In this room, dancers warmed up before a performance, adjusted their costumes, etc. It soon became common for lodge owners to gather there to watch the dancers. These were old and wealthy men who watched young, often 13,14-year-old dancers and seduced them. This procedure was supported by so-called “mothers” who engaged in pimping.
Paintings by Edgar Degas and Jean-Louis Forain often show this place and its erotic atmosphere.
