Fire rips through 200-year-old Paris dance hall

PARIS >> A fire has ripped through a two-century-old theater in northern Paris said to be a birthplace of French cabaret-style cancan dancing.

The blaze gutted the building whose internal structural supports were designed by Gustave Eiffel, famed for the Eiffel Tower.

The fire at the the Elysee Montmartre theater spewed plumes of smoke over the Montmartre neighborhood that is also home to the Moulin Rouge cabaret.

Officials say about 10 people were treated for smoke inhalation after the building caught fire after dawn on Tuesday. The cause wasn’t immediately clear.

In recent years, the ivy-draped Elysee Montmartre (el-ee-ZAY Mohn-MAR-treh) has been a music venue where acts such as Counting Crows, David Bowie and The White Stripes have played.