Nicolas Le Riche
© Anne Deniau
About
Danseur Etoile, choreographer
- 1982 : Entered the Paris Opera Ballet School.
- 1988 : Engaged in the Corps de ballet, aged 16.
- 1990 : Promoted to « Sujet ». Danced Tchaikovski- pas de deux (Balanchine), the pas de six from Napoli (Bournonville), Giselle - peasant pas de deux (after Coralli and Perrot), Sinfonietta (Kylián), soloist parts in Suite en blanc (Lifar), Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Neumeier), the Divertissement of Paquita (after Petipa).
- 1991 : Promoted to « Premier danseur ». Chosen by Rudolf Nureyev for the roles of Mercutio and Romeo in his version of Romeo and Juliet.
- 1992 : In The Night (Robbins), Le Train Bleu (Nijinska), Attentat poétique (Daniel Larrieu), Vaslaw (Neumeier), Etudes (Lander), the Golden Idol in La Bayadère (Nureyev).
- 1993 : Roland Petit cast him in Le Jeune homme et la Mort and Les Forains. Danced the role of Albrecht in Mats Ek's Giselle and Solor in La Bayadère (Nureyev).
Named "Etoile" in Nîmes on 1993 July 22th, after dancing, for the first time, the role of Albrecht in the traditional version of Giselle (after Coralli and Perrot).
He has since added to his repertoire : Le Palais de cristal, The Four Temperaments, Apollo, The Prodigal Son, Diamonds / Jewels (Balanchine), The Fire Bird, Boléro, Serait ce la mort?, The Rite of Spring (Béjart), Swan Lake (Bourmeister and Nureyev versions), Onegin (Cranko), Le Spectre de la rose, Petrushka (Fokine), In the Middle Somewhat Elevated (Forsythe), Ivan the Terrible (Grigorovitch), Doux mensonges (Kylián), La Sylphide (Lacotte after Taglioni), Les Mirages (Lifar), Song of the Earth, Manon (MacMillan), The Nutcracker, Magnificat, Vaslaw, Aminta in Sylvia (Neumeier), Till Eulenspiegel, The Afternoon of a Faun (Nijinski), The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Cinderella, Abderam in Raymonda (Nureyev), Quasimodo in Notre-Dame de Paris, L’Arlésienne, Don José in Carmen, the Young man in Le Rendez-vous (Petit), En Sol, Dances at a Gathering, A Suite of Dances, Other Dances, Afternoon of a Faun (Robbins), Jardin aux lilas, Dark Elegies(Tudor).
Soloist roles created with the Paris Opera Ballet : Attentat poétique (Larrieu, 1992), La Bayadère – dancing the role of the Slave (Nureyev, 1992), Camera Obscura (Petit, 1995), Voilà, c’est ça (Ullate, 1995), Allegro brillante (Balanchine, 1996), The Four Seasons – dancing The Autumn (Robbins, 1996), IXth Symphony (Béjart, 1996), Ancient Airs and Dances (Tanner, 1997), Sylvia – dancing Orion (Neumeier, 1997), Casanova (Preljocaj, 1998), Pas./parts (Forsythe, 1999), Doux mensonges (Kylián, 1999), Clavigo (Petit, 1999), Emeralds / Jewels (Balanchine, 2000), Appartement (Ek, 2000), The Cage (Robbins, 2001), Wuthering Heights – dancing Heathcliff (Belarbi, 2002), O zlozony / O composite (Brown, 2004), Amoveo (Millepied, 2006, 2009), L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (Orlin, 2007), La Fille mal gardée – dancing Colas (Ashton, 2007), A Sort of (Ek, 2008), Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler (Neumeier, 2009), Siddharta - title role (Preljocaj, 2010).
He received the Benois de la Danse (Moscow, 1995), the Nijinski Award (Monte-Carlo, 2004).
He is entitled Chevalier of Arts and Letters and of the Order of Merit.
He is also choreographer.