Guillaume Côté (born September 17, 1981) is a Canadian ballet dancer and choreographer. He is currently a principal dancer and a Choreographic Associate at the

National Ballet of Canada The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca as the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

Early life

Côté was born in

Lac Saint-Jean Lac Saint-Jean (Canadian French: ) is a large, relatively shallow lake in south-central Quebec, Canada, in the Laurentian Highlands. It is situated north of the Saint Lawrence River, into which it drains via the Saguenay River. It covers an are ...

, Quebec. Both of his parents are schoolteachers, who invited a teacher to start a ballet school in Lac Saint-Jean. Côté, his sister and several cousins started ballet at that school. At age 11, despite not speaking English, he entered

Canada's National Ballet School Canada's National Ballet School, also commonly known as the National Ballet School of Canada, is a classical ballet school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Along with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's ...

in Toronto.

Career

In 1998, at age 17, Côté joined the

as an apprentice. At age 19, he made his debut as Prince Siegfried in ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

'', making him the youngest person in the company to dance that role. In 2001, he danced Romeo and ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

''. In 2004, at age 23, Côté became a principal dancer. His repertoire include '' The Sleeping Beauty'' and ''Nijinsky''. He had originated the role Romeo in

Alexei Ratmansky Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky (russian: Алексей Осипович Ратманский, born August 27, 1968) is a Russian-American choreographer and former ballet dancer. From 2004 to 2008 he was the director of the Bolshoi Ballet. He left Rus ...

's version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Côté celebrated his 20th anniversary at the National Ballet in 2019, after a performance of ''

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

''. As a guest artist, Côté had performed with

La Scala Theatre Ballet The La Scala Theatre Ballet ( it, Corpo di ballo del Teatro alla Scala) is the resident classical ballet company at La Scala in Milan, Italy. One of the oldest and most renowned ballet companies in the world, the company pre-dates the theatre, bu ...

English National Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish ...

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

, The Hamburg Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet, as well as in '' Kings of the Dance'', ''The Vision of

Manuel Legris Manuel Legris is a French ballet dancer, born in Paris on October 10, 1964. He was an ''étoile'' (star dancer) of the Paris Opera Ballet for 23 years. On September 1, 2010, he began direction of the Vienna State Ballet. He was appointed artisti ...

'' and ''

Roberto Bolle Roberto Bolle (born March 26, 1975 in Casale Monferrato) is an Italian danseur. He is currently a ''principal dancer'' with the American Ballet Theatre and a principal dancer ''étoile'' at La Scala Theatre Ballet. Bolle also dances regularly a ...

and Friends''. With English National Ballet, he originated the role of

Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...

in ''Strictly Gershwin''. In 2018, Côté made a guest appearance in

Bolshoi Ballet The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies. In the early 20th century, it came to internatio ...

in Moscow, making him the first dancer from Quebec and one of the few Canadians to have danced in Bolshoi. In 2020, he made his debut at the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

, dancing ''Swan Lake'' with

Sara Mearns Sara Ann Mearns (born 19 January 1986) is an American ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer at New York City Ballet. Early life Mearns was born in Columbia, South Carolina. Her mother is a nurse. At age three, she began dancing with Ann Brodi ...

, in order to replace an injured

Tyler Angle This is a list of New York City Ballet dancers. Principal dancers Soloists This is a list of New York City Ballet soloists. Corps de ballet The following is a list of the current members of the corps de ballet. * Victor Abreu * Devin Albe ...

. Côté was appointed Choreographic Associate of the National Ballet in 2013. He had choreographed a number of one-act ballet for the company. He won the Audience Choice Award at the

Erik Bruhn Prize Erik Belton Evers Bruhn (3 October 1928 – 1 April 1986) was a Danish danseur, choreographer, artistic director, actor, and author. Early life Erik Bruhn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the fourth child and first son of Ellen (née Evers), o ...

for ''Enkeli'', received the third prize at Ballet Society Hanover’s 25th International Competition for ''#24''. He had also choreographed and starred in short film ''Lost in Motion'', and its sequel, ''Lost in Motion II''. His first full-length work, ''Le Petit Prince'', based on the novella of the same name, premiered in 2016. He collaborated with set designer Michael Levine and composer Kevin Lau, and consulted

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...

authority

Adam Gopnik Adam Gopnik (born August 24, 1956) is an American writer and essayist. He is best known as a staff writer for ''The New Yorker,'' to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir, and criticism since 1986. He is the author of nine books ...

for ''Le Petit Prince''. Côté had also choreographed for Olympic-winning ice dancing duo

Tessa Virtue Tessa Jane McCormick Virtue (born May 17, 1989) is a Canadian retired ice dancer. With ice dance partner Scott Moir, she is the 2010 and 2018 Olympic champion, the 2014 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World champion (2010, 2012, 2017) ...

and

Scott Moir Scott Patrick Moir OLY ( ; born September 2, 1987) is a Canadian retired ice dancer and coach. With ice dance partner Tessa Virtue, he is the 2010 and 2018 Olympic champion, the 2014 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World champion (2010, ...

. In 2014, Côté became the artist director of Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, a dance festival in Quebec. He was made a Knight of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as ''l'Ordre national du Québec'', and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is an order of merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Gove ...

in 2020.

Personal life

In 2010, Côté married fellow National Ballet principal dancer Heather Ogden. The couple has two children. Côté grew up playing piano, clarinet and classical guitar. In later years, he learned to play cello and studies composition at

The Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

External links

Interview with Guillaume Côté and Heather Ogden
by ''The Poetry Extension''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Côté, Guillaume Living people Canadian male ballet dancers National Ballet of Canada principal dancers People from Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean 21st-century ballet dancers 1981 births