Flowers, confetti, cheers as Guillaume Côté takes last bow with National Ballet

Principal dancer Guillaume Côté takes his last bow with the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto in this Thursday, June 5, 2025 handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - The National Ballet of Canada, Karolina Kuras *MANDATORY CREDIT*

TORONTO — Ballet star Guillaume Côté has taken his last bow with the National Ballet of Canada.

The celebrated principal dancer brought his palms to his heart and smiled as confetti and flowers rained onto the stage following a farewell show Thursday.

Côté was saluted with an eight-minute standing ovation after the career celebration, which included his multimedia piece “Grand Mirage” and a restaging of “Bolero.”

The Quebec-born dancer wraps a 26-year career with the Toronto company that saw him star in most of the biggest classical and contemporary roles including Romeo, Prince Charming and Prince Siegfried.

He became a principal dancer in 2004 and has performed as a guest artist for major ballet companies in cities including Milan, London, New York, St. Petersburg and Hamburg.

Also a choreographer, musician and composer, Côté now focuses on his dance company Côté Danse, which brings its show “Burn Baby, Burn” to Toronto’s Bluma Appel Theatre this weekend and Germany in July.

He founded the company in 2021 and is also artistic director of a summer dance festival in Quebec known as Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur.

– With files from Angelina Havaris