baletis „Savi margaliti - Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre

Arabesque 1

Arabesque Ballet Magazine 

No2(15)'10 

àrabeski~ Jurnali baletze 

zaqaria faliaSvilis saxelobis 

Tbilisis operisa da baletis saxelmwifo Teatris 

sabaleto dasis Jurnali 

MAGAZINE ABOUT THE BALLET COMPANY OF 

THE TBILISI Z. PALIASHVILI OPERA AND BALLET STATE THEATRE 

gamodis weliwadSi orjer Issued twice a year 

sabaleto dasis samxatvro xelmZRvaneli 

nino ananiaSvili 

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE BALLET COMPANY 

NINA ANANIASHVILI 

mTavari redaqtori 

ilia TavberiZe 

inglisuri teqstebis 

redaqtori 

Tornike xomeriki 

dizaini 

besik danelia 

fotografi 

lado vaCnaZe 

JurnalSi gamoyenebulia saqarTvelos Teatris, kinos, musikisa da 

qoreografiis saxelmwifo muzeumis, vaxtang Wabukianis saxl-muzeumis, 

operisa da baletis Teatris muzeumis, nino ananiaSvilis da 

baletis msaxiobTa piradi arqivis fotoebi 

The photographs used are presented from the arhives of the Museum of 

Theatre, Film, Music and Choreography of Georgia; the Vakhtang Chabukiani 

Museum; the Opera and Ballet Theatre Museum; the private archives of 

Nina Ananiashvili and the ballet artists. 

Tbilisi, rusTavelis gamz. 25 

Editor-in-Chief 

ILIA TAVBERIDZE 

Editor of the English 

language version 

TORNIKE KHOMERIKI 

Photographer 

LADO VACHNADZE 

25, RUSTAVELI ave. 0108, TBILISI, GEORGIA 

tel/TEL: +995 32 99 93 64 

UDC(uak)792.8 

A-70 

ISSN 1512-3294 

Design by 

BESIK DANELIA 

daibeWda Sps sezanSi 

wereTlis gamziri 140, tel: 357002 

el-fosta: brola@cezanne-web.com 

tiraJi: 500 

www.ballet.ge 

04 vaxtang 

07 vaxtang 

10 

13 ubadlo 

16 vaxtang 

18 vaxtang 

22 

27 dajildovdnen 

28 BALLET 

30 varskvlavi 

22 

TariRi . DATE 

Wabukiani - 100 

VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI - 100 

tatiana veCeslova 

WabukianTan erTad 

WITH VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI 

TATYANA VECHESLOVA 

vera wignaZe 

jadoqari 

THE WIZARD 

VERA TSIGNADZE 

eTer faRava 

partniori 

AN INCOMPARABLE PARTNER 

ETER PAGHAVA 

veriko anjafariZe 

Wabukiani 

VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI 

VERIKO ANJAPARIDZE 

mixeil lavrovski 

Wabukiani 

VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI 

MIKHAIL LAVROVSKY 

kote maxaraZe 

cekvis jadoqari 

WIZARD OF DANCE 

KOTE MAKHARADZE 

jildo 

Wabukianis medliT 

. AWARD 

AWARDED THE VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI MEDAL 

NEWS 

premia . AWARD 

`varskvlavebs~ 

STAR FOR THE STARS 

AWARDED THE VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI MEDAL

33 

35 

39 

42 amomavali 

44 

46 

48 


nino gogua: `vecdebi kvlavac 

gagaxaroT~ 

NINO GOGUA: "DOING MY BEST TO MAKE YOU 

HAPPY" 



devid holbergi: `Cemi kariera 

mravalferovani gaxda~ 

DAVID HALLBERG: "ANOTHER RICH EXPERIENCE 

FOR MY CAREER" 


BALLET NEWS 

gastrolebi 

mzis qveyanaSi 

THE RISING SUNIN COUNTRY OF 

. TOURS 

keiko nakamura 

prima balerinas naTeli, gamorCeuli 

figura 

VIVID, OUTSTANDING PRESENCE OF A PRIMA 

BALLERINA 

KEIKO NAKAMURA 

ipei fukuda 

didi, STambeWdavi warmodgena feria 

ninosagan 

FROM FAIRY NINA, SUPREME PERFORMANCES 

IPPEI FUKUDA 

spoletosa da jeikobs filous 

festivalebze 

AT THE SPOLETO AND JACOB’S PILLOW 

FESTIVALS 

30 

50 

52 balerina 

56 sicocxle 

klaudia la roko 

dasi, romelic sasiamovno 

Tavgadasavlebs gTavazobT 

FLIRTATIOUS BUNCH, INSTIGATING 

PLAYFUL ADVENTURES 

CLAUDIA LA ROCCO 

janin parkeri 

da dasi, romelic gaizarda 

A BALLERINA AND A TROUPE GROW UP 

JANIN PARKER 

premiera . PREMIERE 

sofo kilasonia 

moZraobaSi 

LIFE IN MOVEMENT 

SOPHO KILASONIA 

didi saxelebi 

baletis „Savi margaliti~ _ 

Tamara Tumanova 62 THE BLACK PEARL OF BALLET _ 

TAMARA TOUMANOVA 

BALLET NEWS 68 . THE GREAT NAMES 



dasi 67 THE COMPANY 

56 

Secdomebis gasworeba / CORRECTION 

arabeskis 2010 wlis #1-Si daSvebulia ori uzustoba: 

51 gv. _ suraTis warwera unda ikiTxebodes ase: kasio _ guram kukulaZe 

52 gv. _ meoTxe abzacis meoTxe winadadebaSi balet `baiaderas~ nacvlad unda 

eweros baleti `raimonda~. 

The Arabesque issue No.1 of 2010 contains two inaccuracies: 

Page 51 – the picture caption should read: Casio – Guram Kukuladze 

Page 52 – paragraph 4, line 4 –instead of La Bayadere, the ballet Raymonda should be listed.

4 

Arabesque 

4 Arabesque 

United Nations 

Educational, Scientific and 

Cultural Organization 

gaerTianebuli erebis 

ganaTlebis, mecnierebis da 

kulturis organizacia 

100th Anniversary of the birth 

of Vakhtang Chabukiani 

Celebrated in association with UNESCO 

vaxtang Wabukianis 

dabadebidan 100 wlis iubile 

aRiniSneba iuneskos monawileobiT 

vaxtang Wabukiani 

VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI

vaxtang Wabukiani asi wlis gaxda. 

Cveulebriv saqarTveloSi uyvarT iubileebis 

pompezuri aRniSvna. Catardeba saRamoebi, 

koncertebi, gamova wignebi.... 

welsac ase iqneba... 

Wabukianis iubiles, saqarTvelos mTavrobis 

winadadebiT, mxari dauWira iuneskom da 2010 

wels msoflioSi aRsaniSnav mniSvnelovan 

RonisZiebaTa CamonaTvalSi Seitana. 

magram saiubileod mTavari mainc Wabukianis 

fenomenis Sefasebaa, im damsaxurebis aRniSvna, 

romelic mas miuZRvis qarTuli da msoflio 

baletis winaSe! 

vin iyo igi, mxolod genialuri mocekvave Tu 

genialuri qoreografic? 

ramdenad icnobs msoflio sabaleto samyaro 

mis memkvidreobas? 

axlandel Taobas, visac Wabukiani scenaze ar 

unaxavs, mis Sesaxeb mxolod ramdenime video- 

Canaweris mixedviT SeuZlia msjeloba. magram 

misi Tanamedroveni amboben, rom am Canawerebidanac 

ki ar SeiZleba imsjelo Wabukianis fenomenze, 

radgan isini ufro gviani periodisaa. Tumca 

aqac Wabukiani SesaniSnav formaSia. 

vaxtang Wabukianze rom daaxloebiTi 

warmodgena Segveqmnas, unda mousmino mis 

Tanamedroveebs, mis partniorebs, mis 

moswavleebs... 

saiubileo nomris masalebic am principiT 

SevarCieT. yvela maTgani sxvadasxva dros 

Jurnal-gazeTebsa da wignebSia dabeWdili. 

zogi adrindeli periodisaa, ramdenime ki sul 

bolo wlebSia gamoqveynebuli. mTlianobaSi 

maTi gacnoba garkveul warmodgenas Seuqmnis 

mkiTxvels genialuri mocekvavisa da 

qoreografis _ vaxtang Wabukianis Sesaxeb: 

Vakhtang Chabukiani – 100. 

Usually anniversaries are celebrated big in 

Georgia. Monuments are unveiled, 

evenings and concerts take place, books 

are published... 

This year will be the same. 

TariRi 

Date 

Based on the proposition by the Georgian 

government, the UNESCO has included 

the Chabukiani anniversary in the 2010 

international significant dates’ list. 

Although the most important point on 

the anniversary agenda is to assess the 

Chabukiani phenomenon, to mark his 

merit to the Georgian and world ballet. 

Who was he – a genius of dance only, or a 

genius of choreography too? 

How well does the ballet world know his 

legacy? 

The generation who has not seen 

Chabukiani on stage may judge him from 

the few films left to our days, although his 

contemporaries say he is not to be 

assessed by them, as the tapes depict the 

later period _ although he is seen in a 

brilliant shape there too. 

To picture Chabukiani one must listen to 

his partners and students… And we 

prepared the anniversary issue materials 

according to this principle. All of the 

articles were printed at various times in 

magazines, papers and books. Some of 

them date quite far back, while others 

were published just a short time ago. 

Delving in these materials, the readers will 

create an impression about the legendary 

dancer and choreographer for themselves. 

Arabesque 5 

Arabesque 5

ai, maTi avtorebi: 

THE AUTHORS OF THE MATERIALS ARE: 

tatiana veCeslova Wabukianis erT-erTi pirveli partniori 

iyo. sankt-peterburgis marias Teatris primabalerinasTan 

erTad igi TbilisSi pirvelad swored 

masTan erTad Camovida gastrolze. 

Tatyana Vecheslova one of the first partners of Chabukiani; she was the Prima 

Ballerina of the Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg when partnering 

Chabukiani in his first tour to Tbilisi. 

vera wignaZe, romelTanac aris dakavSirebuli Wabukianis yvela 

didi gamarjveba qarTul baletSi. igi Tbilisis operisa da 

baletis scenaze misi ucvleli partniori da erTguli 

megobari iyo. 

Vera Tsignadze the dancer with whom all of Chabukiani’s great achievements in the 

Georgian ballet are tied to. His long time Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre stage partner, 

as well as a close friend. 

eTer faRava saqarTvelos pirveli prezidentis noe Jordanias 

SviliSvili, romelic emigraciaSi, parizSi gaxda cnobili balerina 

da hqonda pativi TbilisSi ecekva vaxtang WabukinaTan erTad. 

Ether Paghava the granddaugther of Noe Zhordania, the first president of 

Georgia, becoming a popular ballerina while in emigration to Paris, and 

dancing with Vakhtang Chabukiani in Tbilisi. 

veriko anjafariZe qarTuli Teatris didi msaxiobi, 

romelSic udides STagonebas iwvevda 

Wabukianis scenaze xilva. 

Veriko Anjaparidze the great artist of the Georgian theatre, 

deeply impressed by Chabukiani on stage. 

mixeil lavrovski genialuri mocekvave da 

Wabukianis pirveli partnioris _ elene 

CikvaiZis Svili, TbilisSi specialurad 

Camodioda da emzadeboda vaxtang 

WabukianTan. SemdgomSi moskovis didi 

Teatris premiers da Tbilisis operisa da 

baletis saxelmwifo Teatris sabaleto 

dasis samxatvro xelmZRvanels (1983-85) didi 

megobroba akavSirebda WabukianTan. 

Mikhail Lavrovsky the legendary dancer and the son of Elene 

Chikvaidze, the first partner for Chabukiani. Periodically 

arrived in Tbilisi to prepare with the Georgian virtuoso. 

The Moscow Bolshoi Theatre Principal and the Artistic 

Director of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre 

ballet company (1983-85), he was in close friendship with 

Chabukiani. 

kote maxaraZe, romelmac bevri ram gaakeTa 

vaxtang Wabukianis saxelis ukvdavyofisaTvis. 

mas ekuTvnis filmi „cekvis raindi~, 

romelmac unikaluri videoCanawerebi 

da mogonebebi Semogvinaxa 

Wabukianis Sesaxeb. 

Kote Makharadze the well-known public figure, 

contributing a lot to the popularization of Chabukiani’s 

name. Author of the Knight of Dance film that 

preserved to us some unique tapes and memories of 

Chabukiani. 

6 

Arabesque

vaxtang 

WabukianTan 

With Vakhtang Chabukiani 

maSin jer kidev qoreografiuli saswavleblis 

moswavle viyavi, roca saRamos kursebis 

koncerts daveswari. 

damamaxsovrda Tbilisidan Camosuli 

qeraTmiani Wabukis gamosvla. es iyo vaxtang 

Wabukiani. igi cekvavda „cecxlis cekvas”, 

romelic masve daedga. 

ukve maSinac ki gansacvifrebeli iyo misi 

niWis uCveulo Zala. yvela aRtacebuli iyo 

Wabuki vaxtangis SesaniSnavi agebulebiT _ 

saSualo simaRle, zomierad gaSlili mxarbeWi, 

viwrod gamoyvanili weli da sakvirvelad 

lamazi fexebi, romelzedac kunTebi 

raime zedmeti damuSavebis gareSe rbilad 

ikveTebodnen... patara terfi, xelis metyveli 

mtevani, koxtad morgebuli patara Tavi... 

magram rogorc ki cekvas iwyebda, igi Cvens 

Tvalwin izrdeboda, misi tani TiT-qosda 

maRldeboda. mis cekvas warmoudgeneli 

Sinagani eqspresia warmarTavda. da Tumca jer 

kidev bevri ram srulqmnili ar iyo, 

am drosac ki ukve sacnauri iyo 

misi cekvis profesionaluroba. 

vaxtangi Zalze swrafad miiwevda mwvervalebisken. 

misma pirvelive gamosvlam balet 

„don kixotSi~ ganacvifra leningradi. 

axalgazrda Wabukianze umal alaparakda 

mTeli qalaqi, magram vaxtangs amis gamo 

Tavbru ar dasxmia. Cven yvelas gvikvirda misi 

Sromismoyvareoba, gvaocebda misi survili 

cekvaSi Caeqsova yvelaferi is, risi 

gamoxatvac adamianis sxeuls ZaluZs. 

erTad 

tatiana veCeslova 

TATYANA VECHESLOVA 

I was still student of the choreographic school when I 

attended an evening course concert. 

wignidan „me balerina var~. n. gurabaniZis Targmani. 

ibeWdeba SemoklebiT 

From the book "I’m a Ballerina". Translation by N. Gurabanidze. 

Published in short 

The performance that got into my memory straight away 

was the one by a blonde young boy from Tbilisi. This was 

Vakhtang Chabukiani, performing the Fiery Dance, staged by 

himself. His extraordinary talents were amazing even back 

then. Everyone was in awe of young Vakhtang’s brilliant 

physique – moderate height, wide shoulders, narrow waist 

tatiana veCeslova da vaxtang Wabukiani 

TATYANA VECHESLOVA AND VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI Arabesque 7

and surprisingly beautiful feet, with muscles shaping 

on it without any artificial strain… small foot, 

articulate hands, well-shaped head... Although he 

would grow in height in front of our eyes just as he 

started to dance. His dancing was inspired by inner 

expression beyond imagination. Although not 

everything was yet perfect back then, professional 

nature of his dance was already apparent. 

Vakhtang’s ascend to success was rapid. His debut 

Don Quixote performance in Leningrad captured the 

audience, and the entire city was full of talk about 

the young Chabukiani, although his feet remained 

firmly on ground. We were all amazed by his work 

rate and degree of wish to express all the possibilities 

of human body in dancing. Many witnessed him 

working on especially difficult and unknown 

movements during the pauses between rehearsals. 

Vakhtang would search for and compose new 

combinations, and then amaze the Company with 

innovatory movements in rehearsals. There was a 

thunderous applause in the studio when Chabukiani 

performed the Don Quixote variation created by him, 

for the first time. For some reason people do not 

remember now that he was the one who created it. 

Chabukiani’s edition toured around the world, 

performed by the Soviet artists. 

Vakhtang would enter the stage during a pause. 

Even his entrance was seen as dance – he would 

do a circle that demonstrated challenge. As if his 

every muscle strived to dance. As the first score 

from orchestra rang out, his starting pose sent out 

so much expressive power that the entire hall was 

rocked by applause, and he had not even started 

to dance. 

His plasticity was perfect – he handled every nuance 

of classical dance - masculine performance would be 

followed by a feminine grace, when he, in order to 

amuse us, would switch to soft female dancing shoes 

and do the Aurora variations from The Sleeping Beauty, 

doing eight pirouettes on the way. Vaganova, the 

famous ballet master and pedagogue, would spread 

her hands and sigh. 

Our first partnering took place in Vakhtang’s 

homeland. In 1931 he proposed to do a tour to 

Tbilisi. Don Quixote was the piece for the staging, and 

he was returning home for the first time, to show 

what he had learned in Leningrad. 

He restored Don Q in two weeks, and it had a striking 

success. Vakhtang conquered Tbilisi. Rumour about a 

“wonder of nature” spread out after the initial 

performance. 

8 

Arabesque 

repeticiebs Soris, Sesvenebaze, xSirad 

unaxavT igi rogori gulmodginebiT 

varjiSobda romelime gansakuTrebulad 

rTul moZraobaze, romelic manamde aravis ar 

Seusrulebia. 

vaxtangi eZiebda, Txzavda axal kombinaciebs 

da morig repeticiebze mravaljer 

ganucvifrebia mTeli dasi aqamde unaxavi 

moZraobiT. 

daucxromeli taSi quxda sarepeticio 

darbazSi, roca vaxtang Wabukianma pirvelad 

Seasrula mis mier Seqmnili variacia balet 

„don kixotis~ bolo moqmedebaSi. axla, 

ratomRac aRaravis axsovs, rom am variaciis 

Semqmneli v. Wabukiania. sabWoTa msaxiobebis 

SesrulebiT vaxtangiseulma redaqciam 

msoflios yvela qveyana Semoiara. 

vaxtangi pauzis dros Semodioda scenaze. misi 

TviT ubralo gamosvla ukve aRiqmeboda 

rogorc cekva. igi akeTebda wres da am 

„gavlaSi~ iyo damajerebeli gamowveva-aRqma. 

TiTqosda TiToeuli misi kunTi TrToda da 

sacekvaod miiltvoda. orkestris pirvelsave 

xmebze igi iseTi eqspresiulobiT iWerda 

pozas, rom darbazi taSiT zanzarebda, vaxtangs 

ki jer cekvac ar hqonda dawyebuli. 

misi plastika srulyofili iyo. igi 

Tavisuflad flobda klasikuri cekvis yvela 

niuanss _ vaJkacur maneras cvlida qaluri 

gracia, roca igi, Cvens gasarTobad, qalis 

sabaleto Custebs icvamda da „mZinare 

mzeTunaxavidan~ avroras variaciebs cekvavda 

da rva-rva piruets akeTebda fexis wverebze. 

saxelganTqmuli baletmaisteri da pedagogi 

vaganova gaocebisagan xelebs Slida da 

oxravda. 

