Back in the 1980s, Crazy Horse Paris was not only one of the world’s most famous cabarets, attracting audiences from every corner of the globe, it was also one of the most competitive jobs a dancer could dream of. Alain Bernardin, founder and director of the cabaret, once recalled auditioning between 2,000 and 3,000 dancers a year, holding castings on the first Tuesday of every month. From those thousands of applicants, only around 30 to 40 women would make it annually.

Why? Because Crazy Horse Paris rarely produced only dancers. It produced icons.

For many performers, the cabaret became a launchpad into larger careers: actresses, singers, models, television personalities, cultural figures. One of them was Marina Defosse, better known onstage as Rita Xenon, who danced at Crazy Horse Paris between 1981 and 1989.

“—Xénon, does that indicate you’re of foreign origin?
—I am indeed of foreign origin, yes. But Xénon is simply a stage name.”
She told Philippe Bouvard in a 1985 interview.

French by birth but partly Vietnamese, Marina often attributed her striking looks to her Asian ancestry. She first stepped onto Crazy Horse Paris stage at just 20 years old and remained there for nearly a decade, becoming one of its defining faces during the 1980s.

But like many of the cabaret’s dancers, her interests extended far beyond performance. Marina later immortalized her experiences in ‘Le Crazy Horse Paris vu par ses filles’, a book combining memories of her own career with reflections and interviews from fellow dancers.

“For many young women, working at Crazy is a wonderful opportunity. Even after they leave, most of them feel proud to have danced there.” She wrote.

She also appeared in films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but perhaps her most unexpected legacy came decades later: her memoir inspired producer Dominique Besnehard to develop ‘Ça, c’est Paris!’ (2024), a series  inspired by the hidden lives of Parisian showgirls, featuring acting icons like Monica Bellucci, Christian Louboutin, and showgirl legend Line Renaud. Honestly, very iconic.

Rita Xenon passed away in Paris on November 23, 2020, at age 59; but like many Crazy Horse Paris dancers, her story stretched far beyond the stage lights