Guillaume Côté bids “adieu” to The National Ballet of Canada after 26 years. To celebrate his legacy as a preeminent dancer and one of the first Choreographic Associates in the company’s history, he will create a new work, Grand Mirage, and will restage his thrilling Boléro. The programme also features world premieres from two bold and exciting Canadian choreographic talents: Ethan Colangelo and Jennifer Archibald.
Guillaume Côté takes his final bow in a powerful multimedia work he … view more »
Guillaume Côté bids “adieu” to The National Ballet of Canada after 26 years. To celebrate his legacy as a preeminent dancer and one of the first Choreographic Associates in the company’s history, he will create a new work, Grand Mirage, and will restage his thrilling Boléro. The programme also features world premieres from two bold and exciting Canadian choreographic talents: Ethan Colangelo and Jennifer Archibald.
Guillaume Côté takes his final bow in a powerful multimedia work he created with Canadian filmmaker Ben Shirinian. A hotel called “Grand Mirage” is a fitting metaphor for transition, as a central figure reflects on the past and faces a future of new possibilities. Grand Mirage honours Côté’s passion for performance and choreography, capturing both the exhilaration of this last moment and the sadness of saying goodbye.
A small ensemble of men and a leading woman defines Guillaume Côté’s fabulous Boléro, which he created for the National Ballet’s 60th Anniversary Diamond Gala in 2012. The piece builds with Maurice Ravel’s famous music from an initial single theme to many elements working together in harmony. The principal woman offers a human touchpoint for this structure and moves from a state of vulnerability to intensifying strength, going from intimate solos to breathtaking multiple lifts.
Canada’s Ethan Colangelo debuts his fresh, contemporary language on the National Ballet’s mainstage with this exciting world premiere. Inspired by the Hieronymus Bosch painting The Garden of Earthly Delights, this work explores how contrasting emotions like anxiety and euphoria can coexist in the body. Colangelo balances moments of extreme virtuosity with subtlety in both movement and music – an original score from his frequent collaborator, Ben Waters.
Hip Hop meets contemporary movement and ballet in this highly anticipated first collaboration with Toronto-born Jennifer Archibald, whose genre-breaking style has taken her from commercial partnerships to film and top dance companies across the US and internationally. Exploring themes of strategy and sacrifice derived from chess, Archibald invites the dancers to push the boundaries of ballet technique and embrace the fearless language that has made her a favourite on the contemporary dance scene.
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