RIAN COPE

Unveiled: Behind the curtain at Crazy Horse Paris

Unveiled is an intimate, long-form photographic study set behind the velvet curtain of Crazy Horse Paris, the legendary cabaret where performance, femininity, and discipline converge. This project offers rare access to the backstage world of Piper, an Australian dancer who left behind the familiar to carve out her place within one of Paris’s most revered cultural institutions.

Through months of immersive observation and quiet trust-building, Unveiled moves past the stylized image often associated with Crazy Horse to reveal a deeper, more human narrative—one of self-transformation, resilience, and belonging.

This isn’t a story about performance alone—it’s about the person beneath the persona. The backstage rituals. The loneliness of ambition. The shared strength between women who live by rhythm and light. And the emotional complexity of building identity in a space that both empowers and exposes.

Through candid portraits, ambient detail, and restrained visual storytelling, Unveiled captures moments of vulnerability, agency, and the often-invisible labor of those who dedicate themselves to a life on stage. It challenges assumptions around erotic art and reframes the conversation around visibility, empowerment, and choice.

Unveiled is not just an invitation behind the scenes. It’s a meditation on what it means to be seen—on your own terms.