreneur Alain Bernardin at 12 Avenue George V near the Champs-Elysees, Crazy Horse built its reputation on stylised dance and stagecraft rather than the costumes, comedy and large ensembles of traditional cabaret.
• The collaborators: Over the decades the house has worked with figures from fashion, music and entertainment, including Beyonce, Christian Louboutin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Elie Saab, Dita Von Teese and Lisa of K-pop group Blackpink.

Between the lines:

The commercial logic sits in the numbers: a 200-seat room at Dh400 to Dh900 a head is a premium-margin operation rather than a volume one. The unresolved variable is the adaptation itself, since the artistic nudity that defines the Paris show is precisely the element organisers say has been reworked without specifying how.

What’s next

Opening night on November 12 is the first chance to see how far the Dubai staging departs from the Paris original, and whether the reworked routines hold the brand’s visual identity at a 200-seat scale.