Share a part of the life of our consultants by discovering their hobbies! This month, let's talk about Yves Chassang (d²X Paris) and his passion for Rock and Roll.

What is your double life?

When I started higher education, I discovered a new leisure activity that I felt was very singular... Rock and roll dance.

When and how did you start?

I already loved English and American music and I used to listen to a French radio broadcast between 8 and 10 pm. It was an amazing break for me. One must say that Rock and roll bands and singers were becoming more and more famous: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Elton John, Neil Young, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton...

During my first year of intensive foundation degree, over the only 7 nights I allowed myself not to study, I went to 2 classmate parties. Young female classmates had the self-denial to let themselves be stepped on their feet for a few dances...

I realized that apart from drawing, I was skilled in another activity. And that the women with whom I danced ended up (after a few months of practice) rather willingly accepting to be reinvited.

What do you like about this passion?

It can be very unpleasant, when you feel like you're dancing with a "soft cloth", when you feel like you're engaged in arm wrestling, when you don't feel like you're dancing to the same music with a person who doesn't hear the same rhythms as you do,...

Like sailing, rock and roll dancing is an activity for which you don't master all the elements. However, when you feel in harmony with the elements, when you understand how to play with them, it can be a great experience.

Unlike sailing, it is not just about playing with elements without your own will, it can be even more enjoyable because you can feel in harmony, in empathy with your partner.

And in your daily life, how does your passion fit in?

When I had a wife and children, the priority was work and family. I danced once a year at most.

When I unfortunately got divorced (an activity that I do not recommend), after an unhappy phase, I learned from a colleague that there were very nice places where you could dance (not nightclubs). I got into it, I made some nice encounters, I even met the "Lady of my life"...

With this Lady whom I live with, we used to go (before the Covid) to dance twice a week, to take classes to increase our skills, and to dance together and with friends...

We continue to dance together at home!

Have you acquired skills that you use in your professional life?

I'm not sure that one acquires great professional skills with rock and roll dance, however, I can say that it didn't serve me badly!

In 1999, when I came back to the Paris region, I found myself working in a company where I had a former colleague, who had become a friend, who was a CIO.

At the time, external contractors could stay for more than three years in the same company, and they could be invited to the annual parties... I invited many of the ladies from the IT department of this company, and I was even invited for three years after my mission ended to dance with the ladies!

It was thanks to one of them, who then became CIO, that I worked for a client for a three-year mission. And this mission later enabled me to joined d²X!

Thank you Yves for answering our questions!