In the 18th-19th century famous Western and Russian ballet classics were frequent visitors to Riga, but their art was enjoyed only by the richest and most prosperous merchants. For example, in 1860, en route from Petersburg to Berlin, Marius Petipa – choreographer and premier danseur with the Russian Imperial Theatre – stopped over in Riga, performing the self-produced ballet The Parisian Market. Everyone was delighted, including Petipa himself: "…[we] gave eight performances, a great success, the theatre was full up, excellent earnings."

A permanent ballet company as required for productions at the Riga New Theatre was only set up in 1911. The premiere night saw a performance of two divertissements: Spring Awakening and The Celebration of May. Critics said little or nothing of the first attempts to dance à la ballet in opera performances. Ballet was still a little-known genre here – just 20 of the 207 performances on the 1923/24 Opera bill were ballet.

There was no ballet school in Latvia. The beginning, immediately after World War I, was difficult: as a returning refugee, Voldemārs Komisārs, himself a choreographer and ballet dancer, created the first self-contained professional ballet company. Many other ballet studios appeared later, headed by Russian dancers who had already concluded their stage careers. They were all graduates of the tsarist era choreography schools, now on the run from the Red Terror. The basics of classical ballet were brought to Latvia by Alexandra Fyodorova and Mikhail Fokine, and soon there appeared a production of Swan Lake. The harshest ones among the critics had to admit: "… only now we can say we have good ballet!"

The national school of ballet was only founded in 1932, but just a few years later at the Stockholm Royal Opera the tour performances of the first Latvian original ballet, Mīlas uzvara ("The Triumph of Love) by Jānis Mediņš, delighted the audiences and the king himself. Gustav V presented the Latvian artists with the Royal Order of Vasa.

Riga School of Choreography is where the first ballet steps were taken by world-famous dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. Ballet artist Māris Liepa became a legend of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre, Alexander Godunov was likewise admired. They started out here and just happened to go on to dance elsewhere – even on the stages of Moscow’s Bolshoi and New York’s Metropolitan.

Dance connoisseurs call Riga the 21st century ballet metropolis of Northern Europe. This is where Aija Baumane, a particular favourite of Fidel Castro, danced; here flourished the talent of Velta Vilciņa, who won the affection of Nikita Khrushchev; here danced Anna Priede, the Latvian Ulanova; dozens of good teachers of classical dance went out into the world from Riga. Upon concluding their brilliant career as dancers, the most talented ballet artists go on working as choreographers and ballet-masters. These days our best dancers are Yulija Gurvich, Margarita Demyanok, Alexei Avechkin, Viktorija Jansone, Elza Leimane, Raimonds Martinovs. Among the most brilliant choreographers that have created unforgettable productions over the years since the foundation of the ballet are Helēna Tangijeva-Birzniece, Yevgeni Changa, Aleksandrs Lembergs, Osvalds Lēmanis, Harijs Plūcis – who trained Margot Fonteyn, the magnificent English prima ballerina – and, for the last thirteen years, Aivars Leimanis.

For more than ten years now celebrated stars of European and American ballet have been taking part in the International Baltic Ballet Festival From Classical to Avant-garde, organised by prima ballerina and choreographer Lita Beiris.

Riga School of Choreography was founded in 1932, and for thirty years running has been headed by former premier danseur Haralds Ritenbergs. We've added dance into the system of academic education which is effected by the Latvian Academy of Music, Latvian Academy of Culture and Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy. The Choreography department at the Academy of Music is for the first time led by a woman, dance professor and former prima ballerina Zita Errs.