Cveni pirveli gamosvla vaxtangis samSobloSi 

Sedga. 1931 wels man SemomTavaza erTd wavsuliyaviT 

sagastrolod TbilisSi. v.Wabukians, 

Cemi monawileobiT, „don kixotis~ dadgma 

SesTavazes. igi pirvelad brundeboda saxlSi, 

raTa TanamemamuleTaTvis eCvenebina is, rac 

leningradSi swavlis dros SeiZina. 

„don kixoti~ man or kviraSi aRadgina. 

speqtakls mquxare warmateba xvda wilad. 

vaxtangma daipyro Tbilisi. pirvelive 

gamosvlisTanave qalaqSi xma dairxa, rom 

gamoCnda „bunebis saswauli~. 

Semdeg iyo gastrolebi. ufro da ufro 

matulobda Cveni warmateba. erT-erT Cvens 

koncertze movida amerikeli impresario,

firma „kolumbia korporeiSenis~ 

warmomadgeneli da SemogvTavaza sagastrolo 

turne amerikaSi. 

Cven dauqancavad vmuSaobdiT, Tavdauzogavad 

vemzadebodiT niu-iorkSi, „karnegi holis~ 

sakoncerto darbazSi, gamosvlisaTvis. 

am darbazs, iseve rogorc milanis „la skalas~ 

Teatrs, moskovis did Teatrs, leningradis 

kirovis saxelobis Teatrs, Tavisi sakuTari, 

Rirsaxsovari istoria aqvs. mis scenaze 

mravalgzis gamosulan korifeebi: toskanini, 

raxmaninovi, dunkani, pavlova, Saliapini, 

horovici, xeifeci, kurCi da sxvebi. 

Cven gagvafrTxiles: „Tu msaxiobi~ gamova 

„karnegi holSi~, amiT ukve gansazRvruli 

iqneba misi sidiade, magram Tu „Cavarda~, es 

imas niSnavs, rom mTeli misi Semdgomi 

warmateba erTob saeWvo xdeba~. 

„karnegi holSi~ pirvel koncertze darbazi 

gaWedili iyo. Zneli iyo yoveli gamosvla. 

amerikelebs _ Cvengan gansxvavebiT _ ar 

uyvarT nomrebs Soris mosmena. maT fuli 

gadaixades baletisaTvis da surT mxolod 

cekvebs uyuron. am sam wuTSi dasvenebas ki 

ara, kostiumisa da grimis gamocvlasac 

Zvlivs vaswrebdiT.... 

This was followed by more touring. More and more 

success was coming on the way. An impresario from 

United States, representative of the Columbia 

Corporation, approached us at one of our concerts and 

proposed a tour to the States. 

We worked tirelessly for our appearance in New York, on 

the Carnegie Hall stage - the stage which, just like La 

Scala of Milan, or Kirov Theatre in Leningrad, has its 

own significant history. Famous names like Toscanini, 

Rakhmaninov, Duncan, Pavlova, Chalyapin, Horowitz, 

Heifetz, Curci and others have many times been on this 

stage. 

We had been informed that an actor is already marked by 

a performance in the Carnegie Hall, although, if they fail 

there, it would cast doubts over their future success. 

Every evening there was in front of packed audience, and 

it was tough. Unlike us, Americans do not like listening 

between numbers – they pay for ballet and want to see 

dancing. We barely managed to change costumes and 

make up in those three minutes… 

The audience met us with careful kindness, but with every 

number that changed into acknowledgement. There were 

frTxili TavazianobiT Segvxvda mayurebeli. 

magram nomridan nomramde warmateba ufro da 

ufro izrdeboda. dasasruls ki mayurebeli 

yviroda da skamebs abraxunebda. da uceb Cven 

Semogvesma guliswamRebi stvena. „ra aris es~ _ 

SiSiT vikiTxeT Cven. magram dagvamSvides: ès 

aRtacebis niSania, nu aReldebiT, Tqven 

daatyveveT amerikeli mayurebeli~. 

erT-erT koncertze movidnen Cveni Teatris 

yofili msaxiobebi _ p. vladimirovi da axla 

ukve saqveynod cnobili baletmaisteri jorj 

balanCini. vladimirovma uTxra vaxtangs: `me 

rom Tqveni niWis meoTxedi mainc mqondes, 

mTeli msoflio moiyrida muxls Cems winaSe~... 

gastrolebi grZeldeboda _ Cikago, 

detroiti, bostoni, los-anJelesi, sanfrancisko... 

Semdeg gamovediT italiaSi, 

genuaSi. iZulebuli gavxdiT uari gveTqva „la 

skalaSi” gamosvlaze _ vaxtangi gacivda da 

avad gaxda. 

...niu-iorkSi me gansakuTrebuli ZaliT 

vigrZeni vaxtangis megobruli siaxlove, misi 

bunebis ganumeorebeli Tavisebureba. 

margo fonteini, vaxtang Wabukiani da atilio labisi repeticiaze. iaponia. 1974 

MARGOT FONTEYN, VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI AND ATTILIO LABIS ON REHEARSAL. JAPAN 1974 

shouts and knocking on seats close to the final part. And 

then there was this whistle. We were frightened, and asked 

what happened, but were told that this was a recognition 

by the American audience. During one of the evenings the 

former artists of our theatre – P. Vladimirov and now 

world famous ballet master George Balanchine – came to 

us and Vladimirov told Vakhtang: “If I had half your 

talent, the entire world would be on their knees in front 

of me”… 

Tours went on – Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles, 

San Francisco… Genoa, Italy was next, and we could not 

manage to appear in La Scala due to Vakhtang being ill. 

…I especially experienced Vakhtang’s friendship and his 

extraordinary character in New York. 

Arabesque 9

vera wignaZe 

VERA TSIGNADZE 

saqarTvelos saxalxo artisti 

The People's Artist of Georgia 

10 

Arabesque 

jadoqari 

The Wizard 

vera wignaZe da vaxtang Wabukiani. „laurensia“ 

VERA TSIGNADZE AND VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI. LAURENCIA

arasodes 

damaviwydeba Cemi pirveli 

Sexvedra vaxtang Wabukianis xelovnebasTan. es 

moxda omis dros. imxanad baqos qoreografiul 

saswavlebelSi vswavlobdi. vaxtang Wabukiani 

baqoSi Camovida gastrolze marina 

semionovasTan erTad. Wabukianis gamosvlam 

gamaognebeli STabeWdileba moaxdina. misi 

jadoqruli cekva, rogorc saocari xilva, ise 

aRibeWda Cems cxovrebaSi. is, rac im saRamos 

vnaxe, arasodes amoiSleba Cemi mexsierebidan. 

lamis Wkuidan SeviSale. 

vaxtangi cekvavda pa de des „korsaridan~, 

„cecxlis cekvas~, „frinvels~ da sxva. dResac 

cxadad maxsovs misi aRmafrena „frinvelSi~. ra 

saocrad lamazi iyo es cad afrenili poezia! 

TiTqos miwaze daSvebas aRar apirebso. ase iyo 

gaCerebuli haerSi, vidre ar gaSlida, vidre ar 

moiqnevda Tavis saswaulmoqmed frTebs. 

es iyo aRmafrTovanebeli sanaxaoba! maSinve 

Sedga Cemi Sexvedra vaxtang WabukianTan. Cemi 

pedagogi icnobda marina semionovas. man 

gadawyvita weriliT miemarTa misTvis. am 

werilSi igi werda, rom masTan swavlobs 

niWieri qarTveli gogona, romelsac 

yuradRebis miqceva sWirdeba. es werili me 

TviTon mivitane sastumro „inturistSi~. kari 

marina semionovam gamiRo. is da vaxtangi 

„karts~ TamaSobdnen... roca kari gaiRo orpirma 

qarma korianteli daayena da „kartebi~ aqeTiqeT 

mimofanta... dabneuli videqi... marina 

semionovam Cems Tvalwin waikiTxa werili. 

magram vaxtangs araferi ar uTxra. me ki iseTi 

morcxvi viyavi, rom verafris Tqma ver 

SevZeli. arada unda meTqva, rom mec qarTveli 

var, rom vswavlob qoreografiul 

saswavlebelSi, rom guliT minda misi mfarveloba... 

es albaT, aucilebeli iyo. magram xma 

ver amoviRe. guldawyvetili wamovedi... 

da ai, gavida ramdenime weli. am droisaTvis 

ukve damTavrebuli mqonda qoreografiuli 

saswavlebeli, ori sezonis manZilze baqos 

axundovis saxelobis operisa da baletis 

TeatrSi vcekvavdi. erT mSvenier dRes, 

I will never forget my first touch with the art of 

Vakhtang Chabukiani. It happened during the war, 

when I was studying at the Baku Choreographic 

School and Chabukiani visited the city on tour, with 

Marina Semenova. His performance impressed me 

beyond any measure – his wizardry of dance 

occupied a place in my life like an amazing vision. 

What I saw that evening will never be erased from 

my memory. I almost went mad. 

Vakhtang was dancing the pas de deux from Le 

Corsaire, Dance of Fire, The Bird and other roles. I 

remember his inspired bird vividly even today. It was 

such a beautiful poetry in the air! It looked like he did 

not intend to descend from there. He floated in the air 

before spreading and swinging his wings, and this was 

an amazing sight! My meeting with him took place at 

that time. My pedagogue was familiar with Semenova, 

and decided to address her with a letter about me, 

writing that there was a talented Georgian girl studying 

with her that could be taken into attention. The letter 

was brought by myself to the Intourist hotel. Semenova 

opened the door. She and Chabukiani were playing 

cards, which were scattered by the the two-way wind 

that rushed in upon the opening of the door... I stood 

confused… Semenova read the letter but did not say 

anything to Vakhtang, and I was too shy to talk, 

although I was to say that I was Georgian too, studying 

at the choreographic school and would be happy if I 

could have her support. So I went back dissapointed... 

Several years passed, and I had graduated from the 

school, now dancing at the Akhundov Opera and 

Ballet Theatre of Baku. One day I received a totally 

unexpected letter from Chabukiani, inviting me to 

Tbilisi. Thanks to God, he had heard about me. 

What could I say? 

Chabukiani turned my world upside down, and turned 

it around. It is difficult to assess what he did for me. 

So who is Vakhtang Chabukiani? 

He is the wirzard. A wonder that even the greatest 

professionals have not been able to explain and 

understand fully. Chabukiani's genius can not be 

analyzed. 

Arabesque 11

sruliad moulodnelad depeSa miviRe Wabukianisagan. 

igi TbilisSi meZaxda. RmerTis wyalobiT 

mas Turme raRac hqonda gagebuli Cems Sesaxeb. 

aba ra meTqmis? vaxtang Wabukianma Tavdayira 

daayena mTeli Cemi cxovreba. Znelia 

sityvebiT imis Tqma, rac man CemTvis gaakeTa. 

mainc vin aris vaxtang Wabukiani? jadoqari. 

saswauli, romlis arsi TviT maRali rangis 

profesionalebmac ki ver amoicnes, ver 

He never polished his poses in mirror. He did not need to. 

The nature created his beauty and harmony. His body was 

perfect, and his each movement had an extraordinary effect. 

Everything came alive while Vakhtang was on stage. 

One academic balletomane from Leningrad wrote: “You 

probably have not seen what happens to the artists while 

Chabukiani is performing. And I have not yet mentioned the 

audience.” 

Yes, it was impossible to see Chabukiani without emotion, 

joy, and excitement. He had amazing appearances. Nobody 

could stand or walk on stage like Chabukiani. His 

12 Arabesque 

gaiTviTcnobieres. Wabukianis genia ar 

eqvemdebareba analizs. 

vaxtang Wabukians Tavisi pozebi arasdros 

Seumowmebia, arasdros dauxvewia sarkis win. 

mas es ubralod ar sWirdeboda. igi bunebam 

Seqmna. bunebam daanaTla mas eniTauwereli 

silamaze da harmoniuloba. idealuri, 

srulqmnilia Wabukianis sxeuli, 

araCveulebriv zemoqmedebas axdenda misi 

yoveli moZraoba. yvela da yvelaferi cocxldeboda, 

roca vaxtangi scenaze Cndeboda. 

erTi leningradeli akademikos-baletomani 

mwerda: `Tqven, albaT, ver xedavT ra xdeba 

scenaze, ra emarTebaT artistebs, roca 

Wabukiani gamodis. mayurebelze xom 

laparakic zedmetia~. 

diax, SeuZlebeli iyo vaxtangis cqera mRelvarebis, 

sixarulis, aRfrTovanebis gareSe. 

saocari gamosvla icoda. WabukianiviT veravin 

ver idga, veravin ver dadioda scenaze. 

didebuli gamosvla hqonda „don kixotSi~ 

variaciis win! igi ubralod modioda. 

mayurebelTa darbazi ki ukve sunTqva 

Sekruli Sehyurebda... da ai, vaxtangi 

dauviwyar pozaSia da saswaulic iwyeboda. 

bedniereba iyo amis xilva! 

„Jizeli~? Cveulebriv piruetebsac ki vaxtangi 

maRali xelovnebis nimuSad aqcevda. grigaliviT 

dahqroda, roca did piruets asrulebda. 

verc erTi orkestri ver eweoda. erTma 

leningradelma diriJorma gulwrfelad 

aRiara: aseT Tavbrudamxvev tempSi 

SeuZlebelia dakvrao. madlobas vwirav 

RmerTs, rom momca SesaZlebloba Sevxebodi 

didi Wabukianis xelovnebas. bednierad vTvli 

Tavs, rom dRemde SevinarCune es siyvaruli da 

aRfrTovaneba. RmerTi iyos misi mfarveli. 

1990 

performance ahead of the Don Quixote variations was 

great. He simply walked, while the audience held its 

breath... And there was Vakhtang in the unforgettable 

pose, and the magic began. It was a great joy to watch this. 

And Giselle? Even the simple, ordinary pirouettes were 

done by him in a way that made them pieces of great art. 

He flew like a hurricane while doing pirouettes; no 

orchestra could match his pace. There was a conductor 

from Leningrad who said that it was impossible to play at 

that dizzy tempo. I thank God that I was able to touch the 

art, and I consider myself happy that I saved this love and 

amazement until today. God bless him. 

1990

ubadlo 

partniori 

An Incomparable 

Partner 

eTer faRava 

ETER PAGHAVA 

eTer faRava da 

vaxtang Wabukiani. 

„don kixoti“ Tbilisi 

ETER PAGHAVA AND 

VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI. 

DON QUIXOTE IN TBILISI 

Arabesque 13

Vakhtang Chabukiani was a great dancer. I was 

so happy when I found out that he would be 

partnering me on the stage of the Tbilisi Opera 

Theatre, in Don Quixote and Giselle. 

He was an extraordinary partner. Despite 

having danced with numerous dancers on 

various stages, including Serge Lifar, nobody 

was like Chabukiani. Only with him I felt an 

amazing feeling of lightness. I was left extatic 

when he brought me up into air with one 

hand, before turning me with the same 

sharpness. I danced in the most free and light 

way thanks to him. 

He made me feel the incomparable moments 

of emotion and happiness that are impossible 

to forget. I see the Giselle with Chabukiani as 

the greatest achievement of my life. 

I remember the words by Chabukiani, when he 

said: “Eter! You are in Georgia. Here you must 

dance like a fire, for the Georgians are used to 

fiery dances.” And I have become witness of 

truth of these words many times even then, 

and after it as well. There was fire on stage in 

Chabukiani’s productions, with the strong 

representatives of the “Chabukiani academy”. 

And do not forget that this was when Mr. 

Chabukiani was 60 years old, which is amazing. 

In France, even the greatest dancers quit their 

career far earlier, at the age of 40 or 45, while 

Chabukiani’s dancing at 60 was impressive. This 

was another moment of his wizard-like energy 

and skillfullness. His beautiful body knew no 

age, and photographs of that age are witness to 

this. People in France were shocked with this 

fact, and I used to tell everyone: “Georgians are 

this strong.” 

Chabukiani is known in France. There are many 

fans in Paris, among both balletomanes and 

people of artistic field. His name enjoys much 

prestige there. 

The French press has mentioned Vakhtang 

Chabukiani as the greatest dancer of the world. 

14 Arabesque 

1990 

v 

axtang Wabukiani didi mocekvavea. Cems 

bednierebas sazRvari ar hqonda, roca Sevityve, rom 

masTan erTad unda mecekva Tbilisis saopero 

Teatris scenaze `don kixotsa~ da `JizelSi~. 

araCveulebrivi partniori iyo. aseTi partniori ar 

myolia, miuxedavad imisa, rom mraval mocekvavesTan 

micekvia ama Tu im qveynis scenaze. serJ lifarTanac 

ki momiwia cekvam. magram mxolod vaxtang Wabukianma 

magrZnobina raRac saocari simsubuqe. saxtad davrCi, 

roca cali xeliT haerSi amitaca, mere ki aseve 

sxartad damatriala. misi wyalobiT vcekvavdi laRad, 

Zaldautaneblad, msubuqad. 

vaxtang Wabukianma ganmacdevina mRelvarebisa da 

sixarulis ganumeorebeli wuTebi. SeuZlebelia amis 

daviwyeba. Cemi cxovrebis yvelaze did miRwevad 

`JizelSi~ vaxtang WabukianTan erTad cekva mimaCnia. 

kargad damamaxsovrda batoni vaxtangis sityvebi: 

èTer! Sen imyofebi saqarTveloSi. aq unda iyo 

rogorc cecxli, radgan qarTvelebi cecxlovan 

cekvas arian daCveulio~. am sityvebis WeSmaritebaSi 

ara erTxel davrwmunebulvar maSinac da merec. 

cecxli enTo batoni vaxtangis speqtaklebSi, 

romlebSic cekvavdnen `Wabukianis akademiis~ Zlieri 

warmomadgenlebi. nu dagaviwydebaT, rom im dros 

batoni vaxtangi ukve 60 wlis iyo. es sakvirveli ambavia. 

safrangeTSi TviT yvelaze saxelovani mocekvaveebic 

ki cekvas Tavs anebeben gacilebiT ufro adre, 

daaxloebiT 40-45 wlis asakSi. 60 wlis vaxtang Wabukiani 

ki SesaniSnavad cekvavda. esec misi SesaniSnavi 

jadoqruli energiisa da ostatobis gamovlinebaa! 

xnovanoba ar etyoboda mis mSvenier sxeuls. amas 

imdroindeli fotosuraTebic cxadyofen. safrangeT- 

Si yvela gancvifrebuli iyo am faqtiT: `qarTvelebi 

aseTi Zlierebi arian-meTqi~ _ veubnebodi. 

vaxtang Wabukians icnoben safrangeTSi. mas parizSi 

bevri Tayvanismcemeli hyavs, rogorc baletis 

moyvarulTa, ise specialistTa wreebSi. iq misi saxeli 

maRali avtoritetiT sargeblobs. 

frangul presaSi vaxtang Wabukians msoflios 

saukeTeso mocekvave uwodes. 

