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Mathilde Froustey, POB sujet, changing companies -


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Of course, who knows how things will play out over her year in San Francisco - I only hope there is not too much culture shock for her. Aside from Pascal Molat and Sofiane Sylve, and maybe Dana Genshaft, I don't think there are any other French speaking company members, so there will be difficulties. And San Francisco/West Coast of North America are very different environments from Paris, France!

I keep thinking of the interview in which Aurelie Dupont mentions emailing ABT, because she wanted to perform in Onegin with ABT and would they be interested? But they weren't not interested at the time. And I keep thinking, she obviously sent her email to the wrong Creative Director: SFB has been performing Onegin for the last 2 years! Of course, Dupont just wanted to "guest" with ABT, but what a great arrangement for a smaller company like SFB - to start having guests from time to time *might* be an exciting change of pace. But I would definitely not want to see a permanent ABT situation set up in San Francisco with lots of permanent "guests". One of the strengths of the company is its cohesion - everyone working together, year after year.

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Have we really ever heard of dancers complaining about SFB for its culture and environment? I can't think of any quotes, off hand. It's a vibrant city - though insanely expensive.

I'm a casualty of Bay Area high costs myself: it became prohibitively expensive to live where I wanted to live, and I refuse to live in the "sketchy" zones just to say I'm in the Bay Area. So now I dream about moving back to Marin or Sonoma. Or Santa Cruz.

I've been wondering what sort of support dancers get from the company regarding these moves.

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There's support, and there's support. Dancers, staff, and board members have big networks and can help with many things. Messmer said to Gia Kourlas,

Simone Messmer: Yeah. To rent there is more expensive than New York. It’s crazy. And people actually find that the best way to find an apartment is on Craigslist. But for the first time trying it, the woman on the phone was like, “Yeah, I understand what you’re telling me, but during the time that we’ve been on the phone, I’ve gotten three e-mails and checks for this apartment. So should I just hang up?” For real. I was like, I don’t even know what to say to that! Thankfully the landlord of our apartment is a ballet patron; the apartment needs renovation and my boyfriend was like, “I’ll do the renovation.”

I'm pretty sure there's a similar network of landlords in Queen Anne in Seattle that love to have dancers as tenants: most are in class by 10am, may be back home for lunch or a nap, and get home later to cook dinner and collapse, six days a week, which sounds pretty low-maintenance to me.

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I'm pretty sure there's a similar network of landlords in Queen Anne in Seattle that love to have dancers as tenants: most are in class by 10am, may be back home for lunch or a nap, and get home later to cook dinner and collapse, six days a week, which sounds pretty low-maintenance to me.

They're like grad students. ;)

Sadly, there are few inexpensive living options for such people in SF. Only the wealthy have options.

I have known people over the years who were in special situations, such as rent control in the Haight-Ashbury or Mission areas, but then you have to deal with the depressing street scenes outside your building. And crime.

I was wondering if there were landlords that specifically catered to the stage perfromers of SF (similar to what has existed in NYC).

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Aside from Pascal Molat and Sofiane Sylve, and maybe Dana Genshaft,

If Genshaft is a French-speaker, then she may have been able to use the language on a recent trip to New Orleans to teach class for the New Orleans Ballet Associate students.

I don't know for certain, but she spent some of her teenage years at the L’Ecole de l’Opera de Paris.

At one time, SFB was claiming they had dancers from 17 different countries, which I can believe. That has to make for some interesting communication issues at times.

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Sorry for my ignorance, but high school French was 50 years ago: what is the correct pronounciation of her last name? I was thinking

Froo' stee.

I would say Mah-teel-deh Froo-stay. Marga ?

I did ask my husband about the correct pronunciation of the last name and he confirmed it to be "FROOStee" as Peggy (and I) assumed. I would pronounce her first name as " MaTILD' ". Of course, you may be right, Buddy - next person to ask is someone who knows her personally!

Edited to add: Helene, I read your response after I posted mine. You and I agree on the pronunciation of Mathilde.

Edited by Marga
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