Mellina Boubetra

Mellina Boubetra began dancing at a youth center (MJC) in Colombes, her hometown. She discovered hip-hop at a very young age and met her teacher, Mohamed El Hajoui, who decided to form a duo called “Second Souffle,” specializing in jazz rock and locking. In 2006, they began their career performing in choreographed shows. After several years of studying biology, she decided in late 2015 to devote herself to dance. She entered the scene through all-style dance battles and gradually shifted her focus toward choreography. She joined John Degois’s company, Des pieds au mur, for the 2016 production De bois et…. In 2017, she collaborated with Andrew Skeels on the piece Finding Now, and in 2018, she worked with the Dyptik company on Le Cri.
In 2017, she founded the company ETRA and created INTRO, a piece that won the Tremplin Trans’urbaines, the HIP HOP GAMES 2018, and the CCN Prize of Créteil & Val-de-Marne / Kalypso Festival 2019. The piece also received the Passerelle label and support from ADAMI.
“What interests me most about choreography is creating spaces where we can appreciate—both as performers and as spectators—the malleability of the body. I am always fascinated by the infinite variations in form and meaning, as well as the connections it can create with others, all in a very natural way. I make it a point of honor to use everything that surrounds us and makes us who we are as a solid foundation for movement, which requires a keen sense of observation at the heart of the creative process. It’s a process of translation. What I enjoy is the journey of reinventing how we perceive ourselves, of managing to cast a fresh, innocent eye on a gesture, and then imagining a framework in which it will take on its full significance.” Mellina Boubetra