SFB Roster Changes 2023

[Josette]

SFB just announced that principal dancers Dores Andre and Max Cauthorn are leaving SFB at the end of this season to join Zurich Ballet, directed by Cathy Marston. 

[sf_herminator]

2 minutes ago, Josette said:

SFB just announced that principal dancers Dores Andre and Max Cauthorn are leaving SFB at the end of this season to join Zurich Ballet, directed by Cathy Marston. 

Here is the IG post:  San Francisco Ballet (@sfballet) • Instagram photos and videos

[sf_herminator]

From Max Cauthorn's IG:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqq00IePF0H/

[PeggyTulle]

Whoa! That's a big change. 

[Josette]

It does look like a big change  in repertoire for them, suited to Dores André, who was so good in Marston’s Mrs. Robinson for SFB.
 

 I looked at Ballet Zurich’s 2023-2024 season and there are none of the “typical” classical ballets, which Max Cauthorn is so good in. ( He’s wonderful in all he dances.) Ben Freemantle left at the end of last season and now Max Cauthorn.  
 

Among the works for Ballet Zürich next season, Marston is premiering the ballet Atonement and there will also be her excellent work, The Cellist, which was created on The Royal Ballet and premiered in February of 2020.  I saw it two weeks before the pandemic lockdown, paired with Dances at a Gathering.
 

Wishing them both great success and fulfillment at Ballet Zürich! 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Josette

[California]

28 minutes ago, Josette said:

 I looked at Ballet Zurich’s 2023-2024 season and there are none of the “typical” classical ballets. . .

Ironically, perhaps, Ratmansky's reconstruction of Swan Lake was originally a co-production of Ballet Zurich and La Scala. (2016)

https://www.classicalsource.com/concert/ballett-zurich-swan-lake-alexei-ratmanskys-reconstruction-of-the-1895-petipa-ivanov-version/

https://www.gramilano.com/2016/06/ratmanskys-swan-lake-arrives-bigger-better-la-scala/

Looks like the only company still performing it is Miami City Ballet!

[Josette]

18 minutes ago, California said:

Ironically, perhaps, Ratmansky's reconstruction of Swan Lake was originally a co-production of Ballet Zurich and La Scala. (2016)

https://www.classicalsource.com/concert/ballett-zurich-swan-lake-alexei-ratmanskys-reconstruction-of-the-1895-petipa-ivanov-version/

https://www.gramilano.com/2016/06/ratmanskys-swan-lake-arrives-bigger-better-la-scala/

Looks like the only company still performing it is Miami City Ballet!

I would have liked to have seen the Ratmansky Swan Lake in performance. 

[Phrenchphry11]

Woah, I believe Max grew up at the SF Ballet School, if I correctly recall.  That seems like a big loss for some home grown talent.

Dores Andre is great in Marston works, so on some level the move makes sense, but overall the rep between SFB and Zurich is pretty different.

[Terez]

I wonder if that's a frustration for the company to lose dancers like Max Cauthorn and Benjamin Freemantle, both of whom (correct me if I'm wrong) got their training at the SFB school, received considerable opportunity and promotions at a fast clip, only to have the dancers, as principals, fly from the nest regrettably early. I'd have thought the SFB would make these investments in the hopes they would reap the benefit for many years. Or maybe it's always been this way, and I'm only now discerning this trajectory (In truth, it's only been 10 years that I've closely followed the SFB). I'm just always sad to bid farewell to a dancer I perceived early on as extraordinary, and felt a vicarious thrill with each promotion. 

Ah well, so it goes in this field, this culture. Silver lining is the excitement of wondering which "wow" dancer will replace them. Because there are always new "wow" dancers rising up.

[pherank]

I would have been less surprised if Cauthorn had decided to leave the Ballet world - he thought about that for some time. So it is surprising that he decided to go to another company. Presumably this will be a change to an 'exotic' location that will provide him with new and different experiences. I didn't know Cauthorn or André had much connection to Cathy Marston, but maybe she did create upon them at some point at SFB. Marston danced in Switzerland, and has Swiss citizenship as well as British, so there's her connection to Ballett Zürich.

Dores André has always been a workhorse for SFB - it will be equally hard to lose her to another company. I know that she's been spending more time in Spain, being involved in dance education. So maybe she just needed to be closer to home.

[Josette]

pherank, did Max Cauthorn tell you that he "thought about [leaving the ballet world]for some time," as you say?  Where did you get this information? 

Marston would have worked with Dores Andre in Marston's work, Mrs. Robinson, as Dores danced the role last year.  Ballet Zurich has not hidden that it is looking for dancers, as quite a number are leaving at the end of this season.  

 

[pherank]

37 minutes ago, Josette said:

pherank, did Max Cauthorn tell you that he "thought about [leaving the ballet world]for some time," as you say?  Where did you get this information? 

