Goodnight Romeo: the National Ballet’s Guillaume Côté parts with a signature role

“Parting is such sweet sorrow,” says Juliet to Romeo near the end of Act 2’s balcony scene from Shakespeare’s famous tragedy of star-crossed lovers. Of course, the headstrong heroine quickly qualifies this somewhat paradoxical statement with: “That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

Although the words remain unspoken in choreographer Alexei Ratmansky’s staging of “Romeo and Juliet” for the National Ballet of Canada, soon to be revived after a four-year absence, those familiar with the text can almost hear them in their head as Shakespeare’s poetic sentiment resonates through Prokofiev’s music and the physical language of dance; but when guest artist Sara Mearns embodies them on June 18 there will be no morrow, not at least for Guillaume Côté’s Romeo.

On that Sunday, the 41-year-old Lac Saint-Jean, Quebec-born principal dancer will bid a permanent farewell to a role that has for more than two decades in many ways defined him in the eyes of his countless fans.

Côté’s repertoire has covered almost all the major lead roles. Several of these he originated, such as the prince in James Kudelka’s “Cinderella” and Romeo in the version Karen Kain commissioned from Ratmansky in 2011. Even so, it’s the ardent, slightly impetuous and unrepentantly romantic Romeo who seems best to encapsulate Côté as a dramatic dancer.

“For me, he’s the ultimate Romeo,” said Mearns.

Côté is quick to emphasize that saying goodbye to Romeo does not mark his retirement from the company he’s called home for a quarter-century — 19 of those years as a top rank principal — but it surely signals that a transition is underway. Nothing is ever certain in a physical art form where a single misstep can sideline a dancer for months, but Côté intends to return to the title role in John Cranko’s “Onegin” this November. It’s less likely we’ll see him reprising the big classical prince roles that have taken him to prestigious stages around the world.

“I definitely have a timetable,” said the internationally acclaimed dancer, while declining to be more specific. “There’s nothing formal yet.”

For any mature dancer — and in ballet that basically means early 30s and up — there is a delicate balance between the growing artistry that comes with experience and the gradual decline of physical capability. There’s a sweet spot that can last for several years, but prudent dance artists of Côté’s calibre tend to weigh their future career options well in advance.

Côté began the process early by exploring his interest in choreography with works for the National Ballet such as 2015’s “Being and Nothingness,” 2016’s “Le petit prince” (his first evening length ballet) and “Frame by Frame,” 2018’s groundbreaking collaboration with director Robert Lepage remounted in revised form this spring season. Long before that, in a 2012 project with filmmaker Ben Shirinian, Côté choreographed and performed a short solo called “Lost in Motion” that, to date, has had close to seven million YouTube views.

Côté also began broadening his skill set in 2014 by taking on the artistic direction of Quebec’s summertime Le Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur. Apart from programming artists from across Canada and abroad, the festival has been a proving ground for some of Côté’s own choreographic projects such as “Crypto.” This summer, “Hamlet,” an early draft of a new Lepage-Côté collaboration, will similarly be given a trial run at the festival.

Saint-Sauveur has whetted Côté’s appetite for heading a large performing arts organization. It’s no secret that he applied, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to succeed Karen Kain as the National Ballet’s artistic director (Hope Muir won that role). Saint-Sauveur also helped spawn the choreographer’s own company, Côté Danse, with an emphasis on creative, multidisciplinary projects geared toward new ways of engaging and interacting with audiences.

One way or another, Guillaume Côté has always been a very busy man. And that’s not just in Canada.

Côté has performed in many of the world’s major dance capitals as a visiting guest artist, from London’s Covent Garden and Milan’s La Scala to Moscow’s Bolshoi and Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colón. He has been featured in “Kings of the Dance,” a showcase for the world’s top male ballet dancers. Along the way, Côté has forged connections and friendships with fellow A-list ballet dancers, including New York City Ballet star Mearns who, a little ironically, will make her debut as Juliet just as Côté is leaving Romeo behind.

Mearns’ home company has a version of “Romeo and Juliet” choreographed by its former long-time artistic director, Peter Martins, in 2007. The 37-year-old ballerina said Martins made it clear he did not think she was suitable for Juliet.

“He told me it was not meant for me, that I was too womanly and too old-looking,” Mearns explained. “Meanwhile I looked at other companies like American Ballet Theatre and everyone was dancing it.”

As Mearns recalled, she and Côté first met at a gala in New York and stayed in touch. When injury robbed her of her opening-night partner for “Swan Lake” in February 2020 she convinced New York City Ballet to invite Côté to step in. Their partnership met with critical acclaim. “We connected on a deep artistic level,” said Mearns.

Just over a year later, she asked Côté to choreograph a solo for her that was performed on the roof of the Empire Hotel just across the street from New York City Ballet’s Lincoln Center home. “It was my first time performing live coming out of the pandemic,” she said.

In March 2022 she recruited Côté to choreograph and partner her in “Spir,” a pas de deux for “Sara Mearns: Piece of Work,” her own dedicated evening at New York’s famous dance house, the Joyce Theatre. They danced it again in Saint-Sauveur that summer.

Mearns’ opportunity to finally dig her pointe shoes into Juliet came about in part because of her and Côté’s shared connection with Ratmansky, for whom Mearns has become something of a muse. His version is admirably suited to her.

“In Alexei’s mind it’s very much Juliet’s story,” Côté explained. “She’s the driver of the action. It informs the way I approached the role.”

And just how has that changed over the years?

“Every time I dance it, it changes subtly according to my partner and my physical condition,” Côté said. “When I first danced Cranko’s version I was like a puppy.

“Now I’m a different age and a different kind of artist with a different kind of physicality. You learn to convey more with less. I have stagecraft to help me develop the character.”

For Mearns, dancing Juliet with Côté is “a crazy dream” come true.

“It’s such an honour to be dancing here with Guillaume, but it’s not the end of our artistic relationship. In some ways it’s just a beginning.”

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