1990

vatang Wabukiani. „mSvidobisaTvis“ 

VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI. FOR PEACE 

Arabesque 15

veriko anjafariZe 

VERIKO ANJAPARIDZE 

wignidan „mogonebaTa TiTo furceli~ 

From the book "A Single Page of Memories" 

vaxtang 

Wabukiani 

Vakhtang 

Chabukiani 

16 

Arabesque

u 

kve ramdenime dRe gavida, magram me jer 

kidev ar SemiZlia mSvidad vilaparako araCveulebriv 

saRamoze, speqtakl-dResaswaulze. msurs gaverkve, ra 

ufro metad momewona da ra _ naklebad. vici, rom im 

saRamos speqtakl òtelos~ gasinjvaze faliaSvilis 

saxelobis operisa da baletis TeatrSi me bednieri, amayi 

viyavi da simartoves ar vgrZnobdi. mayurebelTa mTeli 

darbazi aRafrTovana msaxiobis, reJisoris, mxatvris, 

kompozitoris didma xelovnebam. 

scena gvatyvevebda mxatvris didebuli fantaziiT, ferTa 

gamis gasaocari SegrZnebiT. gvxiblavda maRali 

gemovnebiTa da Seqspiris tragediis Rrma wvdomiT. 

gvxiblavda Seqspiris suliskveTebiT gaJRenTili musika. 

vxedavdiT Tu rogor qmnida msaxiobis genia otelos saxes. 

mTeli speqtaklis manZilze, Seqspiris sityvis gareSe, 

vaxtang Wabukiani Zerwavda otelos, Tavisi tanis 

moZraobiT. man Tavisi suli STabera mas. me mesmoda 

otelos monologebi. mesmoda misi Rriali, kvnesa, qviTini. 

Wabukians ar sWirdeba sityva, rom ganacvifros 

mayurebeli. misi otelo vaJkacuri meomaria, magram nazi, 

bavSvurad mimndobi. me iSviaTad minaxavs, rom scenaze ase 

uyvardeT, rogorc uyvars Wabukianis otelos Tavisi 

dezdemona. magram ai, igi mivida unapiro, mwvel bednierebamde, 

sixarulma aRanTo igi da CvenTvis moulodnelad, 

magram Zalze marTlad alaparakda masSi winaprebis sisxli. 

igi iwyebs xarxars (me zedmiwevniT mesmis es xarxari) da 

cekvas, cekvas ritmulsa da cecxlovans, iseTs, rogorc 

cekvaven otelos samSobloSi. masSi yvelaferi TrTis da 

rokavs. yoveli kunTi TrTis, da es yvelaferi 

gasxivosnebulia TavSeukavebeli, bednieri siciliT. 

ase brwyinvaled amoxsna msaxiobma udidesi bednierebis 

grZnoba. Semdeg ki urwmunoeba, eWvianoba, Tavzardacema. 

dakargva imedis, siyvarulisa da bolos, sicocxlis 

dakargvac. 

mTeli Cemi SemoqmedebiTi cxovrebis ganmavlobaSi qeds 

vixridi Wabukianis TvalismomWreli niWis winaSe, magram 

axla CemTvis kidev ufro gaizarda, amaRlda igi. me 

bednieri var imitomac, rom es SesaniSnavi Teatraluri 

movlena daibada Cvens mSobliur TbilisSi. 

1957 

Several days have passed, although I still cannot 

speak calmly about the extraordinary evening, 

the festive show. I wish to discover what I liked 

more, and what less. I know that on that evening, 

at the probation of the Othello production at the 

Z. Paliashvili Opera and Ballet Theatre I was 

happy and proud, and was not alone in this state. 

The entire hall was ecstatic by the great work of 

the artist, director, designer and composer. 

The stage captured us with great imagination 

and amazing feel for gamma, good taste and 

deep understanding of the Shakespeare tragedy. 

So was the music full of Shakespeare’s spirit. 

We were witnesses of how the Othello image 

was created by the genius of the artist. 

During the entire performance Vakhtang 

Chabukiani carved Othello with the 

movement of his body, he instilled his spirit 

into it. I saw the monologues by Othello; 

heard his roar, his moan, his cry. Chabukiani 

does not need words to amaze the audience. 

His Othello is a brave warrior, but a gentle, 

trustful like a child. I have rarely seen love on 

stage similar to the one of Chabukiani’s 

Othello to his Desdemona. But there he 

reaches the boundless, burning happiness, 

and unexpected by us, blood of his ancestors 

starts to act in him. He begins his laughter 

(which I can clearly hear) and the rhythmic, 

fiery dances they perform in Othello’s homeland. 

Everything in him shivers, and this is lit up 

on by the unrestrained, happy laughter. 

This is how brilliantly the actor discovered 

the feeling of great happiness. And after it 

the unbelief; jealousy; terror; loss of hope; 

of love; and finally, of life. 

I have acknowledged the glaring talent of 

Chabukiani all my life, but now he has risen 

even higher for me. I am happy that this 

remarkable theatrical phenomenon was born 

in our native Tbilisi. 

1957 

Arabesque 17

mixeil lavrovski 

MIKHAIL LAVROVSKY 

nawyveti wignidan „pirveli piris naambobi~ 

Fragment from the book "Told in the First Person" 

18 

Arabesque 

niutoni ambobda, rom Tu raimes miaRwia 

cxovrebaSi _ mxolod imitom, rom gigantebis 

mxrebze idga. Cveni Taobac idga iseTi gigantis 

mxrebze rogoric vaxtang Wabukiani iyo. 

maRalfardovnad rom SevecadoT amis Tqma, 

igi terfsiqoras erT-erTi usayvarlesi 

Svilia, sakuTari arsebis siRrmemde 

mocekvave; ara mxolod ama Tu im 

moZraobis ubralo Semsrulebeli, 

aramed mocekvave _ qoreografiul 

xelovnebaSi am sityvis yvelaze 

farTo gagebiT. 

Newton used to say that whatever he 

achieved in life was done thanks to 

the giants’ shoulders he stood on. So did 

our generation stand on the shoulders 

of the giant like Vakhtang Chabukiani. 

To express this in a lyrical sense, he is 

one of the beloved sons of Terpsichore, 

the one who dances his personality out. 

Not only a performer of some movements, 

but the dancer in the broadest meaning of 

the term in the choreographic art. 

vaxtang 

Wabukiani 

Vakhtang 

Chabukiani 

jarji. „mTebis guli“ 

JARJI. HEART OF THE MOUNTAINS

avSvobaSi bevri ram mesmoda Wabukianis 

Sesaxeb. misi saxeli xSirad ismoda Cvens 

ojaxSi. rodesac deda da mama erTmaneTs 

daSordnen, Wabukianis Sesaxeb saubari 

grZeldeboda barikadis orTave mxares _ 

me, ra Tqma unda, viyavi iqac da iqac. 

Wabukiani sruliad saocari naturaa. 

zemoT aRvniSne, rom igi terfsiqoras 

ubadlo partniori da metoqea (a. danelias 

sityvebia) da amasTanave Zalian iRblianic. 

misi cxovrebis pirvel naxevarSi iRbliani 

iyo yvelaferSi, sibere ki misTvis _ 

avadmyofuri da mZime gamodga. TbilisSi 

me manaxes adgili, sadac igi daibada _ 

sardafi veraze. sxvaTa Soris mec veraze 

davibade, axlos am sardafTan. magram, me 

iq ar Cavsulvar, radgan ukve sxvebi 

cxovrobdnen. mogvianebiT es sardafi, 

saxlTan erTad, daangries. mis adgilze 

filarmonia aages _ albaT simboluria es. 

mamamisi qarTveli iyo, deda ki _ fineli. 

erTma masaJistma, romelic kargad icnobda 

mis winaprebs, erTxel Wabukians uTxra: 

_ Tqven kargi sisxli gaqvT, didxans 

SeZlebT cekvas. da didxans geqnebaT 

lamazi sxeuli. 

Wabukianma swavla TbilisSi maria perinisTan 

daiwyo (sicocxlis bolomde mas pirveli 

maswavleblis italieli perinis foto 

kabinetSi ekida). vaxtang mixeilis Ze, 

rogorc TviTmxilvelebi miyvebodnen, 

yovelTvis avlenda liderobisa da qoreografiuli 

dadgmebis ganxorcielebis 

survils. igi Tavad dgamda nomrebs da 

dedaCemTan erTad _ romelic misi pirveli 

partniori iyo _ am nomrebs kinoseansebis 

dawyebis win asrulebdnen, rom rTul 

20-ian wlebSi fuli gamoemuSavebinaT. 

mogvianebiT, ar vici rogor, isini leningradSi 

gadavidnen da vaganovas saxelobis 

saswavlebelSi Cairicxnen. Wabukianis kariera 

uecrad, sul mokle droSi, zeviT wavida. 

mas yvela angariSs uwevda, Tavad vaganovas 

CaTvliT. Tavidan mas ar hqonda maRali 

naxtomi. mas xom italiuri sabaleto skola 

hqonda gavlili, sadac trials (Âðàùåíèå) 

didi mniSvnelobas aniWebdnen, magram 

balones (Ballone) ar aqcevdnen yuradRebas 

_ moswavleebi xtodnen ise, rom qusls 

iatakze ar dgamdnen. es mTavari Secdomaa, 

radgan mTavaria axtomis win qusli myarad 

idges iatakze. amas ki SesaniSnavad 

aswavlida rusuli sabaleto skola. 

SemdgomSi Wabukiani „dafrinavda~ scenaze. 

magram „maRla xtoda~ es ar aris swori 

I heard a lot about Chabukiani in my childhood. His name was 

mentioned often in my family. When my parents split, the talk about 

Chabukiani went on, on the both sides of the barricade. 

Chabukiani is an amazing character. As I already mentioned, he is 

an incomparable partner and rival for Terpsichore (quote by 

A. Danelia), and a lucky one. He was lucky in everything during 

the first half of his life, while he had ill and hard ageing. 

I was shown the place of his birth in Tbilisi – a cellar on Vera. I 

was too born on Vera, quite close to the place, although never went 

there, as others lived in the place by that time. Later the cellar, as 

well as its house, was demolished, and the Philarmonic Hall was 

built there – symbolic, perhaps. His father was Georgian, and the 

mother was Finnish; one physiotherapist, familiar with his 

ancestors, told him: 

– You have blood that will enable you to dance for a long time, 

and to have a beautiful body during it. 

Chabukiani began to receive his dance education in Tbilisi, under 

Maria Perini (photo of the Italian pedagogue had its place on the 

wall of his cabinet until the end of his life). I have been told by 

many that he always demonstrated the will of leadership and 

staging. He would stage the numbers, and then perform them, 

alongside my mother – his first dance partner – ahead of the movie 

shows, to fund themselves in the difficult 20ies. 

Later, although I do not know how, they moved to Leningrad, and 

enlisted at the Vaganova school. Chabukiani’s career started its 

advance to the top. He was influential on everybody, including 

Vaganova herself. He did not possess a high jump, having been 

trained on Italian school, where there is much attention to turns, 

but not to ballones. Students would jump without standing on their 

heels, which is a major mistake, as it is of utmost importance that 

the heel is firmly on ground before a jump. This was taught 

perfectly by Russian ballet school. 

Later Chabukiani would “fly” on stage. For ballet theatre, it is not 

a right term to say “to jump high” – you could say something similar 

to that in sport, but to mention what an artist wanted to express 

in ballet, you should say, and feel, that they “flew up high”. Flying 

with body, soul and expression, was done brilliantly by Chabukiani. 

mixeil lavrovski, vaxtang Wabukiani da zurab kikaleiSvili. Tbilisis operis Teatri 

MIKHAIL LAVROVSKY, VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI AND ZURAB KIKALISHVILI. TBILISI OPERA THEATRE 

Arabesque 19

gamoTqma sabaleto TeatrisaTvis. ase SeiZleba 

Tqva sportSi _ “âçÿë ïëàíêó”. baletSi gmiris, 

personaJis esa Tu is grZnoba rom gamoxato 

unda ilaparako da igrZno _ „maRla afrinda~. 

afrinda sxeuliT, suliT, gamoxatviT _ amas 

Wabukiani brwyinvaled axerxebda. 

mas, visac Wabukiani scenaze ar unaxavs, 

SeuZlia 70 wlis winaT gadaRebuli ori firis 

saSualebiT imsjelos. esenia „taras bulba~ da 

„baiadera~. magram es mxolod misi aCrdilia _ 

ase amboben isini, visac is scenaze unaxavs, 

gansakuTrebiT omamde. 

Suriani?.. usazRvrod! magram ara ise, 

rogoric CemTvis nacnobi sxva msaxiobebi. mas 

ase vTqvaT kargad miesadageboda, ormocdaaTi 

procentiT mainc, puSkinis sityvebi: “ãåíèé è 

çëîäåéñòâî _ äâå âåùè íåñîâìåñòíûå”. mas 

bevri araadekvaturi ram axasiaTebda, magram 

ramdenadac bolo oci wlis ganmavlobaSi 

masTan mWidrod vmegobrobdi da didad 

damexmara Cems karieraSi, vfiqrob, misi es 

qmedebebi, axalgazrdobaSi, naxevrad 

gaucnobiereblad iyo Cadenili. 

Wabukiani, misi SemoqmedebiTi warmatebebis 

gamo, bednierad grZnobda Tavs cxovrebaSi. 

intuiciiT xvdeboda nebismier mimdinareobas. 

scenaze misi ori warumatebloba _ „don 

kixotis~ pirvel speqtaklSi, mesame 

moqmedebis finaluri variaciis diagonalze, 

ori brunis Semdeg xeliT Seexo scenas da 

meore, ukve varskvlavi, romeliRac variacias 

asrulebda (ar maxsovs romels da romel 

speqtaklSi) da bolo ori bruni man scenaze 

dacemiT daasrula, magram orive SemTxvevaSi 

iseTi lamazi poza miiRo, rom didi 

warmateba hqonda. Semdeg, sagrimioroSi dalia 

da rodesac saxlSi midioda (Tavad marTavda 

manqanas. mas erT-erTs pirvelTagans hyavda 

manqana leningradSi), saWesTan CaeZina, magram 

saswaulebrivad gadarCa. 

maSin arc videokasetebi iyo da arc sxva ram 

informacia, magram Wabukianma SeZlo daedga 

genialuri espanuri baleti „laurensia~. 

SemdegSi, ukve Cems dros, roca ucxoeTidan 

Camodiodnen qoreografebi, aRfrTovanebas 

ver malavdnen espanuri cekvebis sworad 

dadgmis gamo. intuicia, talantis intuicia!.. 

Wabukiani unikaluri movlenaa. igi Tavisi 

drois saCuqari gaxldaT, cotaTi uswrebda 

kidec dros. albaT geniosis, lideris, talantis 

SemTxvevaSi ase unda iyos kidec. Cven xSirad 

viyenebT sityva „genioss~. gnebavT sxva sityva 

vixmaroT: talantis umaRlesi xarisxi, 

rogorc geneboT. magram: igi daibada Rarib 

ojaxSi, ganaTleba (humanitaruli) praqtiku- 

20 Arabesque 

lad ar miuRia. is ki ara da gamigia, rom 

axalgazrdobaSi xelis mowerisac ki eSinoda 

orTografiuli Secdoma rom ar daeSva; 20-30iani 

wlebi _ „rkinis farda~ _ saidan aRmoaCnda 

adamians amxela SesaZlebloba, daedga 

baleti lope de vegas „cxvris wyaros~ 

mixedviT, SesaniSnavi espanuri cekvebi 

espanur folklorze dayrdnobiT _ xalxuric 

da klasikuric, im droisaTvis saintereso 

reJisuriT. mis cekvebze, maT logikasa da 

originalurobaze me ar vsaubrob _ igi 

brwyinvaled gamoiyureba, misi SesrulebiT ki 

_ ubralod genialuria! figura, koordinacia, 

plastika, individualoba, Tavisufleba da 

cekvis bunebrivad gadmocema _ yvelaferi es 

erTad saocrad unikaluri iyo. 

me es yvelaferi Cems Tavze gamovcade, roca 

mis gverdiT klasze vimyofebodi. maSin is 50 

wels gadacilebuli iyo da praqtikulad 

mxolod dadioda darbazSi. 

Cemi azriT, Wabukianma dauSva didi Secdoma, 

samuSaod leningradSi an moskovSi rom ar 

darCa. patriotizmma mas ar misca amis 

saSualeba. 

„sisulele~ mocekvavisTvis _ ar aris saSiSi. 

sakuTar TavSi dajerebuloba, im SemTxvevaSi 

Tu niWi gaqvs, kargi ramaa. magram reJisorbaletmaisterisTvis 

_ es damRupvelia. 

periferiaSi Wabukians gemovnebam uRalata. 

magram imdenad didi niWi hqonda, rom man Seqmna 

„otelo~. magram es Sedevria im msaxiobTa 

SesrulebiT, romelTaTvisac daidga (iago da 

dezdemona) baleti. Tumca, masSi aris bevri 

saintereso reJisoruli migneba. 

Semdeg saqarTveloSi gaanadgures igi, daabrales 

uamravi saSineleba. uTvalTvalebdnen, 

gaaTavisufles Teatris sabaleto dasis 

xelmZRvanelobisgan. magram ar daibna, 

agrZelebda muSaobas qoreografiul 

saswavlebelSi, sazRvargareTac ki gaemgzavra 

master-klasebis Casatareblad. Semdeg operis 

Teatri daiwva, raSic aseve daadanaSaules. 

mere gauZlierda fexebis tkivili, TeZoebisac 

_ ukve siarulic uWirda. 

gardaicvala vaxtang Wabukiani TiTqmis 

yvelasagan mitovebuli, sakuTar, odesRac 

araCveulebrivad mowyobil, magram im 

droisaTvis cariel binaSi. magram, rodesac 

misi neSti darbazidan gamohqondaT, 

mTawmindaze rom daekrZalaT, moedanze 

Sekrebilma uamravma adamianma mquxare ovacia 

mouwyo, iseTi, romelic mTeli cxovreba Tan 

dahyveboda genialur mocekvaves. es iyo 

bolo, saukeTeso saCuqari, epitafia maestrosaTvis; 

es iyo misi saboloo aRiareba.

The people who did not see Chabukiani on stage could judge 

from the two films – Taras Bulba and La Bayadere – made 70 

years ago; although they are only a ghost of him, as said by 

those who witnessed him on stage, especially before the war. 

Envious? Greatly so, although not as other actors known to 

me. He would be described well by Pushkin’s words: “Genius 

and evil cannot be relevant.” He had some inadequacies in 

character, although, as I was tied to him with a firm 

friendship for the last twenty years and was greatly helped by 

him in my career, I think those things were done by him in 

his youth, unintentionally in part. 

Chabukiani was happy in life due to his artistic success. He 

would guess every direction in an intuitive way. There were 

two misfortunes on stage for him – the initial Don Quixote 

performance, when on the final variation of the third act he 

touched the stage after two turns, and the second one, doing 

one of the variations (can not recall the production now), 

being already a star, he fell after the final two turns in 

arabesque. But even in these circumstances he landed in a 

beautiful pose that enjoyed much appreciation. And he also 

had a moment when he drank in the make-up room and 

drove home in his car (he was one of the first in Leningrad 

to have a car), falling asleep on his way and narrowly 

avoiding accident. 

