Former POB dancers in other companies

[Estelle]

The POB has an especially low turnover: most dancers stay there from the end of their training at the POB school until their official retirement at 40 or 45. Leaving the company must be a tough decision, as their status is very steady and relatively well-paid, they have the opportunity to work with many choreographers, and going elsewhere means taking more chances- and also most of the POB dancers have been trained at the POB school and are very attached emotionally to the company. There were some cases of dancers having a successful career after leaving the POB, like the principal Dominique Khalfouni who became a principal in Roland Petit's company in Marseille, and premiered many of his works, or of course Sylvie Guillem in London, and some others whose career was a bit disappointing, like Eric Vu An who was considered as a future big star but whose career was shortened by injuries and administrative problems.

But there have been more dancers leaving in recent years, and I thought it would be interestring to try to list all the former POB dancers in other companies, and what they're doing... So far it is a work in progress.

-Guillaume Graffin: joined the POB in 1983, left between 1983 and 1986 when he was a coryphee (his bio on the ABT web site isn't very precise) for the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, joined ABT in 1988 as a principal dancer.

-Olivia Grandville: joined the POB in 1981, left in the late 1980s or early 1990s to join the modern company of Dominique Bagouet,

after Bagouet's death in 1992 she created her own company and started choreographing.

-Sylvie Guillem: joined the POB in 1981, became a principal in 1985, left around 1990, now a guest principal with the Royal Ballet in London.

-Raphaëlle Delaunay: joined the POB in 1992, left in 1997 while being a coryphee,

joined Pina Bausch's company in Wuppertal,

and in 2000 joined the Nederlands Dans Theater.

-Pierre-Francois Vilanoba: joined the POB in 1990, left the POB in 1998 while being a sujet to join the San Francisco Ballet as a soloist, became a principal there in 1999.

-Rachel Rufer (Vilanoba's wife): joined the POB in 1990, left in 1998 while being a coryphee to join the SFB for one year, then went to the Grands Ballets Canadiens as a soloist, promoted recently as a principal.

-Marie-Claude Pietragalla: joined the company in 1979, became a principal in 1990, left in 1998 to became the director of the Ballet National de Marseille.

-Gilles Porte: joined the POB in 1992, left the company as a quadrille in 1998 to join the Zurich Ballet for one year, and then went to the Ballet de Marseille as a soloist.

-Julien Lestel: left the company in 1998 to join the Zurich Ballet for one year, and then to the Ballet de Marseille as a soloist.

-Marie-Gaëlle Communal: joined the company in 1989, left the company around 1999 to join the Ballet de Marseille, later joined the Ballet de l'Opéra de Lyon.

-Peggy Grelat: joined the POB in 1992, joined the Frankfurt Ballet in 2000 (while still being a quadrille, I think).

-Séverine de Cussac: joined the POB in 1993, left around 2001 to join the Dresden Ballet as a soloist.

-Eric Quillere: joined the POB in 1984, became a premier danseur in 1990, guested more and more frequently with the Miami City Ballet and left in 2001 or 2002 to join the MCB as a principal.

--Delphine Baey: joined the company in 1989, left the company in 2001 as a sujet to join the Ballet National de Marseille as a soloist.

-Sébastien Thill: joined the company in 1991, left the company in 2001 as a coryphee to join the Hamburg Ballet.

-Jean-Sébastien Colau: joined the POB in 1996, left in 2002 to join the National Ballet of Canada.

-Lise-Marie Jourdain: joined the POB in 1995, left in 2002 to join the National Ballet of Canada.

[Mme. Hermine]

Marie-Christine Mouis, who went to the Boston Ballet, I think, in 1980 or thereabouts, pretty sure she was a member of POB for at least a while, I can see her in a tape i have of a defile in 1980.

[Alexandra]

Thank you for that list, Estelle. It makes for fascinating reading. I was very surprised to see how many emigre POB dancers there are.

[su-lian]

Actually, i thought that Jean-sébastien Colau and Lise-Marie Lourdain only left for one year for the moment and were meant to come back to Paris next year (2003-2004). Well, at least, that's what Jean-Sébastien Colau said in a magasine, and their names are still at the end of the programmes of the Opera as part of the company.

And there's aldo Frederic Olivieri who left quite a long time ago after entering the company in 1978. And many others too. Good luck!