As well as the most beautiful evocation of this dangerous chapter in European history, Nicola’s writes so naturally and movingly about dance (not for nothing was she deputy editor of Dancing Times for many years) that you feel as if you are watching it – no matter whether you know a thing about ballroom or not.
It is also a meticulously researched novel, transporting readers to 1940s Paris in stunning detail. To celebrate The Paris Dancer's release, we mined Nicola’s knowledge and asked her whisk us away on a tour of the City of Light – just in time for spring. Buy The Paris Dancer.
Palais Garnier
One of the world’s most famous opera houses, the Palais Garnier has been home to the Paris Opera Ballet since the 19th century, where it has nurtured legendary dancers and choreographers from Marie Taglioni, one of the first ballerinas to dance en pointe in the 1800s, to more recent trailblazers such as Sylvie Guillem and Benjamin Millepied.
Completed in 1875, the building was designed by Charles Garnier as part of Emperor Napoleon III’s grand reconstruction of Paris. A masterpiece of Beaux-Arts architecture, the building boasts gilded interiors, intricate sculptures and a Grand Foyer that resembles the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, with a richly decorated ceiling and vast chandeliers. You can explore the Palais Garnier on a guided (or self-guided) tour, but the best way to experience the building that inspired the writing of The Phantom of the Opera is to see it come to life with an opera or ballet performance, though as a dance writer I have a bit of a bias towards the latter. Tickets book up quickly, so keep a close eye on the website.
Shakespeare and Company
This famous independent English-language bookstore is located on the Left Bank of the Seine, near Notre-Dame Cathedral. Much loved for its bohemian atmosphere, labyrinthine book-filled rooms and literary history, the shop was founded in 1951 by George Whitman, though it carries the spirit of an earlier incarnation of the same name run by Sylvia Beach in the 1920s and 1930s. Her store at 12 rue de l’Odéon was a gathering place for the great expat writers of that era including Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, TS Eliot and Ezra Pound, and it was the first to publish Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922.
As a lifelong book lover, I couldn’t resist including Beach’s shop in a scene in The Paris Dancer, when wannabe writer Esther first meets the Canadian ballerina Annie Mayer in 1938. While you’re in the neighbourhood, don’t miss the chance to pop into Berthillon on Île Saint-Louis for a scoop of its delicious ice cream.
Édith Piaf’s grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery
It might seem strange to recommend a cemetery to visitors, but Père Lachaise is one of Paris’s most famous landmarks – known not just for its tranquil beauty but also for the many cultural, literary and artistic figures buried there. The cemetery is home to the remains of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Frédéric Chopin, Marcel Proust and the beloved French singer Édith Piaf, who died in 1963.
Known as ‘La Môme Piaf’ (The Little Sparrow), the singer rose from humble beginnings to become a global sensation, celebrated for her powerful, emotive voice. She makes an appearance in The Paris Dancer, inspired by her real-life tour of the prisoner-of-war camps in Germany in 1943, where both she and dancer Annie Mayer use their position to help the French prisoners. Today, Piaf’s grave in a quiet corner of the cemetery has become a pilgrimage site for fans from around the world, who often leave flowers, especially red roses, as a sign of love and respect for the singer.
Sacré-Cœur and Montmartre
Perched high on the Montmartre hilltop, Sacré-Cœur is one of Paris’s most famed sights and the terrace outside the majestic pale dome offers some of the best views of Paris. It’s the perfect spot to soak up the beauty of the City of Light, especially at sunset.
Below Sacré-Cœur, the vibrant neighbourhood of Montmartre is a labyrinth of winding streets, bustling cafés and studios. Once the heart of Paris’s bohemian life, it provided the backdrop for the creative process of countless artists writers, and musicians. In The Paris Dancer, the characters celebrate a small victory during the occupation with a night out in one of Montmartre’s lively dancehalls. As Esther writes, ‘To dance and carouse, even to love, those things felt like acts of defiance.’
36, rue Victor-Massé – the site of the Bal Tabarin
While you’re in a Montmartre, it’s a hop, skip and a pirouette to 36, rue Victor-Massé, where a music hall known as the Bal Tabarin once stood, though it was sadly razed to the ground in the 1960s. Once as famous as the Moulin Rouge, what made the Bal Tabarin stand out from other music halls was its visionary artistic director, Pierre Sandrini, the son of renowned prima ballerina Emma Sandrini. He brought in classically trained dancers to perform the French cancan and his shows were celebrated as artistically rich and innovative spectacles.
More important, during Paris’s occupation by the Nazis, the director protected the Jewish artists who worked for him. Unlike other employers, he continued to offer them work and advised them not to register as Jewish. One such artist to benefit from his kindness and courage was a South African dancer who arrived in Paris in 1938 as Sadie Rigal, but later became known as Florence for the stage – a name she stuck with after her time in France. The Paris Dancer is inspired, in part, by Florence’s life, as well as those of other dancers and music-hall artists at the Bal Tabarin. Today all that remains of the Tabarin is a commemorative plaque: a poignant reminder of the stories that lie unseen – and all but forgotten – beneath our feet in Paris or any other great city.
By Nicola Rayner
