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Principals

Mathilde Froustey

Mathilde Froustey

Biography

  • Born

    Bordeaux, France

  • Training

    Marseille National School of Ballet
    Paris Opera Ballet School

  • Company Membership

    Joined as principal dancer in 2013

Mathilde Froustey has danced principal roles in Tomasson’s Giselle (Giselle), Nutcracker (Queen of the Snow, Sugar Plum Fairy, and Grand Pas de Deux Ballerina), Romeo & Juliet (Juliet), Swan Lake (Odette/Odile), 7 for Eight, Caprice, The Fifth Season, Prism, Trio, and Valses Poeticos; Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote (Kitri); Cranko’s Onegin (Tatiana); Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Rubies, Serenade, and Theme and Variations; Gsovsky’s Grand Pas Classique; Lifar’s Suite en Blanc; Makarova’s (after Petipa) “The Kingdom of the Shades” from La Bayadère, Act II (1st Solo Shade); Ratmansky’s From Foreign Lands, Seven Sonatas, Shostakovich Trilogy, and Souvenir d’un lieu cher; Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering (Yellow and Purple) and In the Night; and Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour. She created roles in Marston’s Snowblind and Welch’s Bespoke.

Elsewhere, Mathilde danced lead roles in Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias; Nureyev’s La Bayadère, Don Quixote, Raymonda, and Swan Lake; Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée; Lacotte’s Paquita; and McGregor’s Genus, among other works. In 2018, Mathilde performed La Bayadère with Kremlin Ballet and Giselle with Yellowstone Ballet. In 2016 she danced Giselle with Kremlin Ballet in Moscow, Russia, and performed with Paris Ballet and Compañía Nacional de Danza, at the International Ballet Gala XX in Germany, and in Paris Opera Ballet’s Don Quixote in Tokyo.

Mathilde’s honors include an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Giselle (with Tiit Helimets) during the 2015 Repertory Season; Danza & Danza’s best foreign dancer award in 2013; and a gold medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition in 2004.

Q&A

What's your biggest challenge as a dancer and why?

As a dancer you have to play two roles, athlete and artist. They don't always work well together. The athlete must stay healthy, be rigorous, and stay focused. The artist wants to meet people, go out, and live life. You need both.

What has been your proudest moment as a dancer and why?

I organized a ballet performance in the small town in France where my father is the mayor. The whole town came! But, more importantly, I got to work with my father to put it on.

What can always make you laugh?

Clichés about the French.