The Ballet of Riga will be performing soon "Le Corsaire" in Lyon, at the Maison de la Danse, and I was wondering if some people here have already seen that company, or have some interesting information about it.

Actually, I'm not very likely to see it, as all its performances already were sold out when I called (the good news is that there is an audience for ballet in Lyon... alas, there is so little of it to see !) and I'm not sure I'll be courageous enough to wait early enough before the beginning of a performance in the hope of getting a last minute ticket, especially with the probably snowy weather... But anyway, knowing more about that company would be interesting.

If you mean The Latvian National Ballet, known as the Riga Ballet, you can find information on the dancers and repertoire, etc. on their website:

Latvian National Ballet

This is the company Baryshnikov started out in, as well as Maris Liepa and Aleksander Godunov, to drop a few names!

It's a top-notch ballet company, one of the gems of the Baltic ballet world, along with the Estonian National Ballet and the Lithuanian National Ballet. The training in the school is strictly Vaganova and many of the dancers are Latvians of Russian background, due to the political migrations over 50 years ago. The same holds true in Estonia. This tends to give them the long-limbed, lean physiques we have come to identify with Russian dancers, as well as the facility of extension and the flexibility that is exciting to watch.

Thanks a lot, Marga !

Actually the name used in French by the Maison de la Danse is "le Ballet de l'Opéra National de Riga" and I didn't know what was their name in English- but it definitely is the same company.

That definitely sounds like a worth seeing company (and it will perform with its own orchestra), so if I can I'll try queuing to get a ticket !
Do you know their version of "Le Corsaire" ? The Maison de la Danse web site lists
Aivars Leimanis as its choreographer.

Just a short note to say that my husband and I finally managed to get last minute tickets for "Le Corsaire" last Saturday, and we enjoyed it very much; the company was very good indeed (and especially some of the soloists, I'll post more details later when I find the cast sheet) and the production was very good-looking.

I'm so glad you were able to get tickets, and look forward to reading your review!