There were no tapes or other kind of information back then, 

but he managed to stage the great Spanish ballet Laurencia. 

Later, the choreographers visiting me from abroad could not 

hide their amazement at the fact that these dances were 

staged so accurately. Intuition of a genius!.. 

Chabukiani is a unique phenomenon. He was the gift of his 

time; maybe even slightly ahead of the time – and probably 

this is how it should be in case of a leader and a great talent. 

We often use the term “Genius”, although we could use 

another one here – The highest degree of talent. But he was 

born in a poor family, not really receiving any education; I 

even heard that he was afraid to post his signature in his 

childhood, afraid not to make some spelling mistake. And it 

was the time of 20ies and 30ies, with the “Iron Curtain”. 

How did he manage to stage this great ballet on Fuente 

Ovejuna by Lope de Vega, on the Spanish folklore, that was 

classical and folk at the same time? And I am not even 

speaking about the logic and innovation of his dances – he 

looks brilliant, and is a pure genius performing them. 

Physique, coordination, plasticity, individuality, freedom and 

natural dancing – all this was unique. 

I experienced this on myself while on a class alongside him. 

He was past 50 then, and could only walk in the studio. 

In my opinion Chabukiani made a big mistake in not staying 

in Leningrad or Moscow for his career. Patriotism did not 

allow him to. 

“Sillyness” is not dangerous for a dancer. Self-belief is good 

if you are talented, although not a good thing for a directorballet 

master. His taste failed him in the periphery, although 

he was talented enough to create Othello. A masterpiece with 

the actors (Iago and Desdemona) it was staged for, although 

there are a lot of interesting pieces in the production for a 

director too. 

He was later assaulted in Georgia – blamed for a lot of 

things, being spied on, and fired as the artistic director of 

the company. Although he did not become confused and 

kept on working in the choreographic school, even traveled 

abroad for conducting master classes. Then the Opera 

Theatre in Tbilisi was destroyed in fire, which he was also 

blamed for, and then illness – pain in feet and thighs – that 

kept him almost unable of walking. 

Vakhtang Chabukiani passed away abandoned by almost 

everyone, in his own apartment that was once decorated 

beautifully, although empty at the time. But, as his body was 

carried out of the hall to be buried at the Mtatsminda 

pantheon, the huge crowd gathered at the square applauded 

him in a striking way, just like the genius of dance was used 

to hearing. This was the last, and the best epitaph for the 

maestro, his true acknowledgement. 

alberi. „Jizeli“. ALBRECHT. GISELLE Arabesque 21

22 Arabesque 

cekvis 

jadoqari 

fragmenti wignidan „ori batonis msaxuri~ 

Wizardof Dance 

kote maxaraZe 

KOTE MAKHARADZE 

Fragment from book "The Servant of Two Masters" 

vaxtang Wabukiani gakveTilze 

VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI ON LESSON 

mis feerul xelovnebasTan Sexvedra Cemi cxovrebis 

erT-erTi yvelaze cxoveli STabeWdilebaa. erTi imaTgani, 

arasdros rom ar qreba, odnavadac ar fermkrTaldeba da 

dRemde gvaforiaqebs. 

Meeting his amazing art has been one of the most vivid impressions of my 

life. One of those that never disappear, never fade away, still excite you.

pirvelad 

minkusis „frinvelSi~ 

vnaxe da moxibluli davrCi, mSvenier 

miniaturis taqts ayolili Semofrinda 

scenaze Wabukiani da haerSi gamoekida. aseTive, 

zecaSi molivlive, darCa igi mexsierebaSi... 

Tbiliselebi udidesi mouTmenlobiT elodnen 

vaxtang Wabukianis gamoCenas scenaze Tavis 

mSobliur qalaqSi. rodesac afiSebma amis 

Sesaxeb gvamcnes, interesi gaorkecda. im dRes 

„yvela varskvlavis~ koncerti saocrad 

zeimuri gamovida. yovel nomerSi varskvlavi 

monawileobda, Tanac yvela eSxze iyo, bolos 

programis wamyvanma wynarad, Cveuli paTosis 

gareSe, gamoacxada: minkusi, „frinveli~, 

asrulebs rsfsr-s damsaxurebuli artisti 

vaxtang Wabukiani~. darbazi gainaba. pirveli 

taqtebi _ da scenaze, TiTqos katapultidano, 

gamofrinda adamiani da scenis Tavze 

gamoekida haerSi. es imdenad moulodneli 

iyo, rom gaognebulma darbazma reagireba ver 

moaswro. dRes bevrisTvis advilad Sesasrulebeli 

haerSi gamokideba, cnobili 

„balonebi~, maSin yvelasTvis ucnobi iyo. imis 

warmodgenac ki Zneli iyo, rom adamians 

SeuZlia maRla Sextes da frenaSi gaSeSdes, 

mere ki uecrad swrafadve, gamaognebel tempSi 

gaagrZelos cekva. 

cnobili balerina tatiana veCeslova Tavis 

wignSi wers: „zogjer iqmneboda STabeWdileba, 

rom scenaze erTi ki ara, erTdroulad ori 

Wabukiani iyo~. im Rirsaxsovar dRes ki, 

scenaze sami Wabukiani iyo. yovel SemTxvevaSi 

mayurebels ase eCveneboda... 

samSobloSi mas yvelafris TiTqmis nulidan 

dawyeba mouxda. amgvari uCveulo hibridis _ 

klasikuri baleti plus erovnuli cekva _ 

Seqmnis analogebi saerTod ar arsebobda. 

saWiro iyo axali formebis Zieba da migneba, 

gaukvalavi bilikebiT siaruli. dRes, roca 

Wabukianis dauokebel energias da uSret 

The first time I saw him was in Minkus’ Firebird and I 

was left fascinated. Chabukiani flew into the stage on a 

beautiful miniature score and floated in the air. This is 

exactly how he remained in memory... 

Tbilisi audience was looking so much forward to seeing 

Chabukiani in his home city. When banners informed the 

public about the event the interest doubled. That day the 

“All Star” concert turned out especially festive. Every 

number was performed by a star, and they were all 

excited about it. At the end of the program the 

announcer was unusually calm in declaring: “Minkus, 

Firebird, performed by the Honoured Artist of RSFSR, 

Vakhtang Chabukiani.” The audience held its breath, and 

with the first sounds of music a man flew, just like being 

thrown by a catapult, out onto the stage, and floated 

above it for a moment. This was so unexpected that the 

hall did not even manage to react. The well-known ballons, 

done so easily nowadays, were unknown to anybody back 

then. It was hard to even imagine that a man could jump 

and hold in the air, before carrying on to dance in an 

amazing tempo. 

The well-known ballerina Tatiana Vecheslova said in her 

book: “Sometimes you had an impression that there were 

not one but two Chabukianis”. On that memorable day 

there were three. At least that is what the audience 

thought... 

He had to start everything from scratch after coming 

back to his homeland. There were no examples of 

creating hybrids of classical ballet and national dancing. 

New forms had to be searched for and discovered. 

Recalling Chabukiani’s endless energy and fantasy now, it 

is hard to hide the amazement. He did not give writers 

and composers any rest, constantly proposing to unite 

them for the noble deed of expressing aspirations and 

nature of the Georgian people in classical dance. He 

managed to instill everybody with this enthusiasm, and 

the work got going. There was a new ballet with each new 

season. He staged Mzechabuki (Heart of the Mountains). 

The work was renamed Mzechabuki. The critics did not 

Arabesque 23

fantazias vixseneb, gaocebas ver vmalav. 

mwerlebsa da kompozitorebs ar asvenebda, 

sTavazobda gaerTianebuliyvnen keTilSobiluri 

saqmisaTvis sabrZolvelad, qarTveli xalxis 

suliskveTebisa da bunebis klasikur cekvaSi 

gamosaxatad. man imdeni SeZlo, rom yvelas 

gadasdo gaugonari enTuziazmi da Carxic 

datrialda. Wabukianma dadga pirveli baleti 

„mzeWabuki~ (`mTebis guli~). qarTuli cekvebis 

specialistebma ar miiRes speqtakli, 

CaTvales, rom baletmaisteri klasikur 

balets daSorda, erovnulamde ki ver mivida _ 

Sua gzaze gaiWeda. isini ver mixvdnen, rom 

saqme hqondaT axal movlenasTan baletSi _ 

klasikuri baletis da qarTuli xalxuri 

cekvis sinTezTan. igi far-xmals ar yrida da 

muSaobas ganagrZobda. male speqtakli axali 

waxnagebiT aelvarda. mayureblebic da 

kritikosebic ukve aRfTovanebiT iRebdnen 

mTlianad speqtaklsac da moulodneli 

gadasvlebiT, gadabmebiT da Wabukianis mier 

Sesrulebul sabaleto paTa kaskadiT 

gamdidrebul tradiciul qarTul 

cekvebsac _ magaliTad, iseTs, rogoricaa 

„xorumi~ mesame aqtidan. 

arsebobs azri, romelic praqtikasac ara 

erTxel daudasturebia, rom xSirad baletis 

varskvlavebi, mamakacebic da qalebic, Tavs 

arideben erTobliv gamosvlebs, gaurbian 

Zlier partniorTan wyvilSi gamosvlas. albaT 

imitom, rom miaCniaT, SeiZleba aman xeli 

SeuSalos pirad warmatebas _ TiToeul 

partniors an warmatebis ganawileba, an misi 

receive the production well – in their view the ballet master moved away from the classical ballet, but did not quite arrive to 

the national dancing. But they missed the point that this was a new way, a synthesis of both. He did not give up and carried on 

working. Soon the production had its success and both audience and the critics were embracing the entire work and the 

Georgian dances, enriched by the unexpected transitions, links and successive ballet pas performed by Chabukiani. The 

“Khorumi” from the third act is one of the examples for this. 

There is an opinion, witnessed on numerous occasions, that the ballet stars, both male and female, are not keen on performing 

alongside each other, as they believe this might harm their personal stardom – success will need to be shared, or lost entirely. This 

problem did not exist for female dancers in past – they were the ones dancing, while the males were only their support. They 

even had the name ‘carriers’, which, if I am not mistaken, was first refused by Vaslav Nijinsky, in the beginning of the century, at 

Diaghilev’s Parisian entres prix, followed by Chabukiani and Ermolaev, and then by V. Vasiliev, M. Lavrovsky, M. Liepa and others, 

who promoted male dancer to the full-scale performer, and sometimes even the main source of dance. Without mentioning any 

names I would say that many high level ballerinas avoided partnering Vakhtang Chabukiani and preferred less stellar partners. His 

success was such that many just refused to challenge him. It should be noted that Chabukiani himself said ‘no’ to a performance 

with the well-known English ballerina Beryl Grey, citing the tall physique of the female dancer, which was possibly a realistic 

reason, or it might have been something else. 

It was 1944 and I was in my first year as a student of the Theatrical Institute, while Chabukiani began the forming of the 

Tbilisi Opera Theatre ballet company. There was shortage of people with professional education – such were only a few, if 

24 

Arabesque 

saerTod daTmoba mouwevs. adre qalebisaTvis 

es problema praqtikulad ar arsebobda. 

ZiriTadad isini cekvavdnen, mamakacebi ki 

mxolod exmarebodnen maT. mamakacebs asec 

eZaxdnen _ „mzidavebi~. pirvelma es upativcemulo 

metsaxeli, mgoni, vaclav niJinskim 

ukuagdo jer kidev saukunis dasawyisSi, 

diagilevis parizuli antreprizebis dros. 

xolo mere Wabukinma da ermolaevma, maT 

kvaldakval ki v. vasilievma, m. lavrovskim, 

m. liepam da sxvebma mamakaci 

Tanasworuflebiani partnioris, zogjer ki 

cekvis mTavari sawyisis rangSi aiyvanes. 

gvarebis dausaxeleblad aRvniSnav: bevri 

maRali klasis balerina gaurboda vaxtang 

WabukianTan wyvilSi gamosvlas da naklebad 

brwyinvale partnior mamakacs amjobinebda. 

Wabukianis warmateba imdenad didi iyo, rom 

masTan pirispir metoqeoba bevrs ubralod ar 

undoda. ra dasamalia da, erTxel TviTon 

v. Wabukianmac ar moindoma TbilisSi cnobil 

inglisel balerinasTan, beril greisTan 

wyvilSi cekva. Tavisi uari ki gastroliori 

balerinas Zalze maRali taniT axsna. albaT es 

damajerebeli mizezi iyo, an SesaZloa, uaris 

mizezi sxva rameSi mdgomareobda. 

1944 wels, roca me ukve Teatraluri institutis 

samsaxiobo fakultetis pirveli kursis 

studenti viyavi, Wabukiani Tbilisis operis 

Teatris sabaleto dasis Camoyalibebas 

Seudga. profesiuli ganaTlebis mqone xalxis 

nakleboba iyo. aseTebi ubralod ar iyvnen, an 

Zalze mcire raodenobiT. igi gulmodgined

eZebda dasis Sevsebis SesaZleblobebs, 

kiTxulobda, gebulobda, cnobebs agrovebda, 

binebSic ki dadioda. am saqmeSi mas sxva ki ara, 

Cemi msaxiobis ostatobis pedagogi, mouRleli 

da daudegari dodo aleqsiZe exmareboda (warsulSi 

TviTonac SesaniSnavi mocekvave, perinis 

baletis kerZo skolis kursdamTavrebuli, 

sadac igi WabukianTan erTad swavlobda). 

Cemi Teatralur institutSi swavlis mesame 

weli iyo. dadga sawarmoo praqtikis daZabuli 

dro _ ase erqva namuSevrebis sazogado 

Cvenebebs calkeul disciplinebSi. bolo, 

meoTxe kursis studentebs ritmikaSi unda 

waredginaT sadiplomo namuSevari. iyo maSin 

aseTi sagani, romelic amJamad gauqmebulia da 

Cemi azriT, sul tyuilad aris gauqmebuli. 

zed Cvenebis win erTi meoTxekurseli avad 

gaxda da mTeli semestris namuSevars CaSla 

daemuqra. da ai, am dros viRacas wamoscda, 

pirvelkurselebs Soris erTi biWia, romelsac 

qoreografiuli studia aqvs damTavrebulio. 

male momagnes. diplomantebisa da maTi 

pedagogis gasaxarad, me swrafad da advilad 

gaverkvie ritmuli scenis naxazSi da meore 

dRes Cvenebac Sedga. 

albaT sxvebSi gamovirCeodi. dodo aleqsiZe 

umal mixvda, raSic iyo saqme da me meore dRes 

dilidanve mTxoves, saprofesoroSi Cavsuliyavi. 

„vaxtang Wabukiani geZebso~, _ amas rom 

meubnebodnen, xelebs gakvirvebiT Slidnen. 

Cems mier miRebuli gadawyvetileba _ Teatris 

sasargeblod meTqva uari baletze _ saboloo 

kote maxaraZe vaxtang Wabukianis samgloviaro mitingze 

KOTE MAKHARADZE ON THE MOURNING OF VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI 

any. He thoroughly searched for possibilities of filling the company – asking, learning, collecting notes, even visiting people. 

Assisting him was my artistic pedagogue, the tireless Dodo Aleksidze (a great dancer in past, graduate of the Perini private 

ballet school, studying alongside Chabukiani). 

It was my first year at the Institute and time for practices. The students were to present their diploma works in rhythmic 

discipline – this was one of the majors, abolished now – for the wrong reasons in my opinion. One of the students became ill 

just ahead of the presentation and their collective work was in danger. Somebody mentioned that there was ‘a guy’ among the 

first year students who had finished the choreographic studio. Soon they found me and to the delight of the presenters and 

their pedagogue, I quickly understood the rhythmic plot, so the presentation was set for the next day. 

I possibly stood out and Dodo Aleksidze understood what was going on, so they called me to visit the professors’ room in 

the morning. “Vakhtang Chabukiani is looking for you”, they said with a surprise. My decision to sacrifice ballet to my 

theatrical aspirations was final, although I knew I would not be able to say no to Chabukiani himself, who was an incarnation 

of everything spiritual and beautiful for me. Would it be hard for the conqueror of the United States to convince a 17 year 

old hesitant fellow? I knew a single word from him would be enough. But I was so desperate for this not to happen. So the 

only way, even though not very sincere, to avoid this, was to escape silently, which I did. I knew a hole which we used to enter 

the Rustaveli Theatre, and that hole I used... This was my first, ‘to be’ meeting with Chabukiani. 

But there was another, actual artistic meeting. In 1969 I was appointed the Senior Director of the Russian Program Direction 

at the Georgian TV. I had already prepared several literature evenings for the central TV when a plot for a program about 

Arabesque 25

iyo. magram ra unda meqna, Tu Tavad 

v. Wabukiani mTxovda, rogor meTqva uari 

adamianisTvis, romelic CemTvis xelovnebaSi 

yovelive maRlisa da mSvenieris gansaxiereba 

iyo? ra uRirda amerikis dampyrobs 17 wlis 

uwveruli, Tanac arcTu mtkice xasiaTis 

ymawvilis darwmuneba da dayolieba?! misi 

erTi sityva da danebeba momiwevs. magram rogor 

ar mindoda amis gakeTeba, rom icodeT, 

rogor ar mindoda! ra meqna? avdeqi da arc Tu 

patiosani, magram, rogorc maSin meCveneboda, 

erTaderTi SesaZlo gza avirCie: ubralod 

gamovipare, vicodi, rom or moryeul rkinis 

wnels Soris xvreli iyo, gavZvrebodiT xolme 

aq da rusTavelis Teatris speqtaklebze 

SeviparebodiT. hoda gavZveri im xvrelSi da 

Tavs vuSvele... aseTi iyo Cemi pirveli _ 

arSemdgari Sexvedra WabukianTan. 

magram sxva Sexvedrac iyo, ukve realuri 

SemoqmedebiTi Sexvedra. 1969 wels 

saqarTvelos televiziis rusuli programebis 

redaqciis mTavar reJisorad damniSnes. ukve 

dadgmuli mqonda ramdenime literaturuli 

saRamo centraluri televiziisTvis, rodesac 

redaqciaSi moitanes scenari filmisTvis 

vaxtang Wabukianis Sesaxeb. didi pasuximgeblobiTa 

da mRelvarebiT Sevudeqi filmze 

muSaobas... am droisTvis sakmaod kargad 

vicnobdi baton vaxtangs. Cemi ufrosi 

qaliSvili _ maka saswavleblis damTavrebis 

Semdeg baletis solisti gaxda _ Wabukianis 

nebieri iyo. rogori siyvaruli ipyrobs 

adamians, roca is sayvarel Temaze muSaobs, 

misTvis kargad cnobil saqmes akeTebs. 

