Raising The Barre

How Heather Ogden, principal dancer at the National Ballet of Canada, lives with passion and balance.

- Courtney Reilly-Larke

They’re an enchanting mix of dancer, actress and high-level athlete. Heather Ogden, principal dancer at the National Ballet of Canada for over 13 years, won’t be the dancer to quell your captivation. She embodies everything intriguing about ballet: seemingly able to defy gravity with strength and grace…and she doesn’t just save these characteristics for the stage. Ogden is the same IRL, strong, focused, balanced.

If you’re a ballet-goer, you probably know Ogden from the fictional fairy tales she enacts on the stage. Her repertoire includes principal roles in Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, and Cinderella. Or, you may know Ogden from her real-life love story: she’s married to fellow principal dancer Guillaume Côté, with whom she shares two adorable children, Emma and Leo.

Ogden’s rise to success is one that’s marked by dedication — and just a tiny bit of good luck. Her dance career began at age six, all thanks to a cool teenager. “I had a babysitter who took classes at a studio nearby,” says Ogden. “I went to see a performance of Cinderella and asked my mom to sign me up.” She graduated from that same studio, The Richmond Academy of Dance, in 1998 and went on to join the National Ballet of Canada that same year (as an apprentice and then as a full-time member of the Corps de Ballet the following year).

BEGINNINGS