In Nicolas Le Riche, French photographer and filmmaker Anne Deniau (a.k.a. Ann Ray), previously known for her work documenting the designer Alexander McQueen and the songwriter and singer Tom Waits, presents a major work of collaboration and discovery. Deniau worked with Nicolas Le Riche for nearly six years, photographing him in Paris, New York, Tokyo, and London, and captures the life of a premier danseur —long hours at rehearsals, life on the road, moments of leisure, and, of course, performance. The book is designed to be read two ways: Nicolas is the inside, in Anne Deniau's words, "the intense and secret moments", and, turning the book around, La Riche is the outside, "presenting the artist on stage in his major roles with all the violent tenderness that belongs to him".


Apart from a brief interview that divides the two halves of the book, this portrait is told daringly in over 400 photographs with very little editorial comment. The honesty of these pictures could only be achieved by two artists who have built a level of trust over a long period of time. In viewing these intimate images we can perhaps see what Rudolf Nureyev himself saw when, as Director of the Paris Opera Ballet, he recognized Le Riche's unique talent when he was still in the Ecole de Danse and chose him to dance the role of Mercutio in Nureyev’s production of Romeo and Juliet; within two weeks he had cast him in the role of Romeo. In fact, Nicolas Le Riche was the last protégé of the great Russian master.