26 

Arabesque 

muSaobas maqsimalurad mobilizebuli, didi 

enTuziazmiT SevudeqiT. sakmaod vrceli 

kinomasala moviZieT. amerikeli operatorebis 

mier 35 wlis win gadaRebuli „don-kixotis~ im 

nawyvetsac ki mivageniT, romelSic Wabukiani 

monawileobda. gadaviReT interviuebi g. ulanovasTan, 

m. pliseckaiasTan, r. struCkovasTan, 

t. veCeslovasTan, Wabukianis erT-erT pirvel 

partniorTan da erTgul megobarTan elene 

(lialia) CikvaiZesTan, mis saxelovan SvilTan, 

sabWoTa kavSiris saxalxo artistTan, mixeil 

lavrovskisTan da sxvebTan. did TeatrSi 

firze aRvbeWdeT Wabukianis mier specialurad 

lavrovskisTvis dadgmuli da damuSavebuli 

variaciebi „korsaridan~ da aS. 

CemTvis es filmis Seqmnis pirveli cda, 

kinoreJisoris ampluaSi Zalebis pirveli 

mosinjva iyo. vmuSaobdi ara marto 

siamovnebiT, udidesi pasuxismgeblobis 

grZnobiT. xelovnebis gamoCenil moRvaweTa 

interviuebi saintereso gamovida, Wabukiani 

saocrad cekvavs, sxvagvarad cekva mas arc 

SeeZlo, filmis av-kargs ki me ver ganvsji. 

ramdenime wlis mere, argentinidan dabrunebis 

Semdeg, sadac man „don-kixoti~ dadga, batonma 

vaxtangma gviambo, rom argentinaSi waRebuli 

hqonda Cemi filmi „cekvis jadoqari _ vaxtang 

Wabukiani~ da es filmi buenos-airesis televiziiT 

aCvenes, meore diliT ki 

saxelganTqmuli Teatris „kolonis” dasi 

sruli SemadgenlobiT Seegeba mas Teatris 

Senobis SesasvlelTan da namdvili ovacia 

gaumarTa... 

Vakhtang Chabukiani was brought to the office. I began the work with much responsibility and emotion... I knew Chabukiani 

quite well by now. My elder daughter, Maka, had become the soloist of the ballet company after graduating, and she was one 

of Chabukiani’s favourites. While working on the film I experienced how much love is felt my a man working on the beloved 

topic. 

We all worked with a lot of focus, collecting great deal of film material, among it the Don Quixote fragment with Chabukiani, 

captured by the American film makers 35 years ago. We recorded interviews with G. Ulanova, M. Plisetskaya, R. Struchkova, 

T. Vecheslova; with one of Chabukiani’s first partners and close friends Elene (Lyalya) Chikvaidze; with her famous son, the 

People’s Artist of USSR Mikhail Lavrovsky, and others; In the Bolshoi Theatre we captured the Le Corsaire variations staged 

and reworked by Chabukiani specially for Lavrovsky.. 

This was my first attempt at film directing and I worked not only with great pleasure, but with a lot of responsibility too. The 

interviews of well-known artists turned out interesting; Chabukiani’s dancing was fabulous - he could not have done otherwise; 

the overall quality of the film should not be judged by me though. 

Several years later, after returning from Argentina, where he staged Don Quixote, Mr. Chabukiani told us that he had taken my 

film The Wizard of Dance - Vakhtang Chabukiani with him on tour and it was broadcasted on the Buenos Aires TV; the next 

morning the famous Colon company met him in front of the Theatre entrance with grand applause...

AWARDED THE VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI 

MEDAL 

In regard to the 100 Years Anniversary of 

the birth of Vakhtang Chabukiani, Mr. Gigi 

Ugulava, the Tbilisi Mayor, has established the 

Vakhtang Chabukiani Medal, awarded for the merit 

in popularization of the work of Vakhtang 

Chabukiani, outstanding success in field of ballet, 

and extraordinary share in popularization of ballet 

art. On 28 May, at the Tbilisi Youth Palace, the 

Medal was awarded to: Vera Tsignadze – People’s 

Artist of Georgia, Liliana Mitaishvili – Ballet 

Coach of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State 

Theatre, Lali Kandelaki and Vasil Akhmeteli – 

Leading Soloists of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet 

State Theatre Ballet Company, Otar Khelashvili – 

Soloist of the Ballet Company, Anna Albutashvili 

– dancer of the Company, among others. 

dajildovdnen 

Wabukianis medliT 

jildo 

Award 

vaxtang Wabukianis dabadebidan 

100 wlisTavTan dakavSirebiT q. Tbilisis 

merma gigi ugulavam vaxtang Wabukianis 

medali daaarsa, romelic Wabukianis 

Semoqmedebis ukvdavyofis saqmeSi gaweuli 

Rvawlis, sabaleto xelovnebaSi gamorCeuli 

warmatebebisa da sabaleto xelovnebis 

popularizaciaSi gansakuTrebuli 

wvlilisTvis eniWebaT. 28 maiss, moswavle 

axalgazrdobis sasaxleSi, vaxtang Wabukianis 

medali gadaecaT: vaxtang Wabukianis 

partniors, saqarTvelos saxalxo artists 

vera wignaZes, saqarTvelos saxalxo artists, 

Tbilisis operisa da baletis saxelmwifo 

Teatris pedagog-repetitors liliana 

miTaiSvils, Tbilisis operisa da baletis 

saxelmwifo Teatris sabaleto dasis wamyvan 

solistebs lali kandelaks da vasil 

axmetels, sabaleto dasis solists oTar 

xelaSvils, dasis mocekvaves ana albuTaSvils 

da sxva pirebs. 

Arabesque 27

Ballet 

NEWS 

28 

Arabesque 

sezonis daxurva 

158-e Teatraluri sezoni sabaleto 

dasma 7 ivniss daxura. rusTavelis 

TeatrSi Ballet Gala gaimarTa. saRamoSi 

monawileobdnen prima-balerina nino 

ananiaSvili, sabaleto dasis 

solistebi da msaxiobebi. programaSi 

warmodgenili iyo erTmoqmedebiani 

baletebi: „bize variaciebi~ (aleqsei 

ratmanskis qoreografia), „Falling 

Angels” (irJi kilianis qoreografia), 

frederik eStonis pa de deebi da 

jorj balanCinis „Duo Concertant”. 

gala-koncertis dasasruls mayurebels sityviT mimarTa sabaleto dasis samxatvro xelmZ- 

Rvanelma nino ananiaSvilma, romelmac madloba gadauxada mayurebels sezonis 

ganmavlobaSi gamoCenili TanadgomisaTvis da momavali sezonidan saintereso proeqtebis 

ganxorcielebas dahpirda. gala-koncerti mayureblisTvis momzadebuli siurpriziT 

dasrulda _ Sesrulda v. kaxiZis musikaze gia marRanias mier dadgmuli „kintauri~. 

sezonis daxurvisadmi miZRvnili gala-koncertis Semdeg a. griboedovis saxelobis rusul 

dramatul TeatrSi, sadac mimdinareobda gala-kocertisaTvis mzadeba, sezonis 

daxurvisadmi miZRvnili wveuleba gaimarTa. 

sabaleto dass sezonis warmatebiT daxurva miuloces qarTuli baletis megobarTa 

sazogadoebis wevrebma, iaponiis elCma saqarTveloSi batonma masaioSi kamuharam da 

mowveulma stumrebma. 

lali kandelaki, vasil axmeteli. 

„gazafxulis xmebi“ 

LALI KANDELAKI, VASIL AKHMETELI. 

VOICES OF SPRING 

nino ananiaSvili sezonis daxurvis dros 

NINA ANANIASHVILI AT THE CLOSING OF THE SEASON 

Closing of the Season 

The 158th season was rounded off by the Ballet Company 

on June 7. The Ballet Gala was presented at the Shota 

Rustaveli Theatre, starring the Prima Ballerina Nina 

Ananiashvili, the soloists and actors of the Company. The 

program consisted of one-act ballets Bizet Variations 

(choreography by Alexei Ratmansky), Falling Angels 

(choreography by Jirí Kylián), several pas de deux by Sir 

Frederick Ashton and Duo Concertant by George Balanchine. 

The Artistic Director Nina Ananiashvili addressed the 

audience at the end of the evening, expressed her gratitude 

for their support to the Company and promised them more 

interesting projects for the next season. The gala was 

concluded by a surprise piece – Kintauri by G. Marghania, 

staged on the music by V. Kakhidze. 

After the gala, the closing of the season was marked at the 

celebratory event at the Griboedov Russian Drama Theatre. 

The Company was congratulated by the members of the 

Friends of Georgian Ballet, the Ambassador of Japan to 

Georgia Masayoshi Kamohara and the attending guests.

irma nioraZe TbilisSi 

prima-balerina irma nioraZe amjerad Tbiliss festival `qarTuli sulis~ programis 

farglebSi ewvia. 25 maiss rusTavelis TeatrSi man n. rimski-korsakovis balet `Seherezadas~ 

premiera icekva (m. fokinis qoreografia. aRdgenil iqna a. liepas mier). 

speqtakli TbilisSi maris liepas saqvelmoqmedo fondis xelSewyobiT da Tbilisis 

operisa da baletis saxelmwifo Teatrisa da 

nino ananiaSvilis mxardaWeriT ganxorcielda. 

irma nioraZes partniorobas uwevda sabaleto 

samyaros aRiarebuli mocekvave farux ruzimatovi. 

speqtaklSi monawileobda qarTuli 

sabaleto dasi. 

programis meore ganyofilebaSi prima-balerinam 

Seasrula ramdenime cnobili sabaleto miniatura 

(`karmeni~, `momakvdavi gedi~ da nawyveti baletidan 

`legenda siyvarulze~). sakoncerto 

programaSi aseve monawileobdnen sabaleto 

dasis msaxiobebi, romlebmac Seasrules 

l. goStalkis `tarantela~ (j. balanCinis 

qoreografia _ n. maTiaSvili, i. mergalievi) da 

a. knaifelis `frTebi~ (g. aleqsiZis qoreografia 

_ a. albuTaSvili, o. xelaSvili). saRamos 

daeswro uwmidesi da unetaresi, sruliad 

saqarTvelos kaTolikos-patriarqi ilia I I . 

irma nioraZe, farux ruzimatovi. 

„Seherezada“ 

IRMA NIORADZE, FAROUK RUZIMATOV. 

SCHEHEREZADE 


NEWS 

sruliad saqarTvelos kaTolikos-patriarqi ilia meore da irma nioraZe 

ILIA II THE CATHOLICOS-PATRIARCH OF GEORGIA AND IRMA NIORADZE 

Irma Nioradze in Tbilisi 

Prima Ballerina Irma Nioradze visited Tbilisi again, 

this time in frame of the Georgian Spirit festival. On 

May 25 she danced at the Rustaveli Theatre, 

performing in Sheherezade by N. Rimsky-Korsakov 

(choreography by M. Fokine, reconstructed by 

A. Liepa). The performance was held with support 

of the Maris Liepa Charity Foundation, the Tbilisi 

Opera and Ballet State Theatre and Nina Ananiashvili. 

Partnering Nioradze was a well known international 

dancer Farouk Ruzimatov. The State Ballet of 

Georgia took their part in the performance. 

The second part of the program saw the Prima 

Ballerina feature in several ballet miniatures (Carmen, 

The Dying Swan and the fraction from the ballet 

Legend of Love). The program also starred the actors 

of the Ballet Company, performing L. Gottschalk’s 

Tarantella (choreography by George Balanchine – 

N. Matiashvili, Y. Mergaliev) and A. Knaifel’s Wings 

(choreography by George Aleksidze – A. Albutashvili, 

O. Khelashvili). The evening was attended by the 

Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II. 

Arabesque 29

30 

Arabesque

`varskvlavi~ 

varskvlavebs 

Star 

for the Stars 

premia 

Award 

sabaleto samyaros amomavali varskvlavebis amorCevis 

dResaswauli Tbiliss meored gazafxulze ewvia. 29 aprils, 

Jilber alberisa da nino ananiaSvilis saerTaSoriso 

sabaleto premiis `varskvlavis~ gadacemis ceremonials 

S. rusTavelis saxelobis saxelmwifo Teatrma umaspinZla. 

cnobili Sveicareli iuveliri Jilber alberi dajildoebis 

ceremonials da gala-koncerts ver daeswro. misi 

videomimarTva TeatrSi Sekrebilma baletis asobiT 

gulSematkivarma ixila: 

THE EVENT OF SELECTING THE RISING TALENTS OF THE BALLET WORLD 

TOOK PLACE FOR THE SECOND TIME IN TBILISI. ON APRIL 29, 

THE SHOTA RUSTAVELI STATE DRAMA THEATRE WAS THE HOST FOR THE 

AWARDING CEREMONY OF THE NINA ANANIASHVILI AND GILBERT ALBERT 

INTERNATIONAL PRIZE “STAR”. THE FAMOUS SWISS JEWELLER COULD 

NOT BE PRESENT AT THE CEREMONY AND THE GALA CONCERT, 

ALTHOUGH HIS VIDEO ADRESS WAS SEEN BY HUNDREDS OF 

BALLETOMANES AT THE THEATRE: 

Arabesque 31

`ferwerisa da skulpturisgan gansxvavebiT, 

cekvis xelovneba zogma SeiZleba efemerulad 

miiCnios. araferi msgavsi. es aris xelovneba, 

romelic alamazebs Cvens mexsierebas da 

akaSkaSebs baletis varskvlavebs. 

me da ninos gvsurda Zvirfasi varskvlavebi 

SemogveTavazebina TqvenTvis. isini am gala-saRamos 

mogonebad darCebian da cekvisadmi Cveni 

siyvarulis kidev erTi dadastureba iqneba~. 

Jilber alberi 

saerTaSoriso aRiareba wels qarTvel balerinas, 

Tbilisis operisa da baletis saxelmwifo Teatris 

wamyvan solists nino goguas da amerikis baletis 

Teatris premiers devid holbergs xvdaT wilad. 

gala-koncertze nino goguam TeTri adaJio Seasrula 

`gedebis tbis~ meore moqmedebidan da mayureblisTvis 

kargad nacnobi adaJio iuri posoxovis erTmoqmedebiani 

baletidan `sagalobeli~. devid holbergma ki 

frederik eStonis sabaleto miniatura „Dance of the 

Blessed Spirits” da Savi pa de de p. Caikovskis baletidan 

`gedebis tba~ (lali kandelakTan erTad). 

àrabeski~ esaubra „varskvlavis” axal laureatebs: 

nino gogua, devid holbergi gala-koncertze 

NINO GOGUA, DAVID HALLBERG ON GALA CONCERT 

32 

Arabesque 

Some could deem the art of dance as 

ephemeral, in contrast to those of 

painting and sculpture. But there is no 

truth in that. This is the art that 

beautifies our memories and makes 

ballet stars shine. 

Me and Nina wanted to present 

precious stars to you. They will stay as 

memories of this gala evening and be 

another proof of our love to dance. 

Gilbert Albert 

This time the Prize was granted to Nino Gogua, 

the Leading Soloist of the Tbilisi Opera and 

Ballet State Theatre Ballet Company, and David 

Hallberg, the Principal Dancer of the American 

Ballet Theatre. 

Gogua danced the white adagio from the II act 

of Swan Lake, as well as the popular duo from 

Yuri Possokhov’s one-act Sagalobeli. David 

Hallberg featured in Sir Frederick Ashton’s 

miniature Dance of the Blessed Spirits and the 

black pas de deux from Swan Lake (partnering 

him was Lali Kandelaki). 

Arabesque talked to the latest laureates of the 

“Star”:

nino gogua: 

`vecdebi kvlavac 

gagaxaroT~ 

Nino Gogua: 

"DOING MY BEST 

TO MAKE YOU HAPPY" 



nino goguas warmatebebs Cven ukve 

miveCvieT. bolo xuTi welia man bevri 

mniSvnelovani partia icekva da dasis 

sagastrolo turneebze ucxoeli baletis 

kritikosebis maRali Sefasebebi daimsaxura. 

We have grown familiar with Nino Gogua’s success. 

She has danced many significant roles for the last five 

years and received critical acclaim for her performances 

during the Company’s tours. 

nino, gilocavT `varskvlaviT~ 

dajildoebas. 

madlobas gixdiT molocvisTvis. 

rogori STabeWdilebebi miiRe 

gala-koncertze? 

xelovnebis sferoSi moRvawe yoveli adamianisaTvis 

metad mniSvnelovania aseTi aRiarebisa 

da stimulis miReba. es jildo CemTvis swored 

aseT stimuls warmoadgens. aRfrTovanebuli 

da emociurad amaRlebuli var, jadosnur 

saRamosaviT iyo. gala-koncerti xom ori 

adamianisaTvis _ CemTvis da devidisTvis iyo 

momzadebuli da Cven mayureblisTvis unda 

gveCvenebina, Tu ratom davimsaxureT es jildo. 

rodis Seityve premiis laureati rom 

iqnebodi? 

saRamos gamarTvamde sul mcire xniT adre 

qalbatonma nino ananiaSvilma miTxra amis 

Sesaxeb. saocari emociebi mqonda. 

Nino, congratulations on being awarded 

the Star prize. 

Thank you very much. 

Could you sum up your impressions from 

the evening? 

laureati 

Laureate 

For every person of artistic field such appreciation of 

their work and stimulus for future is very important. I feel 

very excited and on a high emotional note – it was like a 

dream evening. This was an evening for two performers, 

me and David, so it was important for us to show the 

audience why we were awarded. 

When did you find out that you would be one of 

the two laureates? 

It happened just a short time before the event actually 

took place, and to hear it from Nina Ananiashvili was very 

emotional. I gradually realized the full importance of this 

event. 

Arabesque 33

What kind of partner was David Hallberg? 

Unfortunately I did not have a lengthy part with him on 

the evening, although we had a short piece together at 

the end of the program. I also had several talks with him, 

where his attitude towards a partner and poise to make the 

work process as well as performances easier for them was 

apparent. And this is a very important personal quality. 

The Star was founded for young talents 

of dance. What does being the laureate of such 

prize mean for you? 

It means a lot in this sense. Ballet career unfortunately is 

very short, and you need to achieve as much as possible in 

that period. The dancers who have been awarded – Lasha 

Khozashvili, Yevgenia Obraztsova and David Hallberg – 

for me they are complete stars, so it is a great honour to 

receive the same prize. 

David mentioned that he takes pleasure from visiting 

venues and enjoying ballet performances other than 

performing himself. Do you have the same interest 

in watching ballet evenings from the audience? 

Absolutely. First of all, we have a very family atmosphere in our 

theatre and I have lots of friends around. I view their success 

as my own, and they treat me the same way. Taking this into 

account, it is really important to know what people close to 

you are doing; probably you will not even experience artistic 

growth if you do not pay attention to events around you. 

Congratulations again for your achievement and 

we wish you more success in future. 

I will do my best! 

34 

Arabesque 

devidi rogori partniori iyo? 

masTan aqtiurad ar mimuSavia. CvenTvis daidga 

mcire partia saRamos finalisaTvis. Cans, rom 

is partnioris azrs iTvaliswinebs, rac metad 

mniSvnelovania mocekvavisTvis. 

