Place des Arts | Les Songes d’une nuit d'été | Les Grands Ballets

From William Shakespeare’s forest of ancient Greece to Guillaume Côté’s contemporary creation, Les Songes d’une nuit d’été spans the centuries without losing its mystery. The choreographer sets this enchanting comedy around a wedding celebrated over a weekend. What promises to be a peaceful union soon takes an unexpected turn. Four young lovers find their relationships tested by a mischievous figure and a magical elixir. As the wilderness gradually transforms into a chaotic, enchanted world, Guillaume Côté offers a deeply human reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s play, written in 1595. At its heart lies a simple, moving question: what becomes of love over time? The choreographer explores love’s fault lines, the wear and tear of relationships, the fragility of bonds, and the desire that persists despite weariness, jealousy or misunderstanding. A former principal dancer, Guillaume Côté brings a choreographic language that is both incisive and embodied, grounded in classical discipline. The score brings together Mendelssohn, Max Richter, Steve Reich and Johann Strauss, while the set design shifts from almost stark realism into pure dream. A night to lose oneself, confront one’s desires, and perhaps find oneself anew.