What’s the story behind your stage name?

Hippy, because I’m all for peace, love and awareness, values at the heart of the hippy movement. Bang Bang refers to my more intense side, my vitality which can get rather explosive and surprising, like a gunshot! I like saying it’s my Ying and my Yang, there’s in me this balance between two opposing, yet complimentary, forces.

When and how did you get into dancing?

I started with hip-hop when I was nine and it immediately became a passion. I especially loved the excitement of the crew performances. When I was fifteen, I was already giving hip-hop dance lessons and was part of several different dance troupes. When I turned 20, I hesitated quite a while between running for office or becoming a professional dancer. I wanted to do something that gave meaning to the people around me. When Crazy Horse Paris came to Montréal, I’d already made up my mind. I’d understood that, thanks to dancing, I could really be useful to others by sharing the values that are the most important in my eyes: frivolity and dreams on one side and self-awareness and physical freedom on the other.

What vision of femininity do you represent when you’re dancing on the Crazy Horse stage?

I’m the same person on stage as I am in real life. Dynamic, joyful, but also fragile, vulnerable, sensitive. I’m a woman who’s uncertain, afraid and who sometimes undergoes waves of emotions, but who tries to turn them to her advantage.

What do you enjoy most about your job/passion?

Dancing is my life’s energy. Body language is universal, everyone can understand and feel it.

What is it that still keeps your heart thumping when you come to work at the Crazy Horse?

At Crazy Horse Paris, when you’ve familiarized yourself with all the different choreographic rules and when the precision and rigour that is required of you has become second nature, you reach an unrivaled level of freedom of expression. This is a very powerful process in the making. You are literally stripped down to your essence, whether it be physically, emotionally, instinctively or spiritually. You gain access to the very essence of your being and this makes sense to you. There are more poetic, vulnerable, happier or more intense characters than others and that’s what’s going to highlight the different colours of one’s personality.

Dancer, comedian, performer… How would you define yourself?

When it comes to the Crazy, I’m all three at once! For those fabulous shows I have to be a performer and play with the audience, to get them to feel something. For that, I can’t just only be a dancer, I have to become an actress and be in touch with my feelings on every level.

Do you have a small ritual or magic formula, before getting on stage?

Every show is unique. It’s important to me to always stay connected to the present moment in order to make the most of it. So, before getting on stage, I keep repeating to myself: “Be in the moment, free yourself and above all, have fun!”

You’re a dancer at the Crazy Horse. Is there an even crazier dream you’d like to fulfill?

I started a started training in dance therapy as a means of emotional expression. I’d like to start workshops in body language for a way of helping people free themselves of trauma. This training was a bit of a revelation to me, I believe I’ve found my life’s purpose. Bringing people to reclaim their bodies in their entirety and reconcile them with their minds and claim their uniqueness, that’s beautiful and this search for beauty is also a part of my life, has always been.

How would you define femininity?

Every woman is her own definition of femininity. To feel your own femininity it’s important to reconnect to your self and to your past. In order to do that you need to free yourself from caring about what others think of you, something that’s easier said than done, especially nowadays. But in a way, it’s the only way to really discover and appreciate who you are.

Your crazy side, that little extra?

My craziness comes from the energy in me and that I share. I like being funny and am not afraid of appearing ridiculous!

Which scene of the Totally Crazy! show do you think is the most amazing?

Lay Laser Lay is very special to me. Technically and emotionally I’ve achieved unexpected dimensions in this solo performance. At first I was always given brighter, more joyful numbers to perform, but this one is darker. The twirling hula hoop speaks of eternally starting over and about all the questions one might have concerning that. I think the act is very deep and moving.

Photos : Riccardo Tinelli, Antoine Poupel, Rémi Desclaux, Victor Point

Video : Paul-Henri Pesquet