Here's What Went Wrong With The Can-Can Dancers At The Olympics Opening Ceremony

Dancers from the can-can portion of the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony explained why the conditions present made it impossible to perform the dance fully.

The traditional French dance routine received some negative comments on social media, as legs appeared low and steps imprecise. This is despite the group being over 80 dancers from the Moulin Rouge who, you know, presumably can do a good can-can.

As Australia's News.com notes, dancer Allie Goodbun shared a TikTok of the group performing flawlessly in rehearsal. In response to a question asking why the dancers did not "lift their legs during the kick," she replied, "So proud to be apart of this perforemance despite unfortunate weather conditions and a very slippery surface not allowing us to do THIS 💪🏼 it was low legs, or we went for a swim!"

She also shared footage from the dress rehearsal, noting that the 2-meter-wide stage had an "edge dropping into the river." In the caption, she added, "Now add rain…😅."

Moulin Rouge dancer Justin Hitchcock echoed these sentiments on his Instagram , writing, "We were so dissapointed. It started to Rain just before the Can Can began. 10 seconds before you saw us. We were trying to towel down and dry the stage off with rags."

Explaining that they rehearsed the performance for the previous seven days on top of their regular Moulin Rouge 12-show schedule, he continued, "We knew at this moment the world would be watching us try and do our job on a stage that just became and ice rink once it was wet and left 2 of our beautiful cast limping home."

"I’ve never looked at a dancer on stage at the end of a performance been heartbroken and seen heartbreak in my fellow dancers eyes like I have tonight," he continued. "We did our best and we wish an epic once in a lifetime experiences to athletes in the games."

Congratulations to the dancers of the Moulin Rouge for dancing through it all.