`varskvlavi~ baletis samyaros 

axalgazrda perspeqtiuli 

mocekvaveebisTvis daarsda. ras niSnavs 

SenTvis am premiis laureatoba? 

es premia CemTvis gansakuTrebiT did fass 

atarebs. sabaleto kariera samwuxarod metad 

xanmoklea da am mokle droSi bevris miRwevaa 

saWiro. CemTvis aseTi jildos miReba didi 

pativia, radgan am premiiT ukve dajildoebuli 

mocekvaveebi _ laSa xozaSvili, evgenia 

obrazcova da devid holbergi CemTvis 

namdvilad Semdgari varskvlavebi arian. 

devidma CvenTan saubarSi Tqva, rom is 

did siamovnebas iRebs sabaleto 

warmodgenebisagan, Tundac Tavad ar 

cekvavdes. Senc xSirad eswrebi Seni 

kolegebis gamosvlebs? 

Cvens TeatrSi ojaxuri atmosferoa da 

uamravi megobari myavs, romelTa warmatebul 

nabijs karieraSi sakuTar warmatebad aRviqvam. 

aseTive midgomas vgrZnob maTgan. am yvelafris 

gaTvaliswinebiT, namdvilad saWiroa 

erTaneTis saqmianobiT daintereseba da albaT 

artistuladac ver gaizrdebi, Tuki Sens 

garSemo mimdinare movlenebs ar miadevne Tvali. 

kidev erTxel gilocavT warmatebas da 

momaval miRwevebs gisurvebT. 

vecdebi kvlavac gagaxaroT!

devid 

holbergi: 

`Cemi kariera 

mravalferovani 

gaxda~ 

David 

Hallberg: 

"ANOTHER 

RICH EXPERIENCE 

FOR MY CAREER" 



devid holbergma sakmaod axalgazrda 

asakSi ukve moaxerxa sabaleto 

samyaroSi aRiarebisTvis mieRwia. 

amerikis baletis Teatris premiers 

msoflios sxvadasxva Teatrebis 

scenebze uwevs gamosvla. 

Jilber alberisa da nino ananiaSvilis 

saerTaSoriso premia `varskvlavis~ 

misaRebad devidi moskovidan 

Camofrinda, sadac man `Jizeli~ icekva. 

interviu devid holbergTan galakoncertis 

win Sedga: 

David Hallberg has already managed to achieve 

his share of recognition in ballet world. The 

Principal of the American Ballet Theatre, he can 

often be seen on various stages around the 

world. David travelled to Tbilisi from Moscow, 

where he performed Giselle, to receive the 

Gilbert Albert and Nina Ananiashvili 

International Prize Star. The interview with him 

was recorded ahead of the gala performance: 

laureati 

Laureate 

devid, gmadlobT rom dagvTanxmdiT 

interviuze. sasiamovnoa TqvenTan 

Sexvedra TbilisSi. 

gmadlobT, aq yofna CemTvisac Zalian 

sasiamovnoa. 

rodis gaigeT rom `varskvlavis~ 

laureati gaxdiT? 

qalbatoni ninos saxeliT damikavSirdnen da 

miTxres, rom mas Cemi mowveva da dajildoeba 

surda. es CemTvis metad amaRelvebeli iyo. 

Tumca es gasul gazafxulze unda momxdariyo. 

ramdenjerme gadaido da dagvWirda 

Zalisxmeva, raTa yvelaferi dagvezustebina 

da TariRic gansazRvruliyo. am periodSi 

moskovSi gaxldiT da TbilisSi Camosvlasac 

mxolod mokle frena dasWirda. qalbatoni 

nino metad xelgaSlili maspinZelia _ man 

farTod gamiRo rogorc Teatris, ise 

sakuTari saxlis kari. 

Arabesque 35

odesme eWvi gagiCndaT, rom es 

RonisZieba SesaZloa ar Semdgariyo? 

sruliad SesaZlebeli iyo Cemi Camosvla da 

gala-koncertSi monawileobis miReba ver 

momexerxebina, radgan datvirTuli ganrigi 

maqvs da Zneli aRmoCnda Cveni gegmebis 

Tanxvedra. Tumca CemTvis mniSvnelovani iyo, 

rom jildos misaRebad aq vyofiliyavi da 

mecekva kidec. 

saqarTveloSi Camosvlasa da gala-koncertSi 

monawileobis miRebas ise uyurebT, 

rogorc kidev erT axal gamocdilebas? 

namdvilad asea _ saqarTveloSi aqamde ar 

vyofilvar. am jildos miRebac albaT imis 

niSania, rom maRali donis profesionali xar, an 

adamianTaTvis garkveul magaliTs warmoadgen, 

rac CemTvis metad sasiamovnoa. CemTvis 

sainteresoa vnaxo dasi, romelsac qalbatoni 

nino xelmZRvanelobs. es yvelaferi namdvilad 

damamaxsovrdeba _ aseTi STabeWdilebebi Cvens 

karieras mravalferovnebas matebs. 

nino ananiaSvils Tqven ABT-Si 

partniorobas uwevdiT mis bolo sezonze. 

erTad icekveT baletSi `silfida~. 

SemiZlia ganvacxado, rom is erT-erTi 

yvelaze gamorCeuli da amaRelvebeli 

mocekvavea imaTgan, vinc scenaze minaxavs. 

masze bevri ramis Tqma SeiZleba. dRes bevri 

did yuradRebas aqcevs cekvis teqnikur 

mxares, zogjer emociur mxareze metadac ki. 

qalbatoni nino ki gansakuTrebuli SemTxvevaa. 

misi cekva araa mxolod fexis moZraobebi, 

swrafi triali da maRali naxtomebi. igi 

Zlieri, emociuri mocekvavea _ gaCvenebT, Tu 

ras TamaSobs. 

amerikis baletis Teatris premierobamde 

iyo arc Tu grZeli gza Tqveni karierisa. 

sabaleto ganaTlebis miReba arizonas 

baletSi daiwyeT juan hanis xelmZRvanelobiT, 

romelic, rogorc aRniSnavT, 

metad mkacri pedagogi iyo. es TqvenTvis 

sasargeblo gamocdileba aRmoCnda? 

is CemTvis mamasaviT iyo sabaleto skolaSi. 

yuradReba, romelsac misi xelmZRvanelobis 

qveS vgrZnobdi, namdvilad sasargeblo iyo. 

aseTive yuradRebis qveS viyavi amerikis baletis 

TeatrSi, sadac mocekvaved Camomayalibes. 

36 Arabesque 

sakmaod bevr Secdomas vuSvebdi da artistuli 

TvalsazrisiTac bevris swavla mWirdeboda. 

vfiqrob, bevr dasSi mocekvaveebisagan 

yvelafers erTbaSad iTxoven. Cems SemTxvevaSi 

ase ar iyo da amiT kmayofili var. 

2000 wlis zafxuli ABT-s intensiur 

sazafxulo kursze gaatareT, ris 

Semdegac parizis operis sabaleto dasSi 

gaemarTeT ise, rom arc stipendiiT 

sargeblobdiT da mxolod sakuTari 

Tavis imedze iyaviT. amanac dadebiTi 

gavlena moaxdina Tqvenze? 

namdvilad ase iyo. es metad rTuli gamocdileba 

gamodga, radgan ise mimiRes, rogorc 

ucxoeli. metad sasargeblo iyo atmosfero, 

romelsac iq vgrZnobdi. parizis gacnoba, 

dasSi muSaoba, skolaSi swavla _ am yvelafris 

Semdeg Cemi msoflmxedveloba gafarTovda. 

Tqven araerTxel aRniSnavT klasikuri 

baletis mkacri xasiaTis Sesaxeb. parizSi 

es gansakuTrebiT SeimCneoda? 

es azri Cems pedagogTan muSaobis gamo Camomiyalibda, 

Tumca arasdros SevwinaaRmdegebivar 

simkacres. aseT muSaobas miCveuli viyavi, 

amitom parizSi siaxle ufro atmosfero iyo, 

vidre samuSaos xasiaTi _ pedagogebis 

gavlisas fexze adgoma, instituciuri garemo 

da moswavleebis gansakuTrebuli pativiscema 

pedagogTa mimarT. 

sabaleto speqtaklis dros sakmaod 

xSirad gxedaven mayurebelTa darbazSic. 

yovelTvis gqondaT es survili, rac 

SeiZleba meti genaxaT? 

es bunebrivad gamomyva mSoblebisagan. yoveli 

kviris bolos sxvadasxva Teatris stumari 

viyavi da warmodgenebs interesiT vadevnebdi 

Tvals. drosTan erTad gemovnebac Semecvala _ 

niu iorkSi cxovrebiT avangarduli, 

araklasikuri stilis mimarT ganmiviTarda 

interesi da es yvelaferi metad 

mniSvnelovania CemTvis. ase gacilebiT ukeT 

ecnobi garemos da met STabeWdilebas iReb. 

devid, gilocavT am jildos. imedi 

gvaqvs, rom TbilisSi momavalSic 

gixilavT. 

madlobas gixdiT. mec amis imedi maqvs.

devid holbergi. DAVID HALLBERG 

DANCE OF THE BLESSED SPIRITS 

David, thank you for finding time 

for the interview. It is a pleasure to 

see you arrive in Tbilisi. 

Thank you, it is really good to be here. 

How did you get involved in plans for 

the event? 

I was contacted in the name of Nina and 

informed that she wanted to invite and award 

me. This was news for me, and I was quite 

excited about it, but it took two attempts to get 

me here, as it did not work out from the start. 

We tried a couple of times, and finally the date 

was set. I was in Moscow for this time and it 

was a very short flight from there. She has been 

such a great hostess, opening up theatre and 

hosting me at her own house. 

Did you think at some point that this 

project might not have happened? 

It was possible that I might not have been 

able to come and receive the prize due to 

my busy schedule, but I thought it was 

important that if I was to be 

awarded, I would need to come 

and be here. 

Do you see this visit to Georgia and 

the gala as another fresh experience? 

Most definitely, because I have never been to 

Georgia and being awarded something is like 

a recognition that maybe you are making 

difference, or you are doing something right, 

or maybe people are influenced by you, which 

is nice. It is very nice experiencing company 

under Nina and it is something I will hold a 

certain memory of. It adds texture to your 

career. 

You partnered Nina Ananiashvili in her 

last season with ABT, and you performed 

together in La Sylphide. 

I can say that she is one of the most 

spontaneous performers I have danced 

with and one of the most exciting 

performers I have seen on stage in 

the sense that she draws audience 

Arabesque 37

into what she is going to give to them. There is a lot to be said 

about her, because in this generation many people are more 

interested in technical side than the emotional one, and that 

is what Nina is so great in, showing what she is portraying 

and not only pointing her feet, turning faster and jumping 

higher. I learned that after a couple of years of watching 

her perform. 

Let’s go back in your career. You started receiving 

your ballet education at the Arizona ballet, and 

your teacher was Kee Juan Han, who, as you have 

mentioned, was a very strict person in terms of 

training. Was that beneficial for your 

development? 

38 Arabesque 

lali kandelaki. devid holbergi. „gedebis tba“ 

LALI KANDELAKI, DAVID HALLBERG. SWAN LAKE 

Mr. Han was a father figure for me in training and the kind 

of nurturing he gave me was really beneficial. The same kind 

of attention was given to me at the ABT, where they really 

formed me as a dancer. I made a lot of mistakes and needed 

to learn a lot artistically. I think some of the companies do 

not wish to be patient with dancers and want to see results 

right away. That was not the case with me and I really 

benefited from it. 

After spending the summer of 2000 at ABT’s 

summer intensive, you went to the Paris Opera 

Ballet school, where you did not have scholarship, 

and were totally on your own. Was it also 

a beneficial experience? 

It was, and it was a very hard experience. They 

really treated me like a foreigner, and the atmosphere 

was very influencing. Getting to know Paris, 

seeing the company perform, being in school, 

learning French – I walked away really having my 

eyes open. 

You have also mentioned the strict nature of 

classical ballet. Was this especially apparent in 

Paris? 

I had it before from my teacher who was very strict 

– and I did not question it. It was the way I was 

used to, so the work itself was not harder than 

what I did with Mr. Han. It was more like 

atmosphere – you stood up when teachers went by, 

and this whole institutional atmosphere and the 

respect of students to their teachers was very 

interesting. 

You are quite often found among the audience 

for various evenings. Did you always have this 

wish to see as much as possible? 

Yes, it came quite naturally and I think it came 

from my parents. Every weekend I was at various 

venues seeing things with this insatiable curiosity 

about everything. Also, my taste has grown with 

time – having been in New York now I’m very 

much into avant garde style, a bit weird one. Weird 

in the sense that it’s not classical. It is really 

important for me, for developing my dancing. You 

are so much more aware of your surroundings and 

experience more. 

David, we congratulate you on receiving the 

prize and hope to see you in more ballet events 

here in Tbilisi. 

Thank you very much, I hope so too.

mixailovskis TeatrSi 

`laurensias~ premiera Sedga 

5 da 6 maiss sankt-peterburgis mixailovskis TeatrSi 

balet `laurensias~ premiera Sedga. didi qoreografis 

vaxtang Wabukianis dabadebidan 100 wlis iubilis 

aRsaniSnad baleti mixail mesererma, Teatris wamyvanma 

baletmaisterma dadga. vadim rundinis dekoraciebi oleg 

molCanovisa da viaCeslav okunevis mier xelaxla iqna 

Seqmnili. speqtakli Tbilisis operisa da baletis 

TeatrTan TanamSromlobiT daidga. 

laurensias wamyvan partias irina pereni (5 ivniss) da 

ekaterina borCenko (6 ivniss), frondosos ki _ marat 

Semiunovi cekvavdnen. 

saRamos monawileebma pativi miages me-20 saukunis didi 

qoreografis xsovnas. premieris Semdeg aCvenes fragmentebi filmidan vaxtang Wabukianis 

Sesaxeb. 

Laurencia premiered 

at the Mikhailovsky Theatre 

qalaq Tbilisis meriis xelSewyobiT gamoica vaxtang Wabukianis 

memorialuri bina-muzeumis fondebis mcvelis lamara 

nebieriZisa da muzeumis direqtori daviT jangvelaZis wigni 

`vaxtang Wabukiani 100~. 

`qarTuli Teatris sacavma~ gamosca Teatrmcodne kote ninikaSvilis 

wigni `movlena~, romelic vaxtang Wabukianis dabadebis 

100 wlisTavs eZRvneba. 


NEWS 

On June 5 and 6 the ballet Laurencia premiered at the Mikhailovsky 

Theatre of St. Petersburg. To celebrate the centenary from the birth of 

the great choreographer Vakhtang Chabukiani, Michael Messerer, the 

Ballet Master in Chief of the theatre staged the legendary ballet. The 

sets by Vadim Ryndin were revived by Oleg Molchanov and Vyacheslav 

Okunev. The production was staged in association with the Tbilisi 

Opera and Ballet Theatre. 

The title role was danced by Irina Perren (June, 5) and Ekaterina Borchenko (June, 6). Frondoso was performed 

by Marat Shemiunov. 

The participants of the evening paid tribute to the great choreographer of the 20th century. The premiere was 

followed by fragments of the film featuring Chabukiani. 

Anniversary Editions 

The book Vakhtang Chabukiani – 100 by Lamara Nebieridze – Manager of the 

Vakhtang Chabukiani Memorial Museum Assets, and David Jangveladze – Director 

of the Museum, has been published with the support of the Tbilisi City Hall. 

saiubileo gamocemebi 

The Archives of the Georgian Theatre have published the book Phenomenon by the Theatrical Expert Kote 

Ninikashvili, dedicated to the 100 Years Anniversary of the birth of Vakhtang Chabukiani. 

Arabesque 39


NEWS 

40 

Arabesque 

damoukideblobis dRisadmi miZRvnili gala 

26 maiss, saqarTvelos damoukideblobis dRes, marjaniSvilis saxelobis saxelmwifo 

dramatul TeatrSi, gaimarTa gala-koncerti, romelzec mowveulni iyvnen qveynis sagareo 

uwyebis xelmZRvanelebi da saqarTveloSi akreditebuli diplomatiuri korpusis 

warmomadgenlebi. gala-koncerti sami ganyofilebisagan Sedgeboda da warmodgenil iqna 

jorj balanCinis („mocartiana~ da „apolon musgaeti~) da irJi kilianis („Sacs Tänze”) 

erTmoqmedebiani baletebi. 

Gala Dedicated to the Independence Day 

On May 26, marking the Independence Day of Georgia, the Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre hosted a 

gala concert, attended by the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the foreign diplomatic 

corps representatives. The gala was presented in three acts and featured one act ballets Mozartiana, Apolo 

Musagete (choreography by George Balanchine) and Sechs Tänze (choreography by Jirí Kylián). 

qarTuli baleti minskSi 

5 ivliss minskSi, belorusis respublikis operisa da baletis 

nacionalur akademiur TeatrSi, saqarTvelos saxelmwifo baletma 

erTmoqmedebiani baletebis saRamo gamarTa. qarTuli baletis gamosvla 

minskSi belorusis saxelmwifoebrivi damoukideblobis dRes mieZRvna, 

romelic 3 ivliss aRiniSna. programaSi warmodgenili iyo erTmoqmedebiani 

baletebi _ `serenada~, `sagalobeli~ da èqvsi cekva~. 

qarTuli baletis warmatebul gamosvlasTan dakavSirebiT nino ananiaSvils 

belorusis prezidentma aleqsandre lukaSenkom piradi madloba gadauxada. 

The Georgian Ballet in Minsk 

On July 5 in Minsk, the capital city of Belarus, the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater 

of the Republic of Belarus hosted the State Ballet of Georgia, performing the one-act ballet 

program. The appearance of the Georgian company was dedicated to the National 

Independence Day of Belarus, marked on July 3. The program presented ballets Serenade, 

Sagalobeli and Sechs Tänze. 

Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus congratulated Nina Ananiashvili on the successful performance 

of the Georgian ballet. 

biarici, burnonvilis sazafxulo skolaSi 

2010 wlis 25-31 ivliss, safrangeTis sakurorto qalaqi biarici maspinZlobda tradiciul 

sazafxulo skolas baletis axalgazrda mocekvaveebisaTvis _ `burnonvili biaricSi~. mecadineobebs 

skolaSi danieli qoreografebi da baletmaisterebi frenk anderseni, dina biorni, an 

mari vesel Sliuteri da eva kloborgi uZRvebodnen. axalgazrda mocekvaveebi burnonvilis 

stilsa da teqnikas swavlobdnen. qarTuli baletis megobarTa sazogadoebis organizebiTa da 

dafinansebiT biaricSi Cveni sabaleto dasis mocekvaveebi sofo fanculaia, ekaterine 

lominaZe da giorgi mSvenieraZe iRebdnen monawileobas. 

