Toulouse: how the Kalinka cabaret transforms in the summer
A veritable institution, the Toulouse cabaret Le Kalinka, presents its last show on July 23 before its summer program at Lafrancaise in Tarn-et-Garonne. Reportage.
We meet Stéphane Lafage, founder of Kalinka in full choreographic rehearsal with his troupe of eight artists. Created twenty years ago, rue des Teinturiers in Toulouse, this cabaret which has become an institution is atypical. Here, neither feathers nor sequins. But professional shows “where nothing is forbidden”, as Stéphane Lafage, dancer, likes to say. It all started when the latter bought the Crazy Moon, a Toulouse cabaret of transformists: “At the time, I had a traveling and family troupe, he explains. I felt the need to ask myself. This place, a little out of the way, was for sale”.
Stéphane Lafage has always been passionate about the cabaret atmosphere: “A childhood dream. The musical Liza Minnelli version fascinated me. I also adored the Berlin Cabaret of the 1930s and its artists who were always ready for political satire”.
From the outset, the Kalinka seduces the public, delighted to discover atypical shows with a real space of freedom and a diversity of themes, ages, physics: “here, a dancer can continue to work at 65 years old. He can be hairy, coated… What matters most is his skill, his investment and this desire for the stage”. He must also be versatile: know how to act, sing, dance, do trapeze, etc. Not to mention the transformism acts with drag queen for regular impersonations of Cher, Amanda Lear, Mariah Carey, etc. “. Originally, transformism or “quick change” meant changing costumes quickly, without any notion of discomfort. In four minutes, Elodie, one of the dancers can change outfits twenty times”, specifies Stéphane, recalling the major names of his troupe: Mika Rambar, drag-queen, Yohan and Elodie, dancers or Nathalie Barolle, actress.
A naughty summer program
Saturday July 23, the Kalinka presents “irreverence”, its last dinner show of the season in Toulouse, directed by Stéphane Lafage. A multifaceted show that revisits the Berlin cabaret, the new circus and the French cabaret at the same time. Then until August 28, the Kalinka takes up its summer quarters in Lafrancaise near Montauban at the Maison du Saula, with an outdoor stage and a shaded park. An ideal setting to discover “The secrets of a young lady” on July 26, the adventures of a naughty marquise, hidden in the woods. A presentation between theater, circus and dance where the public strolls in the park to meet this funny young lady a bit daring. If this cabaret marries all identities according to its shows: family, festive, or intimate with gory evenings, it wants to be above all lively and on a human scale.
The Kalinka, 10 rue des Teinturiers in Toulouse. Dinner show on Friday and Saturday evening. Thursday and Sunday, themed evenings. Closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Reserve: 0561422872