Friday, June 6, 2025

Guillaume Côté’s Adieu: A Daring Farewell at the National Ballet of Canada

Guillaume Côté in Grand Mirage. (Photo: Karolina Kuras.)

After 26 years at the National Ballet of Canada, Guillaume Côté could have chosen the easy road: a swan song in a signature classical role, a nostalgic backward glance. Instead, the Québec-born, Toronto-trained principal - whose artistry has shaped the company for a generation - delivers a bold, forward-looking program, Adieu, which opened Friday at the Four Seasons Centre and continues through the week. The evening featured three premieres and a reprise of Côté’s slow-burning Bolero, first created in 2012, making for a heady mix.