January 2012: Clothilde Cardinal

Clothilde co-directs the Danse Danse series, work­ing along­side Pierre Des Marais since 2000. She has almost 30 years of expe­ri­ence in the per­form­ing arts field both as a fun­der and a pro­moter. Through­out her career, she has par­tic­i­pated in per­form­ing arts fes­ti­vals and fairs in Canada and around the world. Clothilde is cur­rently based in Montréal.

The inspi­ra­tion for her career

I was born in Mon­treal to an aver­age fam­ily. How­ever, there was a library in the house and clas­si­cal music on the radio all day long. Some­times, our aunt would visit and she was an arti­san wood engraver, which was a big deal in post-Quiet Rev­o­lu­tion Québec. At age 10, I par­tic­i­pated in my first “col­lec­tive work” with my fel­low grade five stu­dents. We worked on a mural project on the old fence at our school using old paint. I firmly believe that expos­ing youth to the beauty of the arts can enhance, or even deter­mine, their life course. If this “beau­ti­ful” con­t­a­m­i­na­tion does not inspire peo­ple to become a cul­tural worker, as was my case, it can make them, no doubt, a bet­ter citizen.

After stud­ies in inter­pre­ta­tion, I quickly real­ized that my place wasn’t in the spot­light, but rather behind the scenes. Being a pro­moter or a “con­veyor of the arts”, was the best way for me to com­mu­ni­cate my love for the arts and con­se­quently, change the world.