Nicolas Le Riche – eight year as Ballet Director for the Royal Swedish Ballet

A week before Nicolas Le Riche left his duty as Ballet Director for the Royal Swedish Ballet, Dansportalen met Le Riche at his office at the top floor of the Opera and talked about his time in Stockholm and what is around the corner after leaving Stockholm.

Which were your expectations when you came to Stockholm?

I was excited and focused on the company and what we could do together. How I could contribute to the development of the company. I came here eight years ago. I had a contract for five years, which was prolongated with one year and then another two years.

How did you know about the job as ballet director for Kungliga Baletten?

I was at a ballet teachers meeting in Amsterdam and I met two persons, Johannes Öhman – artistic director for Dansens hus and Ingrid Lorentzon – ballet director for Den Norske Opera & Ballett. Both of them told me that I should look at this job as an artistic director in Stockholm. Later there was a description of the job on the website of Kungliga Operan. I called my wife and told her about the job and what she felt about moving to Stockholm. After that I sent in my application to the Opera including a CD and the required documents. I understood that there were three candidates that they had selected for interviews. The whole process was very short, around three months.

What are you most proud of during these eight years?

I am happy that there is a great atmosphere in the company, the company is doing very well and there is a lot of talents. I have also been scouting around for new young talented dancers. When I came, I was looking for the needs of the company and where I could find the best candidates in the world.

We have 72 dancers here, they can be absent for many years, is that something special for Stockholm?

The principle exists also in other countries, but here you can be away for three years or as many years you want if you’re studying, I think it’s quite exceptional.

Have you been working to get more dancers into the company? In Helsinki they have 75 dancers and in Copenhagen 80 – and the Paris Opera has 154 dancers!

When I arrived there were 68 dancers, now they are 72 on a contract, still there should be some more, around 80 dancers would be a good number for this company. For the first time we are offering them a one-year contract, until we understand the dancers and see if it is a match or not. Sometimes you can have a very good dancer, but who does not match with the company. They cannot adapt to the country or the place in the company, or the repertoire, so then isn’t a match and therefore there is no reason to offer a permanent contract.

How is it to share the stage time with operas, do you negotiate about timeslots or do you set a frame from the beginning?

We try to have constructive meetings, it is connected to frames, so we know the time frames. Today it is 60% opera and 40% ballet on the stage.

Why isn’t it 50/50?

That is a question you should ask them! I asked that question several times, as it would be the best if there is a 50/50 division between opera and ballet.

I will pass the question to the new ballet director!

Through the grapevines I have heard you are an appreciated leader of the dance classes. After your resignment at the Paris Opera as Etoile 2014, did you take any dance pedagogic classes?

Not really pedagogic studies, but I had studied management, conflict resolution and cultural politics so it was more academic topics. But I feel like I have been teaching all my life. When I was with the Paris Opera Ballet, I was guest dancing with The Royal ballet, New York City Ballet and other companies as well. So, I had a good understanding of how to train and how to be trained. And I also wanted to get the best result, first for myself, then with my partner and I had wonderful pedagogues. Rudolf Nurejev was a fantastic pedagogue and when you meet choreographers like Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe or John Neumeier, they were also amazing pedagogues. They have so clear ideas, so much talent so they make you understand where they want you to go.

And I love mechanics and design, says Nicolas suddenly with a smile. I love to look at something, being able to process what I see and why, how is it connected to emotions or a narrative and what is the purpose of what I see. And I have a motorbike.

What did you have in mind but was not able to fulfil?

I wish I had had the time to choreograph a piece for the company. This is something I would love to do.

But you were on stage, how did you convince yourself to come back on stage in a role?

That was very unexpected! Mats asked already when we did Julia & Romeo, but I didn’t think it was the right context. And then when he arrived with this concept with an elder couple which was created for Ana and Ivan, however, they needed a second cast. He asked me if I was willing to do it. And I thought the timing was good. It was not too long until I would be leaving the company. They welcomed me very warmly.

And you had no problem with the raked stage?

Opera Garnier also has a raked stage! But Bastille Opera has a flat stage.

How is it for the dancers to move from a raked to a flat stage?

It is just a question of habit! You have been trained to dance on those floors, so you don’t think about it. When you do the manège you have to give more power going up and then hold back on the way down. But you get used to it.

What are your plans now when you are leaving Stockholm?

Now I will disappear for at least five months! I will follow up an education for woodworking. It was always my dream to become a violin maker. I did not have the time earlier and I was happy to be a dancer and teacher, but now I think it’s the time.

You will move back to France?

Yes, I move back to the south of France to the Avignon-area.

I know you don’t want to give any advice to the new ballet director, but now you have the privilege to say something?

For eight years I have done my outmost to develop the company to where the company is today, and they are near to my heart. I have mixed feelings – I don’t want to go! But I know I needed to do it for myself, so I just wish the best for the company. And I am very curios how the company will develop. This is also a sense of ballet history, we are just a little ant working in a little period of time. We are just a small piece of the development of the company and then we know there will be someone coming after, followed by another etc… I think it is time for me to step back, I hope everything will be going well.

You know, when you are directing a company, it is a bizarre job. It seems that you are responsible for everything. But at the performances I just sit in the back of the stage and there is nothing I can do. I just sit and watch. So, it’s very humbling in a way, you have been giving them feedbacks and have worked with the dancers so they can develop and be better. But it belongs to them. It’s very nice to see a dancer understanding and it is not something you have told them, but it is something they feel inside.

When you see them becoming free on stage, and they have ideas, this is the best moment ever. It’s like you have a kid and start teaching it to walk, and one day it suddenly starts walking by itself. I can’t say the dancers are my kids but I feel responsible. I have hired them and seen them develop. I had a meeting with a dancer some days ago, and the person was 16 at the time I saw the dancer at a school, and I saw the talent. Today the person is a very accomplished dancer.

What did you find in Stockholm, which you did not expect, because now you were not a tourist here, something that surprised you?

Every day I am surprised! Every day I discover something. Sometimes it is something unexpected, sometimes it makes sense and then I understand it. I can share a little story.

When I arrived here, I was very surprised that in our building people did not greet us or say something to us. At first, I thought it was a bit rude. In France you always greet people and ask how they are etc. Until the moment I discovered that there was a sense of privacy, and you do not get into the private sphere if you aren’t invited. A completely different perspective I would say.

Stockholm is less crowded than Paris, it’s much quieter. The first time I was here I called my wife, while she was still in Paris. I asked her if she could notice anything. And she said “what”. Then I told her, I was in the street and I can talk with you on the phone without shouting and I can hear you, too. Not possible in Paris with all the noise of cars and people.

I must say I love Stockholm; I love the lifestyle. Because people are really making sure that the quality of their life is good enough. That there is good balance between your work and your private life. Of course, for someone like me, I never considered I had a job, I am passionate about ballet. I can be here at 6 o’clock in the morning and I can be here until 11 o’clock at night, I don’t mind. I just want to contribute to the development of the artform, says Nicolas Le Riche.

Cristian Hillbom
Stockholm