Marston would have worked with Dores Andre in Marston's work, Mrs. Robinson, as Dores danced the role last year.  Ballet Zurich has not hidden that it is looking for dancers, as quite a number are leaving at the end of this season.  

 

He mentioned more than once in interviews that he was "not a bunhead" and struggled with the idea of being a ballet dancer. I don't think that's how he saw himself, but it seems like he's come to terms things - working as a ballet dancer, or electrician, or kindergarten teacher, etc. doesn't have to define one as a person.

[Phrenchphry11]

Lauren Parriott is leaving the company: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrHxKA5rlKL/?igshid=OGRjNzg3M2Y%3D

Also, I noticed Natasha Sheehan no longer has SFB in her social media bios. Which is too bad, for several years there I thought she was on the fast track to promotion.

[Terez]

Sorry to hear that about Lauren. What a lovely dancer. And what a brave, affirming post she wrote there at IG. And, yeah, I was just thinking today about not having seen Natasha onstage much this season. She appears smart and very successful as an influencer, so I imagine she'll continue to take that bigger. I remember her early SFB days, that same feeling that she was being fast-tracked. I'm always sad when such a dancer's trajectory changes, but ballet can be a cruel, un-accommodating art. So very hard on the body, the psyche. And each year, new faces present new competition for being fast (or slow)-tracked. Must be a heart-breaking feeling.

Wishing both dancers the very best; I imagine we'll see the roster for 23-24 fairly soon. Am sort of dreading other changes that might be there as well. It is, and will continue to be, a time of change at the SFB.

[pherank]

I'm not exactly surprised here, Lauren Parrott had been giving signals on social media - all through the pandemic period - that she might not stay. This may be a mutual decision. Sheehan is one of many dancers that ran into injury issues and then seemed to go into a funk. She's a smart young woman, and powered through her college studies during the pandemic period. She seemed to like the sciences especially, so I can imagine her going into medicine or physical therapy.

[Josette]

I just learned that the Sunday matinee was soloist Hansuke Yamamoto’s last performance with SFB.  He is an audience favorite as well as one of mine.  I’m so glad that I saw him this season as Benjamin in Cinderella and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet.   
 

The announcement is shown in the cast list online and also says that Anita Pacciotti is retiring. She has had a long career with SFB as a dancer and ballet mistress.  

[pherank]

Related to these roster and staff changes (or not), 2023 will be Patrick Armand’s final season as School Director (and the 90th anniversary of the SF Ballet School).

[Quiggin]

Danielle St.Germain is shortly becoming the chief philanthropy officer for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (Legion of Honor & deYoung), as announced in today’s Chronicle.She says she is “delighted to return to my museum roots.” 

Noticed Lola de Avila, Ballet School director before Patrick Armand, in backstage group photographs of “Giselle”. Wonder if she will be working with dancers again at San Francisco Ballet.

[PeggyTulle]

Some of the major SFB donors have strong ties to the Fine Arts Museums of SF.  I am glad to see Danielle landing locally. 

7 hours ago, Quiggin said:

Noticed Lola de Avila, Ballet School director before Patrick Armand, in backstage group photographs of “Giselle”. Wonder if she will be working with dancers again at San Francisco Ballet.

I am pretty sure I recall mentions somewhere that Lola was coaching the corps for Giselle.

[naomikage]

Here is the official announcement, Mathilde Froustey joins Bordeaux Opera Ballet as Etoile.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr01wtIIwwn/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[PeggyTulle]

Whoa. Not expected at all. I will miss her on stage here.

[Phrenchphry11]

Wow, that's really too bad.  She was one of my favorites, especially in Cathy Marson roles.  She really rounded out the group of SFB principals nicely, I thought.  It seemed she ran into visa issues last year, would be terrible if that were the cause of her departure.

[pherank]

Things did seem to get messed up for Mathilde over the last 3 years (as happened for various dancers around the world). Likely her marriage is kaput. She's going back to her 'home town' basically - an area of France she continues to love.

Edited May 4, 2023 by pherank

[Phrenchphry11]

Yeah I have been thinking: there's obviously been speculation around whether Rojo's artistic and management decisions are contributing to the significant roster changes.

Nevertheless, we also have to consider that many of the dancers (especially Mathilde) had significant changes in their personal lives over the past several years (births of children, changes in marriage status, overall re-evaluating of life goals/priorities), and I don't doubt many dancers are looking to make big moves in this "post-covid" world.

[volcanohunter]

1 hour ago, Phrenchphry11 said:

I don't doubt many dancers are looking to make big moves in this "post-covid" world.

Froustey will be 38 years of age in June, which is a rather late stage in a dancer's career to move to a new company. To that extent she's fortunate to have found a new artistic home. But the company in Bordeaux is about half the size of SFB and doesn't present nearly as many programs or performances.