It’s been very quiet around here today as the village is recovering from the annual dinner dance last night. It was enjoyed by well over a hundred people who represented a good proportion of Cortambert plus friends from the nearby villages of Blanot, Donzy and Bray.
There are many things which constantly amaze me about people here. Firstly, that the older folk, some of them in their eighties, have enough stamina to eat dinner until midnight and then dance until three o’clock in the morning. Secondly, everyone seems to drink what to me seems quite a lot without seeming the least bit tipsy. Last night we started with cremant and kir royale for the apéritif, then plenty of white wine followed by red. But even by the early hours of the morning nobody appeared any the worse.
The meal was provided by “Mille et Une saveurs” from Crèches sur Soâne near Mâcon. You wouldn’t have have found a better meal at the most expensive restaurant. How the chefs managed to do the final preparations and serve such a banquet from backstage at the foyer rural will forever remain a mystery to me. But then anything to do with cooking generally is!
Laure singing at the tables....
.....and on the tables
The couple who provided the entertainment, Ludovic and Laure Moreau, were also exceptional. We were treated to a cabaret between courses and Laure performed a very athletic can-can and even danced on the tables. She sang a variety of well known 60s French songs (her Marlene Dietrich was spot on) and the British disco hits proved very popular.
Dance for the ladies
Another thing that amazes me about the older folk, particularly the men, is that they can all dance. At the moment Chris is under the influence of Strictly Come Dancing so he made a good attempt at the cha-cha and the Viennese walze. And we had been practising the Madison all week. But the older men showed an elegance and expertise which shows that dancing has always been part of their lives. In some ways Deepest France might seem a few years behind but there is a profound sense of sociability and culture which seems to have all but disappeared in the UK.
