Paris Opera Ballet gold medalist performs title role in Giselle at Willson

Tickets go on sale May 1st for the most popular ballet of all time, Giselle with Mathilde Froustey, Varna gold medalist, San Francisco Ballet principal dancer and Paris Opera Ballet sujet (soloist). Miss Froustey will perform the title role of Giselle with dancers from Yellowstone Ballet Company and Raison d’etre Dance at the Willson Auditorium on Thursday, June 14th at 6:30pm, and Friday, June 15th at 7:30pm.
            Giselle, which debuted in Paris in 1841, is a wrenchingly poignant tale of unrequited love, remorse, and forgiveness. Yellowstone Ballet Company Artistic Director, Kathleen Rakela, says, “The role of Giselle is one of the most prized roles in ballet. To perform Giselle, a ballerina must have impeccable technique, outstanding grace, and great dramatic skills. Giselle is to a ballerina what portraying Hamlet is to an actor. The role puts huge demands on the ballerina, both as a dancer and as an actor. During the ballet, Giselle moves from innocent maiden in love, to a woman driven mad from the loss of that love, to an ethereal spirit in a world beyond death. It is a rare treat to have such a classic performed on the Willson Auditorium stage in Bozeman, Montana, with a dancer of the caliber of Mathilde Froustey.”
Besides winning gold at the Varna International Ballet Competition, the oldest and the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world, Mathilde has received numerous awards and international recognition including: an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for her performances of Giselle with Tiit Helimets during the San Francisco Ballet 2015 Repertory Season; a Danza & Danza’s best foreign dancer award in 2013; and the Ballet2000 dance prize in 2007.
The French daily newspaper Le Figaro reported, “How can one overlook Mathilde Froustey, this charming and refined brunette, this stunning actress who dances like she breathes.”
“She lights up the stage,” says Helgi Tomasson, artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet. “What I love about her dancing is her joy. She feels music, and as an audience member, you connect with her.”
Mathilde Froustey has danced principal roles in The Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet (Juliet), Swan Lake (Odette/Odile), 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; Ratmansky’s From Foreign Lands, Seven Sonatas, Shostakovich Trilogy, and Souvenir d’un lieu cher; Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering; Wheeldon’s Within; Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias; Nureyev’s La Bayadère, and Raymonda, Ashton’s La Fille mal Gardée; Lacotte’s Paquita; and McGregor’s Genus, among other works. She also danced Giselle with Kremlin Ballet at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, in September 2016, and performed at Paris Ballet in Hanoi, Vietnam; with Compañía Nacional de Danz in Madrid; at the International Ballet Gala XX in Dortmund, Germany; and in Paris Opera Ballet’s Don Quixote in Tokyo.
Tickets for the dramatic classic ballet, Giselle, are on sale at Eckroth Music in Bozeman and online at www.yellowstoneballet.info. Tickets range $25–$75 and will also be available at the door for an additional $2.