November 9, 2024 – June 21, 2025
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Artistic Director Hope Muir unveils a brilliant selection of ballets for the 2024/25 season that balances the company’s classical legacy with innovative collaborations from the international dance community.
For this new season, I have sought richness and complexity across movement and music, introduced important choreographic voices that extend our creative lineage and, above all, to bring a sense of freshness, familiarity and meaning to our stage.
This season will mark the farewell of an outstanding artist in Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté. His brilliant international career encompasses multiple areas of the art form, reflecting his unique talent as a performer, choreographer, director, composer and musician. Guillaume retires from the National Ballet this season with an unforgettable legacy and equally bright future.”
Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director
2024 – 2025 Season
November 9 – 16, 2024
Silent Screen & Body of Work & Rhapsody
Canadian Premiere
Experience the breadth of The National Ballet of Canada repertoire in this Triple Bill of acclaimed works honouring the legacy and future of dance. Presenting two Canadian premieres in dramatically different styles plus a special solo performance by retiring Principal Dancer and Choreographic Associate Guillaume Côté, this programme underscores the continuing evolution of our art form and the versatility of our artists in the face of new creative challenges.
November 20 – 24, 2024
Giselle
A haunting world of love, deceit and forgiveness awaits with Giselle, one of classical ballet’s most breathtaking works. This quintessential Romantic ballet achieves heights of emotion and psychological drama befitting its status as “the ballerina’s Hamlet” and gives full expression to the redemptive power of love. The National Ballet of Canada performs Sir Peter Wright’s celebrated staging, which distills every note of Adolphe Adam’s score into exquisite movement and emotion.
December 6 – 31, 2024
The Nutcracker
Experience the wonder of the holidays with James Kudelka’s The Nutcracker, a spectacular family production. The adventure begins at a Christmas Eve party in a 19th-century barn and introduces siblings Marie and Misha to delights beyond their wildest dreams, from magical creatures to savoury treats and the glittering land of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Set to Tchaikovsky’s famous score and featuring magnificent sets and costumes, The Nutcracker is an unforgettable tribute to the imagination.
February 26 – March 2, 2025
The Four Seasons & Morpheus’ Dream & The Leaves Are Fading
North American Premiere
Acclaimed creator David Dawson returns to The National Ballet of Canada with the highly anticipated North American premiere of The Four Seasons after the incredible success of his Anima Animus in 2023. Dawson’s supercharged work is complemented by two pieces sharing similar themes of reflection and change: the world premiere of Marco Goecke’s Morpheus’ Dream and Antony Tudor’s The Leaves Are Fading, programmed by Artistic Director Hope Muir to honour the 50th anniversary of the ballet’s creation.
March 8 – 22, 2025
Swan Lake
Set to Tchaikovsky’s dramatic score, Swan Lake is the epitome of classical ballet, beloved the world over for its drama, achingly beautiful score and timeless choreography. Artistic Director Emerita Karen Kain emphasizes the love story at the heart of Swan Lake in this staging inspired by Erik Bruhn’s landmark version but told through her unique experience of the work. Newly revisited this season, Swan Lake is a heartfelt commemoration of Kain’s illustrious 50-year career with The National Ballet of Canada.
May 30 – June 5, 2025
Adieu: A Celebration of Guillaume Côté
World Premiere Co-Created by Guillaume Côté and Ben Shirinian
Guillaume Côté bids “adieu” to The National Ballet of Canada after 26 years. To celebrate his legacy as a preeminent dancer and one of the first Choreographic Associates in the company’s history, he will create a new work, Into the fade, and will restage his thrilling Boléro. The programme also features world premieres from two bold and exciting Canadian choreographic talents: Ethan Colangelo and Jennifer Archibald.
June 13 – 21, 2025
Anna Karenina
An alluring new Anna Karenina enters The National Ballet of Canada repertoire with this North American premiere and first creative partnership with Christian Spuck. One of Europe’s foremost choreographers, Spuck distills Leo Tolstoy’s richly themed novel about morality, social reform, family and passion into profound choreography that shares the best of his modern yet theatrical style. Complete with lush 19th-century costumes, cinematic projections and a curated score featuring music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Witold Lutoslawski.
.About The National Ballet of Canada
Celia Franca founded The National Ballet of Canada in 1951 with the goal of presenting the best of classical and contemporary ballet. Today the company is among the world’s finest, with 70 dancers, an inhouse orchestra and a permanent home at The Walter Carsen Centre in Toronto. The National Ballet has a history of pre-eminent Artistic Directors and, starting January 2022, welcomed new leader Hope Muir.
Renowned for its diverse repertoire, the company performs traditional full-length classics, embraces contemporary work and encourages the creation of new ballets as well as the development of Canadian choreographers. In recent years, the National Ballet has become a top destination for creative partnerships and the building and staging of new work. Since 2011, the company’s highly skilled production team has worked from a state-of-the-art facility, The Gretchen Ross Production Centre, to build and store its glorious sets and costumes.
