Suzette Defoye

Suzette Defoye née Marie-Suzanne-Joséphe Artus Truyart (Lille, 17 July 1741 – Floruit 1787), was a French ballet dancer, stage actor, opera singer and theatre director, active in France, Belgium and Russia.

She debuted as a dancer the Desgraviers troupe in Metz in the 1759–60 season before her debut as first singer in Brussels in 1766 as Zerbine in Baurans and Pergolesi's La Servante maîtresse.

When the French troupe left Russia in 1779, she stayed, and performed at several concerts of church music for Lent organized by the violinist Louis-Henri Paisible.

She married the bassoonist François-René-Marie Defoye before 1766, but on November 19, 1771, she had her husband interned at the Alexian monastery in Brussels, for "a clear case of madness", where he remained until his death in 1800.

She moved in with her lover Nicolas Guilleminot-Dugué, an actor who had arrived in Brussels in 1769 and a member of the troupe since 1771; their relationship lasted until 1779.