Welcome, Matisse!

Friday, November 6th, 2009 | All Posts by Pascal Molat | 3 Comments

Matisse at four days old

It is with tremendous joy that my wife, Genevieve, and I introduce our son Matisse to the Ballet family.

Matisse Molat was born on the 28th of October, 2009, weighing 8.3 pounds and measuring 20 inches. Everything went very smoothly- happiness and love are all around!

Tags: Pascal Molat

Five More to Go!

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 | All Posts by Pascal Molat, SFB Scene | No Comments

The season is not yet over but I feel like I’ve already been doing a marathon. Out of 17 ballets on the season, I’ve performed 12, so five more to go! Knowing that I had this many ballets to dance over the season, made me take a different approach this year; I’ve been trying to pace myself and be more relaxed. Between the fall tour, Nutcracker and the start of the season, a lot of work has been done already.

Right now, I’m working on “Rubies”, Within the Golden Hour, and Russian Seasons, all three of which I’ve never danced before. I’m very excited to dance “Rubies” because it’s a very dynamic and playful pas de deux, with a lot of elegance. I’m also looking forward to Russian Seasons, a ballet by Alexei Ratmansky, who I had the pleasure of working with on Le Carnaval des Animaux in 2004.

Right now, I am planning my own rehearsals with my partners, so I can be very prepared for these upcoming ballets. For me, the end of the season will be fireworks with Double Evil—a ballet that is very physically challenging but such a pleasure to dance because it feels very close to my own, natural style. It will be like finishing a marathon with a sprint. As soon as the ballet season is over, I will jump into working with A.C.T. on The Tosca Project for a week, before flying to France for vacation.

Tags: Double Evil, Le Carnaval des Animaux, Nutcracker, Pascal Molat, Ratmansky, Rubies, Russian Seasons, Tosca, Within the Golden Hour

Guest Performance in Kazakhstan

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 | All Posts by Pascal Molat, SFB Scene | 2 Comments

This past July, San Francisco Ballet dancers including Dana Genshaft, Maria Kochetkova, and I traveled to Kazakhstan where we were invited to guest-perform at an annual arts festival devoted to the 10th anniversary of Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. Located in the center of the Eurasian landmass in what is known as Central Asia, Kazakhstan is bordered on the east by China, on the south by Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, on the west by the Caspian Sea, and on the north by Russia. Kazakhstan is the second largest state in terms of territory to emerge from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

First, the beautiful venue Pyramid of Peace. This was my first time dancing in a pyramid! Here I am with Dana Genshaft.

Here is a view from the stage.

This is Baiterek or the Tree of Life. The tower has come to symbolize the ambitions of the country—much like the Eiffel Tower in France.

Here’s an interesting street sign: Put on your sunglasses? We were never able to figure out what that meant!

here's the palace

And finally, a traditional tourist picture with some police men. They were more friendly than they look!

Tags: Guest performances, Pascal Molat, summer vacation