Featured Ballet Dancer: Guillaume Côte

Guillaume Côte Principal Dancer with National Ballet of Canada

Côte, principal dancer, composer and choreographer. Image: Video excerpt.

An outstanding dancer and unbeknownst to many, also a composer and choreographer: Guillaume Côte, principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada is our featured ballet dancer this week.

Cotê and Marcelo Gomes work to create a piece for the Kings of the Dance show; Cotê is in charge of the choreography.

Background of Guillaume Côte

Guillaume Côté is a native of Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec. He studied at Canada’s National Ballet School, joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1999 and has been a principal dancer since 2004.

He has a long list of repertoire of lead roles. Yet what amazes me the most is that he is also a composer and choreographer .

Côté has also created a number of lead roles in ballets by James Kudelka including Ferdinand in An Italian Straw Hat, Her Prince Charming in Cinderella and Will in The Contract (The Pied Piper).

Côté is also an accomplished musician and composer, and has written music for a number of dance and theater productions internationally.

He was awarded a Gemini Award as well as the Galileo 2000 A Life for Music Prize for his dance and musical collaboration in the documentary, Moving to His Music: The Two Muses of Guillaume Côte.

In this video clip, Côte talks about his background as a musician/composer, dancer and choreographer.

Excerpts of his composition for Kings of the Dance are featured as he sits at the piano. Later he is shown dancing with fellow dancers David Hallberg, Denis Matvienko, Leonid Sarafanov, Marcelo Gomes (who choreographed the dance) and Ivan Vasiliev. The camera even captures the men goofing off in a moment of fun.

Côte displays incredible athleticism, as well as an accomplished piano player.

Kings of the Dance started 5 years ago as a project to showcase mens’ talent and artistry in ballet, not just as strong partners to their female counterparts.

…Kings of the Dance returns with an all-new program showcasing the incredible power, athleticism and artistry of today’s most celebrated male ballet stars.

Kings of the Dance: Opus 3, another of the extraordinary dance events for which Ardani Artists is renowned, is a co-production with Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Performances at New York City Center conclude the world tour that started in Moscow and continued in St. Petersburg, Riga, Novosibirsk, Kiev and Orange County.