From Riga’s 8th primary school and the opera boys’ choir to the Bolshoi’s “Spartacus” – that was the beginning of Māris Rūdolfs Liepa’s path. He was born in Riga on 27 July 1936 to Eduards and Lilija Liepa; his father worked at the Latvian National Opera as a stage technician. The encyclopedia notes an almost accidental turn: in 1946 the boy was sent to the Riga Choreography School to improve his health, not because anyone had already spotted a future stage star.

In Liepa’s biography, Riga is not merely a birthplace – it is his first stage school, from the opera choir to choreography classes. He later worked in Moscow and danced at the Bolshoi, but Latvia’s ballet world remained visible in his training, early roles, and legacy.