The National Ballet of Canada has unveiled its 2024-2025 season.
Principal Dancer and Choreographic Associate Guillaume Côté will retire after 26 years with the National Ballet.
Although my career with The National Ballet of Canada is ending – said Côté – I carry with me the most beautiful memories of people, places and moments that have shaped who I am and will stay with me forever. For my final performance, I wanted to work with a very close collaborator, film director Ben Shirinian. Ben and I have worked on many films together including Lost in Motion and Lulu and I thought it would be very special to ask Ben to create a film element as I say farewell.
His farewell to the National Ballet, which he has called home for the past 26 years, is with a programme devoted to Canadian talent from 30 May – 5 June 2025. Côté will create and perform a multidisciplinary solo, Into the fade, with Shirinian. In addition to his 2012 work Bolero, Côté shares this programme with the company’s newest Choreographic Associate, Ethan Colangelo and Toronto-born Jennifer Archibald who will both be creating new works.
The National Ballet returns to London at Sadler’s Wells Theatre from 2-6 October after 11 years away. The company will bring a mixed programme of all-Canadian choreographers: Crystal Pite‘s Angels’ Atlas, Emma Portner’s islands, and Passion by James Kudelka. The company will also make its annual tour to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa from 30 January – 1 February 2025 with Giselle.
Other highlights of the season include:
The Fall Season opens with a mixed programme featuring the Canadian premiere of Silent Screen by Sol León and Paul Lightfoot set to the music of Philip Glass. Celebrated throughout Europe, León and Lightfoot are the architects of a highly respected body of work rarely experienced in North America and Silent Screen marks the first creative partnership between the National Ballet and the famed duo. The programme also features the Canadian premiere Sir Fredrick Ashton’s Rhapsody as part of Ashton Worldwide, an international festival celebrating Ashton on the 120th anniversary of his birth, plus a special solo performance by Guillaume Côté, Body of Work, onstage from 9-16 November 2024.
Giselle is onstage from 20-24 November 2024. The National Ballet of Canada has a particularly long legacy with Giselle, having performed Sir Peter Wright‘s celebrated staging since 1970.
James Kudelka’s The Nutcracker run from 6-31 December with sets and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Jennifer Tipton.
The Winter Season begins with a mixed programme featuring the North American premiere of David Dawson‘s The Four Seasons. A zeitgeist contemporary ballet set to Max Richter’s re-composition of Antonio Vivaldi’s music, The Four Seasons builds on the success of his Anima Animus, offering the choreographer a larger platform for his contemporary voice. The programme continues with the world premiere of Morpheus’ Dream by German choreographer Marco Goecke with a soundscape by pianist Keith Jarrett and Lady Gaga as well as Antony Tudor’s The Leaves Are Fading in honour of its 50th anniversary and the company’s first staging since 1995. The programme will be onstage from 26 February – 2 March 2025.
Karen Kain‘s Swan Lake can be seen from 8-22 March 2025. Kain’s version honours Erik Bruhn’s staging and holds closely to the 1895 revival by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The 2024/25 season concludes with the North American premiere of Christian Spuck’s Anna Karenina, marking the first creative partnership with one of Europe’s foremost choreographers. Spuck distils Leo Tolstoy’s novel about morality, social reform, family, and passion into celebrated choreography, with a score featuring music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Witold Lutoslawski. Anna Karenina is onstage from 13-21 June 2025.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.