Malika DJARDI et JB GILLET
Choreographer and professional skateboarder respectively

Malika and JB received a grant to enter the Green Factory event organized by the Centre National de la Danse. 

Interview of Malika Djardi
What is your artistic background ? 
In terms of artistic disciplines, I started off studying dance and visual arts and then decided to focus on dance and the performing arts. When I was younger, I did gymnastics and pottery, horse riding, and then came dance at the age of 11. After university studies and an exchange program with a dance conservatory in Montreal, I decided to go to a conservatory in France at the age of 23 and I was accepted at the National Dance Centre, then directed by Emmanuelle Huynh. After finishing my studies, I performed for several choreographers and directors before creating my own projects.

How do you see your profession today ?
I like the substance of my profession, but I deplore the administrative burden which takes up a lot of our time (unpaid, by the way) and which ultimately restricts the opportunities and forms that we can offer to the public. I would like to see more venues run by artists in a different way than the national choreographic centers and cultural institutions. We can imagine perhaps more "associative" places where budgets are not primarily based on a strong managerial and administrative structure, but rather the opposite: where artists would have more means and flexibility in the realization of their projects, time to share, and much more direct and regular interaction with the public.

How do you see yourself in five years ? In 10 years ?
Perhaps the head of a new structure of the kind mentioned above. I'm curious to discover other arts and crafts as well. For the moment I see things in the short term, and I continue to create with the means that I am given or that I am able to find. 

Interview of JB Gillet
What is your artistic background ?
I don't really have an artistic background, I started skateboarding when I was 10 years old and without even knowing it, I discovered art through the culture of skateboarding which has directly related art forms, whether it is the perception of the aesthetics of gestures, the approach and reading of a certain space, the graphics of the boards and the artistic direction of the brands, clothing, photography, video, music etc...

How do you see your profession today ?
I started skateboarding in 1990, at a time when it was not very developed in France, we didn't even think about making a career of it, there were only enthusiasts. We could "survive" by being resourceful, by reselling equipment that our sponsors gave us. We had to go to California to gain recognition and validation in the field. We also felt a cultural gap between the United States and France in general, which perceived skateboarding as a game for children. Little by little, things have been structured and professionalized in Europe, and today there is a real industry, Europeans have understood that everyone can bring their own "touch", and partly thanks to the internet, the general cultural gap has gradually faded away, now skateboarding seems to be better understood around the world, and it is more mature professionally. With hindsight I am happy to have seen this evolution. The difference now is that there are more skaters with a formatted approach to skateboarding, with a very career-focused and competitive vision, as opposed to the spirit and values of skateboarding that formed me. But there is room for everyone, and it is a great bonus that skateboarding has a multitude of facets.

How do you see yourself in five years ? In 10 years ?
I don't know yet, I've never been a great diviner of the future.

Interviews conducted in 2020
Photo credit: Kamila K. Stanley