Parisians rediscover taste for "art of the nude"

PARIS, Feb 14 (Reuters) Backstage at the Lido, the dancers in one of the French capital's most celebrated nude revues file into place, adjust their plumed headdresses as the music begins, and stride out for the night's show.

As the evening progresses, bare-breasted dancers stream on and off stage, handing their feathers to wardrobe assistants and wriggling into new costumes before fixing a smile and taking their positions for the next number.

Belying their champagne image, they must exercise near-military discipline, as suggested by the rank of captain held by the lead dancers in the troupe.

''It does have to be a little bit like that to work,'' said Andree Deissenberg, general manager of the Crazy Horse, another of the city's top cabarets, just a short walk from the Lido.

High-kicking, bare-breasted dancers in plumed headdresses have been a staple of gangster films and a feature of Paris night life since the days of the legendary Josephine Baker before World War Two.

Through years of changing tastes, the Lido and the Crazy Horse, and others such as the Moulin Rouge or Paradis Latin have gone on, helped recently by a fascination with the camp glamour of the 1970s in pop music and fashion.

''The history of it all is interesting,'' said Lido dancer Emma Rooney as she put on her make-up. ''But for me, I like to live today, live the feathers, live the plumes today.'' The basic formula has remained little changed for decades and, in an era of lap-dancing clubs and Internet porn, the long legs and glittering outfits of the showgirls seem almost like a throwback to an earlier, more innocent age.

''I think the French public has got back its taste for live spectacle,'' said Pierre Rambert, artistic director of the Lido.

''But nudity as such has become banal. There's probably the same amount of nudity in the show as 30 or 40 years ago but its meaning has changed.'' SENSE OF SPECTACLE While the once-daring revues may have lost their dangerous edge, one thing they have kept is their sense of spectacle.

The Lido has scores of performers, including nude dancers, ice-skaters, a live horse, a model elephant, a singer, an aeroplane, a strong man and 3.90 million dollars worth of feathers and sequined costumes.

''You should never be afraid of exaggerating,'' Rambert told Reuters. ''But at the same time you can't just do anything. You have to keep control.'' MORE REUTERS MS PM1043