Guillaume Côté est né au Lac-Saint-Jean, au Québec, et a été formé à l’École nationale de ballet du Canada. Il s’est joint au Ballet national du Canada en 1998 et est devenu danseur étoile en 2004. In 2013, Guillaume was appointed Choreographic Associate. After 26 illustrious years with The National Ballet of Canada, Guillaume will retire as Principal Dancer at the end of the 2024/25 season. His extraordinary contribution to this company will be honoured on a special programme titled Adieu: A Celebration of Guillaume Côté in juin 2025.
Auprès du Ballet national du Canada, Guillaume a interprété la plupart des rôles principaux des répertoires classique et contemporain. He has created a number of lead roles in ballets by James Kudelka including Ferdinand in An Italian Straw Hat, Prince Charming in Cinderella and Will in The Contract (The Pied Piper). He also created the role of Romeo in Alexei Ratmansky’s Romeo and Juliet and performed the role as a guest artist with The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow.
Guillaume est très populaire comme artiste invité auprès des grandes compagnies de ballet partout au monde, comme le Teatro alla Scala, l’English National Ballet, le Royal Ballet, l’American Ballet Theatre, le Mikhailovsky Theatre, le Ballet de Hambourg et le Ballet de Stuttgart. Il a aussi dansé dans Kings of the Dance, Gala des Étoiles, Stars of the 21st Century, The Vision of Manuel Legris, Roberto Bolle and Friends, le gala du 40e anniversaire du Ballet de Hambourg, le 44e gala annuel de Nijinsky pour les jours du Ballet de Hambourg, ainsi que plusieurs autres galas internationaux. With English National Ballet, he created the role of Gene Kelly in Derek Deane's Strictly Gershwin.
Guillaume est un chorégraphe, un musicien et un compositeur accomplis. His choreographic works for The National Ballet of Canada include Frame by Frame, which is in collaboration with Robert Lepage, Le Petit Prince, Being and Nothingness, Venom, Enkeli and Dance Me To The End of Love. Awards for his choreography include the Audience Choice Award for Best Choreography at The International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize for Enkeli and third prize at Ballet Society Hanover’s 25th International Competition for #24. In 2017, he created Dark Angels for the National Arts Centre.
In 2012, Guillaume choreographed and starred in the film Lost in Motion, presented at Toronto’s International Film Festival. The sequel, Lost in Motion II, was released in 2013 and was featured at the Dance on Camera Festival in New York City in 2014. In 2020, Lulu, choreographed by Guillaume won Best International Short Film at the 2020 Milan International Film Festival.
In 2021, Guillaume founded his own company Côté Danse that focuses on the multidisciplinary creation of innovative works. In 2021, Guillaume created Touch, an immersive experience that incorporated projections, technology and dance and in 2022, Guillaume embarked on a cross-Canada tour for Crypto. He is also Artistic Director of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, one of the largest summer dance festivals in the country.
Guillaume won a Gemini Award in 2007 and the Galileo 2000 A Life for Music Prize in 2008 for Moving to His Music: The Two Muses of Guillaume Côté. In 2012, Guillaume was awarded La médaille de l’Assemblée nationale du Québec, a prestigious award from the province of Québec and in 2021, Guillaume was appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec for his significant contribution to the arts in Québec.
