NBoC's Guillaume Côté to Become Artistic Director of the Festival des Artes de Saint-Sauveur

Next summer, National Ballet of Canada principal Guillaume Côté will add another role to his repertoire—artistic director of Quebec’s Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur. A Canadian version of the Vail International Dance Festival, Saint-Sauveur, founded in 1992, presents international and local dance companies and music groups in a bucolic village near Montreal. Events occur indoors and outside. “As a dancer, I’m constantly discovering new companies and choreographers I would love to collaborate with,” says Côté. “I want to bring some of them to the festival.” Eventually, he hopes to present an evening of premieres each summer, and the creation of an evening-length work.

Côté feels the setting makes it a special place for dance. “In a way, it brings dance back to its basics, stripped of scenery and expensive effects,” he says. “It inspires artists to show their work in the most beautiful and simple way. Quebec is an incredible place for contemporary dance and I think the festival can be an extension of that community.”