Biarritz, the Bournonville Summer School 

During July 25-31, 2010 the Friench resort Biarritz was the place of the traditional Summer School for the young dancers 

– Bournonville in Biarritz. The studies were conducted by the Danish choreographers and ballet masters – Frank Andersen, 

Dinna Bjoern, Anne Marie Vessel Schlueter and Eva Kloborg. The dance talents studied the Bournonville style and 

technique. With the organizing and financing of the Friends of the Georgian Ballet, the dancers of our Company – Sopho 

Phantsulaia, George Mshvenieradze and Ekaterine Lominadze – were taking part in the Summer school program.

miReba iaponiis saelCoSi 

sabaleto dasi iaponiis saelCoSi 

THE BALLET COMPANY AT THE EMBASSY OF JAPAN 

Reception at the Embassy of Japan 

Upon returning from the Tour of Japan the Company was hosted by 

the Ambassador of Japan to Georgia, His Excellency Mr. Masayoshi 

Kamohara and Mrs. Junko Kamohara at the residency. The Artistic 

Director of the Company Nina Ananiashvili spoke to the Ambassador 

and his spouse about the Tour and expressed her gratitude towards 

the Embassy of Japan for the aid in organizing it. 

`mZinare mzeTunaxavi~ 

qoreografiul saswavlebelSi 

v. Wabukianis saxelobis Tbilisis sabaleto xelovnebis 

saxelmwifo saswavlebelma tradiciul, yovelwliur 

Semajamebel saRamoze, wels p. Caikovskis „mZinare mzeTunaxavi~ 

warmoadgina. (marius petipas qoreografia. nukri 

maRalaSvilis qoreografiuli redaqcia da dadgma). 

saswavleblis gamosaSvebi saRamo 27 aprils rusTavelis 

TeatrSi gaimarTa da vaxtang Wabukianis dabadebidan 100 

wlisTavs mieZRvna. saRamos sakoncerto ganyofilebaSi 

Sesrulda variaciebi vaxtang Wabukianis baletebidan, 

klasikuri da saxasiaTo cekvebi. 

mTavari partiebi „mZinare mzeTunaxavSi~ swavlebis me-7 

wlis moswavleebma: nino samadaSvilma (avrora), mari 

eloSvilma da mamuka kikaliSvilma (swavlebis me-6-7 wlebi. 

lurji frinveli) Seasrules. 


NEWS 

iaponiaSi gastrolidan dabrunebis Semdeg 

sabaleto dasi sakuTar rezidenciaSi miiRo 

iaponiis sagangebo da sruluflebianma elCma 

saqarTveloSi, misma aRmatebulebam masaioSi 

kamuharam da misma meuRlem junko kamuharam. 

sabaleto dasis samxatvro xelmZRvanelma 

nino ananiaSvili elCs da mis meuRles gastrolis 

Sedegebze esaubra da madloba 

gadauxada saelCos gastrolis organizebaSi 

gaweuli daxmarebisaTvis. 

The Sleeping Beauty at 

the Choreographic School 

The Tbilisi V. Chabukiani State 

School of Ballet Art presented P. 

Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty 

(choreography by Marius Petipa, 

choreographic edition and staging 

by Nurki Maghalashvili) at this 

year’s concluding evening. The 

annual event was held on April 27 at 

the Rustaveli Theatre, and was 

dedicated to the 100 years anniversary 

of the birth of Vakhtang Chabukiani. 

The concert part of the evening 

presented the variations from ballets 

by Vakhtang Chabukiani, as well as 

classical and character dances. 

The leading parts in The Sleeping Beauty 

were performed by the students of 

the school’s 7th year Nino Samadashvili 

(Aurora), Mari Eloshvili and 

Mamuka Kikalishvili (6-7th years, The 

Blue Bird). 

Arabesque 41

amomavali mzis 

qveyanaSi 

qarTuli baletis kidev erTi warmatebuli gamosvla amomavali 

mzis qveyanaSi. sami wlis Semdeg iaponiaSi kvlav Sedga Tbilisis 

operisa da baletis saxelmwifo Taeatris sabaleto dasis 

gastroli. klasikuri baletebi `Jizeli~ da `romeo da julieta~ 

sabaleto dasma qalaqebSi nagoiaSi, osakaSi da tokioSi 

warmoadgina. tokioSi qarTuli baleti bunka kaikanisa da 

U-Port-is prestiJul 4 000 kacian darbazebSi gamodioda. 

gastrolSi, dasTan erTad moskovis didi Teatris solitebi 

andrei uvarovi da morixito ivata monawileobdnen. dasis 

gamosvlebi iaponiaSi 14 marts dasrulda. 

gTvazobT iaponuri presis gamoxmaurebebs sagastrolo 

speqtaklebTan dakavSirebiT: 

42 

Arabesque

gastrolebi 

Tours 

In Country of 

the Rising Sun 

Another successful visit of the Georgian ballet in the country of the rising sun. After a three year 

break, Japan witnessed the tour of the State Ballet of Georgia. Classics Giselle and Romeo and 

Juliet were presented by the Company in Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo. In the capital city the 

Georgian company danced at the prestigious 4000-seater halls of Bunka Kaikan and U-Port. 

Performing alongside the Company at the tour were soloists of the Bolshoi Theatre Andrei 

Uvarov and Morihiro Iwata. The performances were concluded on March 14. 

We present the Japanese press reaction on the Company performances: 

Arabesque 43

prima balerinas 

naTeli, gamorCeuli 

keiko nakamura 

Yomiuri Online by Yomiuri Shimbun 

11 marti 2010 

`didi Teatris mSvenebad~ cnobili nino 

ananiaSvili misi iaponuri debiutis 20 wlis 

iubilesTan dakavSirebul warmodgenebs 

atarebs. me vnaxe speqtakli nagoiaSi (2010 wlis 

24 Tebervali, aiCis prefeqturis xelovnebis 

darbazi), romelic daaxloebiT 20-dRiani 

iaponuri turnes pirvel saRamos warmoadgenda. 

is ukve 6 welia am dasis samxatvro xelmZRvanelia 

da meore iaponur gastrols atarebs 

qarTul sabaleto dasTan erTad. wina turne 

sami wlis win Sedga. 

dasi or programas warmoadgens: nagoiaSi `romeo 

da julieta~ (musika s. prokofievi, qoreografia 

l. lavrovski, 3 moqmedeba) iyo naCvenebi. 

pirveli moqmedebis pirveli scena veronas 

moedanze daZabuli brZoliT daiwyo, ris 

Semdegac moqmedebam kapuletebis saxlSi 

gadainacvla, sadac wveulebisTvis emzadebian. 

julieta (ananiaSvili), ZiZasTan erTad, 

marTlac 14 wlis gogonasaviT xarobda. misi 

44 Arabesque 

figura 

feriasaviT msubuqi moZraobebi zustad 

Seesabameboda gogonas qcevas. 

pirvelad nino 1991 wlis msoflio sabaleto 

festivalze vixile. magram, am warmodgenaSi is 

gacilebiT ufro axalgazrda da mSvenieri 

iyo, vidre maSin. haruko sugimuram, didma 

iaponelma msaxiobma, 15 wlis gogona 80 wlis 

asakSi ganasaxiera; kabukis Zvelma msaxiobebmac 

moxibles mayurebeli gogonaTa rolebis 

SesrulebiT, Tumca baleti srulebiT 

gansxvavdeba im speqtaklebisagan. nino 

ananiaSvilma didi Teatrisa da amerikis 

sabaleto Teatris umaRlesi donis balerinas 

statusi 20 welze meti xnis ganmavlobaSi 

SeinarCuna. misTvis RvTisgan boZebul unarTa 

ricxvSi axalgazrduli energiac Sedis. 

mesame moqmedeba gansakuTrebulad mSvenieri 

iyo. man julietas gancdebi metad gamomxatvelad 

gadmosca _ swrafi zrdasruli nabijebiT 

is axalgazrda gogonadan qalad gadaiqca. 

`romeo da julieta~ siyvarulis, ganSorebis, 

tkivilisa da tragediis cnobili istoriaa. 

amis gamo speqtaklSi iyo pantomimiT 

datvirTuli scenebi, romlebic moZvelebulad 

Canda. Tumca, aseTi SegrZnebebi prima 

balerinas yovlismomcveli pirovnebiT iqna 

gadafaruli, romelic `gardacvlili~ 

julietas rolSic ki mSvenieri iyo. 

andrei uvarovi (romeo) da morixito ivata 

(merkucio), didi Teatris msaxiobebi, brwyinvaleni 

iyvnen _ pirveli keTilSobilebiT, meore 

ki _ STambeWdavad Sesrulebuli awevebiT. 

gamudmebiT Canan scenaze saqarTvelos 

saxelmwifo baletis iseTi axalgazrda 

mocekvaveebi, rogorebic arian lali kandelaki 

da vasil axmeteli. 

eka surmava, nino gogua, morixiro ivata, nino ananiaSvili, 

andrei uvarovi, ana muradeli, ana albuTaSvili 

EKA SURMAVA, NINO GOGUA, MORIHIRO IVATA, NINA ANANIASHVILI, 

ANDREY UVAROV, ANNA MURADELI, ANNA ALBUTASHVILI

Vivid, 

Outstanding Presence 

of A Prima Ballerina 

Nina Ananiashvili, admired as “Bolshoi Beauty”, has 

performances commemorating the 20th anniversary of her 

Japan debut. I saw a performance in Nagoya (February 24, 

2010 at Aichi Prefectural Arts Theatre), which was the opening 

performance of the approximately 20-days-long Japan tour. 

She has been Artistic Director of the company for 6 years 

and this is the second Japan tour for the company, last seen 

in Japan three years ago. 

The company brings two programs; Romeo and Juliet was 

staged in Nagoya (Music by S. Prokofiev, Choreographed by 

L. Lavrovsky, 3 Acts). 

Act I, Scene 1, started with a vigorous skirmish in a square in 

Verona; the action moved on to the Capulet home, where a ball 

was about to take place. Juliet (Ananiashvili), as a 14-year-old, 

cavorted with delight with her nanny. Her light-as-a-fairy 

movements were exactly like a girl’s; it seemed as if she were 

“love is the loadstone of love”. 

I saw Nina for the first time at the World Ballet Festival in 1991. 

[In this performance as Juliet] she was much more youthful 

and pretty, as pure as a lily, compared with that time. Haruko 

Sugimura, a great Japanese actress, played a 15-year-old-girl 

KEIKO NAKAMURA 

nino ananiaSvili, andrei uvarovi, aleqsei fadeeCevi, morixiro ivata speqtaklis Semdeg. tokio. bunka kaikanis Teatri. 

NINA ANANIASHVILI, ANDREY UVAROV, ALEXEI FADEECHEV, MORIHIRO IVATA AFTER A PERFORMANCE. TOKYO, THE BUNKA KAIKAN THEATRE 

Yomiuri Online by Yomiuri Shimbun, 

March 11, 2010 

when she was in her 80s; similarly, old Kabuki actors have 

won over the audience with their girl roles. We have these 

kinds of splendid performances but ballet is totally different 

from such performances. Nina Ananiashvili has kept her 

position as a top ballerina at both Bolshoi Ballet and American 

Ballet Theatre for more than 20 years. Her God-given talents 

obviously include the youthful spring in her muscles. 

Act III was particularly splendid. She danced Juliet’s feelings 

very expressively — with quick running steps she transformed 

from a young girl to a woman through her falling in love with 

Romeo (Andrei Uvarov). Romeo and Juliet is a well-known 

story of the joy of love, the pain of separation and above all, 

the tragedy of star-crossed lovers. Due to this, there were some 

scenes which felt somewhat old fashioned — the choreography 

laden with explanatory mime. However, such feelings were 

driven away with the overwhelming presence of the prima 

ballerina, who was beautifully expressive even as the “dead” Juliet. 

Uvarov and Iwata, both Bolshoi artists, were brilliant — the former 

particularly for his nobility, the later for his astounding elevation. 

In addition, the young dancers of the State Ballet of Georgia, 

such as Lali Kandelaki and Vasil Akhmeteli are steadily 

growing up. 

Arabesque 45

didi, STambeWdavi 

ipei fukuda 

kritikosi, The Tokyo Shimbun, 

17 marti 2010 (saRamos gamocema) 

46 Arabesque 

warmodgena 

feria ninosagan 

nino ananiaSvili, sabaleto samyaros erT-erTi yvelaze 

popularuli varskvlavi, iaponiaSi sagastrolod 

imyofeba da icekvebs baletebSi _ `Jizeli~ da `romeo da 

julieta~. Sesrulda 20 weli misi iaponuri debiutidan, 

rodesac mayurebeli misma brwyinvale Sesrulebam 

moxibla didi Teatris klasikur sabaleto speqtaklebSi. 

es warmodgenebi, iaponur scenaze, misi bolo gamosvla 

iqneba julietasa da Jizelis partiebSi. 

ferias msgavsma ananiaSvilma scenaze gamoCenisTanave 

Teatri SemoqmedebiT sivrced aqcia, romelic misi 

auriT iyo savse. misi es sasiamovno unari ucvleli 

rCeba, Tumca axalgazrduli, dinamiuri moZraobebi 

axla ufro gamomsaxvelobiTaa datvirTuli, rac mis 

partiebs met emociurobas matebs. 

3 martis `Jizelis~ meore moqmedebis pa de deSi, 

rodesac is albers (andrei uvarovi) ixsnis sikvdilisagan, 

ananiaSvilis Sesruleba ostaturi iyo. is pozidan 

pozaze gadadioda da mklavebiT, TaviT, sxeuliTa da 

fexebiT dauviwyar, romantikul suraTebs qmnida. 

5 marts, `romeo da julietaSi~, man julietas vnebisa 

da mwuxarebis gancda romeosTan (andrei uvarovi) 

pirvelive SexvedrisTanave guliT gadmosca. 

misma Sesrulebam gvaCvena msaxiobi, romelic sakuTari 

karieris mwvervalze imyofeba da romelmac mTeli 

darbazis ovacia daimsaxura. misi partnioroba 

uvarovTan brwyinvale iyo, ukanasknel scenaSi maTma 

TamaSma ki mayurebelze didi STabeWdileba datova. 

mowoneba daimsaxura merkucios partiaSi morihiro 

ivatas (didi Teatris erTaderTi iaponeli mocekvave) 

gabedulma Sesrulebam. 

saqarTvelos saxelmwifo baleti SesamCnev progress 

aCvenebs. mocekvaveebs Soris gamorCeuli iyo irakli 

baxtaZe (tibaldis partiaSi). 

mxolod didi momavali SeiZleba vusurvoT saqarTvelos 

saxelmwifo balets, am gamorCeul dass, nino 

ananiaSvilis xelmZRvanelobT.

“From Fairy Nina, 

Supreme Performances” 

Nina Ananiashvili, one of the most popular stars in 

the ballet world today, is currently touring Japan in Romeo 

and Juliet and Giselle. This year marks the 20th anniversary 

of her debut in Japan, when she deeply impressed 

the Japanese audience with her sublime performances 

in the same classics with the Bolshoi Ballet. These are 

her farewell performances in the roles of Juliet and 

Giselle in Japan. 

When the fairy-like Ananiashvili first appeared on the 

stage, the theatre turned into an artistic space, filled 

with her aura. This appealing quality remains unchanged; 

however, her youthful dynamic movements have evolved 

into deep expressiveness, making her more moving in 

her roles. 

In Giselle on March 3, the pas de deux in act 2 – where she 

saves the life of Albrecht (Andrei Uvarov) – was masterful. 

She flowed into pose after pose, with her arms, head, body 

and legs forming unforgettable Romantic images. 

IPPEI FUKUDA 

dance critic, The Tokyo Shimbun, 

March 17, 2010 (Evening Edition) 

In Romeo and Juliet on March 5, she expressed Juliet’s growing 

sentiments of passion and sadness with all her heart from 

her first meeting with Romeo (Andrei Uvarov). 

Her performance showed an artist who remains at the peak 

of her powers and excited the applause of the entire 

theatre. Her partnership with Uvarov was brilliant and 

their acting at the last scene deeply moved the heart of the 

audience. Her feelings for Japan can be said to be reflected 

in the performance. 

As Mercutio, the bravura dancing of Morihiro Iwata (the 

only Japanese dancer with the Bolshoi) drew much applause. 

The State Ballet of Georgia is making remarkable progress and 

Irakli Bakhtadze (as Tybalt) was notable among the dancers. 

One can only wish glory for the future of the distinguished 

company led by Nina. 

Arabesque 47

spoletosa da 

jeikobs filous 

festivalebze 

At the Spoleto 

and Jacob’s Pillow 

Festivals 

9 ivniss Tbilisis operisa da baletis saxelmwifo Teatris 

sabaleto dasi sagastrolod gaemgzavra amerikis SeerTebul 

StatebSi. bolo xuTi sezonis ganmavlobaSi es qarTuli baletis 

mesame gastrolia amerikis SeerTebul StatebSi. amJamad maT 

isev mouxdaT spoletosa da jeikobs filous prestiJul 

saerTaSoriso festivalebze gamosvla. spoletos 

festivalze warmodgenili iqna baleti `Jizeli~, jeikobs 

filouSi ki erTmoqmedebiani baletebis programa (`bize 

variaciebi~, `sagalobeli~, frederik eStonis pa de deebi, 

balanCinis „Duo Concertant” da irJi kilianis „Falling Angels”). 

sabaleto dasTan erTad spoletos festivalze gamodioda kovent 

gardenis samefo baletis premieri daviT maxaTeli, jeikobs 

filous festivalze ki daniis samefo baletis solisti sebastian 

kloborgi. orTave mocekvaves kargad icnobs qarTveli mayurebeli. 

isini bolo periodSi ramdenjerme monawileobdnen Cvens 

speqtaklebSi TbilisSi. 

amerikaSi qarTuli baletis gastrols exmianeba amerikuli presa: 

On June 9 the Tbilisi Z. Paliashvili Opera and Ballet State Theatre Ballet 

Company traveled to the United States on the third tour to the country in last 

five seasons. This time they performed once more at the Spoleto and Jacob’s 

Pillow festivals. The Spoleto event saw the Company present Giselle, while 

Jacob’s Pillow was treated to a mixed bill program (Bizet Variations, Sagalobeli, 

Several pas de deux by Sir Frederick Ashton, Duo Concertant by George 

Balanchine and Falling Angels by Jirí Kylián). The Royal Ballet Principal 

Dancer David Makhateli danced alongside the Company at the Spoleto, while 

Sebastian Kloborg of the Royal Danish Ballet performed together with the 

State Ballet of Georgia at the Jacob’s Pillow. Both dancers are well known to 

the Georgian audience, as they have featured in productions staged in Tbilisi. 

The US press reacts to the tour of the Georgian ballet in the States: 

48 

Arabesque

Arabesque 49

dasi, romelic 

sasiamovno Tavgadasavlebs 

klaudia la roko 

prima balerinebma ician, rogor imoqmedon 

mayurebelze. swored ase xdeboda oTxSabaTs 

ted Sounis saxelobis TeatrSi, sadac jeikobs 

filous cekvis festivalis gaxsnaze nino 

ananiaSvili publikas Tbilad Sexvda. 

ananiaSvilis dasis erT-erTi saintereso mxare, 

misi istoria da im dRidan gaCenili saerTaSoriso 

interesi gaxlavT, roca rTul mdgomareobaSi 

myofi koleqtivi man 2004 wels gamoacocxla. 

TbilisSi dabadebuli ananiaSvili, romelic 

ukve didi xania saerTaSoriso masStabis 

favoriti balerinaa, dass saqarTvelos 

prezidentis, mixeil saakaSvilis Txovnis 

Semdeg xelmZRvanelobs. is jer kidev amerikis 

sabaleto Teatris wamyvani solisti iyo da 

uecrad samSobloSi dabrunebul gmirad iqca. 

oTxSabaTis programa, romelic jeikobs 

filous aRmasrulebelma direqtorma ela 

bafma daaxasiaTa, rogorc `meoce saukunisa da 

axlandeli baletis erTi kadri~, frederik 

Prima ballerinas know how to work a crowd, sweeping their 

arms and eyes up and out as if to embrace the farthest reaches 

of cavernous theaters. So it was on Wednesday at the Ted 

Shawn Theater here, when Nina Ananiashvili warmly 

acknowledged her public on opening night at the Jacob’s 

Pillow Dance Festival. 

Never mind that the only things above the stage were humble 

rafters; you can take the star out of the opera house, but you 

can’t take the opera house out of the star. One of the curiosities 

of her troupe, the State Ballet of Georgia, is its dual existence 

as a plucky start-up operation and international attraction since 

Ms. Ananiashvili revived the floundering company in 2004. 

Ms. Ananiashvili, who is from Tbilisi and has long been an 

intercontinental darling, took control at the request of the 

Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili; one minute she was 

an American Ballet Theater principal, the next a returning 

50 

Arabesque 

24 ivnisi 2010 

eStonidan irJi kilianamde gaiSala. es ananiaSvilis 

mier, samxatvro xelmZRvanelis 

ampluaSi, Tavgadasavlebis Ziebis iseT 

siyvarulze miuTiTebs, rogorsac is cekvisas 

amJRavnebs. dasis mocekvaveebi Tanabari 

donisani Canan da ananiaSvilis msgavsad, 

mimzidveli gulRiaoba da naklebi maneruloba 

axasiaTebT. maT, ted Sounis saxelobis scenis 

siviwrovis miuxedavad, teqnikuri 

SesaZleblobebis demonstrirebac moaxerxes. 

Tumca programa, romelic or saaTze cota 

metxans grZeldeboda, mxolod periodulad 

iyo saintereso. Cndeba kiTxva, moaxerxa Tu ara 

dasma, batoni saakaSvilis mowodebis Semdeg, 

sakuTari samxatvro mimarTulebis povna. 

Tumca, SesaZloa es imiT iyos gamowveuli, rom 

es dadgmebi dasisTvis sakmaod axalia. erTis 

garda yvela speqtakli koleqtivma ukanaskneli 

ori wlis ganmavlobaSi aiTvisa da logikuria, 

rom yvelaze Zlieri is ori nomeri iyo, 

Flirtatious Bunch, Instigating Playful Adventures 

CLAUDIA LA ROCCO 

Published: June 24, 2010 

gTavazobT 

national hero. Wednesday’s program, which Jacob’s Pillow’s 

executive director, Ella Baff, described in preshow remarks as a 

“snapshot of ballet in the 20th century and now,” stretched from 

Frederick Ashton to Jiri Kylian. It proves Ms. Ananiashvili to be 

as adventuresome an artistic director as performer. Her dancers 

appear equally game, and, like her, have an appealing openness 

and lack of mannerisms. They also displayed technical skill 

despite being constrained by the shallow Ted Shawn stage. 

But the program, which lasted a little more than two hours, 

was only intermittently stirring. It’s tempting to wonder if the 

State Ballet of Georgia hasn’t quite found its artistic imperative, 

beyond Mr. Saakashvili’s request. 

Or perhaps it’s that all of these works are so new to the 

company. All but one were acquired within the last two years, 

and it seems no coincidence that the two strongest works have 

either been in the repertory the longest (Balanchine’s Duo

omelmac repertuarSi yvelaze didi dro 

dahyo (balanCinis “Duo Concertant”, dadgmuli 

2006 wels) an romelic specialurad maTTvis 

daidga (aleqsei ratmanskis mier dadgmuli 

`variaciebi~). es ori baleti, danarCenTagan 

gansxvavebiT, cocxal musikaze sruldeboda da 

orive ufro cocxlad gamoiyureboda, vidre 

2008 wels bruklinis musikalur akademiaSi. 

saRamos yvelaze dinamiuri nomris warmodgena 

daniis samefo sabaleto dasis solistma 

sebastian kloborgma (romelic mowveuli 

solistis statusiT cekvavda) da nino goguam 

SeZles “Duo Concertant”-Si. 

sakmaod sasiamovno iyo sxva nomrebic; saintereso 

iyo ananiaSvilis midgoma programis Sedgenis 

mimarT da misi cekvis xilvac, romelic axalgazrdul 

simsubuqes da musikalur inteleqts 

moicavda. prima-balerina `variaciebis~ arc Tu 

ise umanko flirtSi cekvavda. mSvenieri 

gaxldaT xelebis moZraobis miseuli niuansebi 

da daxvewili nabijebi puantebiT eStonis 

`taisSi~ (1971), romelsac saxeli masnes operis 

meditaciis mixedviT ewoda. 

am warmodgenaSi is mgznebare vasil axmetelTan 

erTad cekvavda, romelic aseTive efeqturi 

iyo lali kandelakis partnioris rolSi, 

eStonis pa de deSi _ `gazafxulis xmebi~ (1977), 

romelic Strausis musikazea dadgmuli. es 

dueti, moTamaSe da tkbili SesrulebiT, bevri 

awevebiT, moridebul flirts warmoadgens, 

rac gvaCvenebs eStonis midgomas _ baletis 

akademiuri mxare Semsruleblebs Soris 

Concertant, added in 2006) or were created specifically for the 

Georgians (Alexei Ratmansky’s witty, adult play on sexual 

manners, Bizet Variations). They were also the only ballets to 

feature live music, and both looked considerably sharper than 

they did during the troupe’s 2008 stint at the Brooklyn 

Academy of Music. The Royal Danish Ballet soloist Sebastian 

Kloborg, appearing as a guest, and Nino Gogua offered the 

night’s most incisive, dynamic performances in Duo Concertant. 

Certainly, there was plenty to admire elsewhere, in Ms. 

Ananiashvili’s programming and in her dancing, which retains 

its youthful freshness and musical intelligence. There she was 

as the not-so-innocent flirt in Bizet Variations. And how good 

to see the supple, nuanced play of her arms and delicate point 

work in Ashton’s Thaïs (1971), named for the Meditation from 

Massenet’s opera. 

She performed it with the ardent Vasil Akhmeteli, who was 

equally effective with Lali Kandelaki in Ashton’s Voices of 

Spring pas de deux (1977), set to Strauss. Mellow and playful, 

the duet makes much of traveling lifts and coy flirtations, 

emphasizing Ashton’s penchant for softening ballet’s academic 

side with subtle, witty exchanges. His characters almost always 

seem like human beings first, even (or perhaps especially) 

msubuqi urTierTobiT Seamsubuqos. misi 

personaJebi TiTqmis yovelTvis adamianebi 

arian, maSinac ki (an SeiZleba, gansakuTrebiT 

maSin), rodesac isini cxovelebs asaxiereben, 

rogorc es 1985 wels dadgmul cocxali 

xasiaTis `kataSi~ Cans, romelic oTxSabaTs 

lana mRebriSvilma Seasrula. 

damajerebloba aklda ana muradelisa da oTar 

xelaSvilis cekvas eStonis mier delibis 

musikaze dadgmul `silvias~ pa de deSi (1952). 

maT TiTqos gansakuTrebiT SeuSala xeli 

scenis SezRudulma zomebma. Tumca xelaSvili 

flobs Zlier, sivrcis STanmTqmel naxtoms, 

muradelma ki, imis miuxedavad, rom finaluri 

nawilisaken fexma cotaTi umtyuna, silvias 

Sarmi gaacocxla. 

dasi sruliad sxva mxriv warmoCinda kilianis 

“Falling Angels”-Si (1989), romelic aTletur, 

Tumca moZvelebul pasuxs warmoadgens stiv 

riqis “Drumming”-ze da saRamos `bisze~ _ 

qarTul xalxur cekvaze _ `kintauri~, sadac 

solisti nino gogua gaxldaT. es iyo 

gansakuTrebuli siurprizi. `Tuki daRlili ar 

xarT~ _ aRniSna ananiaSvilma, romelic, 

rogorc yovelTvis Sarms asxivebda. 

nino ananiaSvili da sabaleto dasi „Jizelis“ Semdeg 

diriJor robert koulTan erTad. spoletos festivali 

NINA ANANIASHVILI AND THE BALLET COMPANY WITH CONDUCTOR ROBERT COLE AFTER 

THE GISELLE PERFORMANCE. THE SPOLETO FESTIVAL 

when they are portraying animals, as in the saucy 1985 romp 

La Chatte métamorphosée en femme, danced on Wednesday by 

Lana Mghebrishvili. 

Anna Muradeli and Otar Khelashvili lacked convincing 

chemistry in Ashton’s Sylvia pas de deux (1952), set to Delibes, 

and seemed especially affected by the stage’s limitations. But 

Mr. Khelashvili has a buoyant, space-eating jump, and Ms. 

Muradeli, though her footwork failed her toward the end, 

evoked Sylvia’s steely charms. 

The company showed an entirely different side in Mr. 

Kylian’s Falling Angels (1989), an athletic, rather dated 

response to Steve Reich’s Drumming, and in the evening’s 

encore, Kintauri, a slinky Georgian folk dance led by Ms. 

Gogua. It was a special surprise, “if you’re not tired,” Ms. 

Ananiashvili teased, charming as ever. 

Arabesque 51

alerina da dasi, 

janin parkeri 

JANIN PARKER 

52 

Arabesque 

romelic gaizarda 

A ballerina and a troupe grow up

nino 

ananiaSvilis, msoflio 

baletis WeSmariti varskvlavis, xasiaTSi 

yovelTvis iyo raRac Tineijeruli _ glamurul- 

Tan erTad garkveuli eqstravagantulobac. 

saqarTvelos saxelmwifo sabaleto dasic, 

romelsac is 2004 wlis Semdeg xelmZRvanelobs, 

am Tvisebis matarebelia _ zogjer seriozulad 

motivirebuli, zogjer ki moTamaSe, morcxvi 

da msubuqi. jeikobs filouze dasis sami wlis 

winandeli gamosvlis Semdeg koleqtivi 

TineijeriviT mudmiv cvalebadobaSi imyofeba. 

isini sakmaod ambiciurebic arian: maT programaSi 

Svidi baletia (damatebiT `siurprizTan~ 

erTad). ananiaSvilis gadawyvetileba, SesTavazos 

mis mocekvaveebs srulfasovani repertuari, 

sworia, Tumca araa aucilebeli yvela tipis 

qoreografia yovel warmodgenaze Seasrulon. 

unda aRiniSnos, rom misi axalgazrda mocekvaveebi 

fizikurad da msaxioburad jer kidev ar 

arian aseTi mravalferovani programisTvis 

daxvewilebi. sabednierod, am sirTuleebTan 

erTad SeimCneva dasis zrdac, gansakuTrebiT 

maTi amomavali varskvlavis _ nino goguas 

magaliTze. 

saRamo britaneli qoreografis, frederik 

eStonis patara dadgmebma da srulmasStabiani 

dadgmebis fragmentebma gaxsna. aseTi programa 

sakmaod rTulia gadmosacemad. `taisi~ pa de 

deSi ananiaSvilma da vasil axmetelma Jiul 

masnes nostalgiur musikas sakuTari, romantikuli 

Sesabamisoba mouZebnes, rac ananiaSvilis 

haerSi mcurav bureebsa da axmetelis 

mier Tavs zemoT awevebSi gamoixata, stilis 

uneblie cvlilebebis gareSe. axmeteli 

eStonis siuitis bolosac warmogvidga 

energiiT savse lali kandelakTan erTad, 

`gazafxulis xmebis~ pa de deSi, romlis 

musikac gamonaklisia iohan Straus I I -is 

pompezuri musikaluri stilidan. 

`silvias~ pa de deSi ana muradelisa da oTar 

xelaSvilis lamaz wyvils leo delibis mxiaruli 

musikis Sesaferisi warmodgenis gamarTva gauWirda. 

es aSkarad nerviulobas unda mivaweroT, 

Nina Ananiashvili, a true star in the ballet world, has 

always had a hint of the teenager about her, a little 

gawkiness alongside the glamour. The State Ballet of 

Georgia, which she has directed since 2004, shares some 

of those qualities, at times earnest, playful, shy, and goofy. 

In the three years since the company’s first visit to Jacob’s 

Pillow, the company, like a teenager, has been constantly 

changing. 

And it is rather ambitious: There are seven ballets (and a 

“surprise’’ encore) on the program. It’s right for 

Ananiashvili to provide her dancers with such a panoply 

of repertoire, but they needn’t do it all in every performance. 

And as yet, her young dancers aren’t always up to 

the physical and artistic subtleties of such diverse 

programming. Happily, along with growing pains, there is 

evidence of growing up, most notably in the superb 

development of the company’s own rising star, the 

ballerina Nino Gogua. 

A suite of short works and excerpts from longer pieces 

by the late British choreographer Frederick Ashton 

opened the evening. This sort of programming is 

challenging, as the dancers must authentically convey 

something larger, a whole world in a thumbnail sketch. 

In the Thais Pas de Deux, Ananiashvili and Vasil 

Akhmeteli matched Jules Massenet’s yearning melody 

with their own soulful romance — lots of wafting 

bourrees for her and big overhead lifts for him — 

without succumbing to bathos. Akhmeteli returned at 

the end of the Ashton suite to partner the vivacious Lali 

Kandelaki in the Voices of Spring Pas de Deux, a breezy 

romp somewhat ill-suited to the pomp of Johann 

Strauss II. 

In the Sylvia Pas de Deux, the handsome couple Anna 

Muradeli and Otar Khelashvili struggled but failed to 

match the playfulness in Leo Delibes’s music, the duet’s 

sweet formality overshadowed by apparent nerves. More 

Arabesque 53

vasil axmeteli, nino ananiaSvili, saqarTvelos elCi aSS-Si baTu quTelia, 

daviT maxaTeli, nino gogua. spoletos festivali 

VASIL AKHMETELI, NINA ANANIASHVILI, BATU KUTELIA _ THE AMBASSADOR OF GEORGIA TO 

THE USA, DAVID MAKHATELI, NINO GOGUA. THE SPOLETO FESTIVAL 

nino gogua da sebastian kloborgi amerikel musikosebTan erTad. 

“DUO CONCERTANT”. jeikobs filous festivali 

NINO GOGUA AND SEBASTIAN KLOBORG WITH US MUSICIANS. 

DUO CONCERTANT. THE JACOB’S PILLOW FESTIVAL 

sabaleto dasi jeikobs filous festivalis scenaze 

THE BALLET COMPANY ON THE JACOB’S PILLOW FESTIVAL STAGE 

54 Arabesque 

romelmac duetis mSvenieri formaluroba gadafara. 

metad warmatebuli iyo lana mRebriSvili 

_ man katis xasiaTis srulad gadmocema moaxerxa 

SarmiT savse, Tumca mcire masStabis `kataSi~. 

amdenadve axasiaTebda Sarmi da masStabis 

simcire aleqsei ratmanskis `bizes variaciebis~ 

pa de sizs, romelic garkveulwilad msubuq 

fsiqodramas warmoadgens, romelSic ananiaSvilis 

kekluci gmiris guli srulad ekuTvnis 

mgznebare, mamakacur axmetels. am ukanasknelis 

Sesruleba namdvilad iwvevda Seyvarebuli gmiris 

STabeWdilebas, maSin roca danarCeni mamakacebi 

TiTqos mxolod maTi awevis dros elodnen. 

saRamos namdvili mSveneba iyo jorj balanCinis 

martivi “Duo Concertant”, Seqmnili ori mocekvavisa 

da scenaze Semsrulebeli ori musikosisaTvis 

(pianisti janet fangi da mevioline 

devid saTorni). speqtaklSi gogua da sebastian 

kloborgi (mowveuli artisti daniis samefo 

sabaleto dasidan) usmendnen musikas fortepianosTan, 

Semdeg ki TviT asrulebdnen cekvas 

igor stravinskis dramatul melodiaze. sami 

wlis win gogua, misi mSvenieri saSemsruleblo 

xazebiTa da teqnikiT, ver axerxebda daZabulobis 

gareSe, Tavisuflad cekvas. axla is srulebiT 

flobs sakuTar Tavs da rbili, mgrZnobiarea, 

moZraobs Tavisuflad da srulad. kloborgi 

fizikurad amdenad daxvewili araa _ mas mcire 

alegros nawilebisaTvis saWiro simkveTre 

jer kidev ar gaaCnia _ Tumca temperamentiT 

is kargad Seesabameboda goguas. 

irJi kilianis “Falling Angels”-Si rva balerina 

TiTqos marionetebiviT, mTlianad stiv riqis 

“Drumming, Part 1”-is melodiiT iyo amoZravebuli. 

maTi swrafad cvalebadi moZraobebi an erTmaneTTan 

axlos myofi fexebiT sruldeboda, an 

erTi myisieri moZraobidan meoremde Sesrulebul 

meTodur nabijebSi gamoixateboda. 

periodulad isini idgnen an iwvnen maTTvis 

sinaTliT gamoyofil oTxkuTed sivrceSi, 

TiTqos yuTSi iyvnen moqceulni _ es 

STabeWdileba maTi metwilad unisonuri 

cekviT Zlierdeboda. soloebi da duetebi 

mxolod xazs usvamda ganmeorebiT xasiaTs _ 

swrafad moxrili muxli, an uceb gaSlili 

mklavi iseve iqcevda yuradRebas, rogorc 

wylis aRelveba gubis wynar zedapirze. 

Sesruleba metad intensiuri iyo da amasTan 

erTad, araTanabari. balerinebidan yvela ar 

flobs sxeulis Zlier zeda nawils, romelsac 

aseTi dadgma moiTxovs. isini moqnilni arian, 

Tumca ar floben organuli talRuri Sesrulebis 

codnas. amis miuxedavad, dasma sirTuleebs 

gauZlo da SemogvTavaza rogorc kilianis 

kargi warmodgena, ise momavlis perspeqtiva.

successful was Lana Mghebrishvili, evoking all that is 

stereotypically feline in the charming but scant La Chatte. 

Also charming though slight was Alexei Ratmansky’s 

“Bizet Variations Pas de Six,’’ a perhaps tongue-in-cheek 

period psychodrama. Ananiashvili played the coquette 

whose heart truly belongs to an ardent and virile 

Akhmeteli. The other women pouted like philistines, and 

while Akhmeteli looked like he was in love, the other 

men looked like they were just waiting for the next lift. 

The real joy of the evening was George Balanchine’s 

gloriously simple “Duo Concertante,’’ for two dancers 

and two onstage musicians, pianist Jeannette Fang and 

violinist David Southorn. Throughout the piece, Gogua 

and Sebastian Kloborg (a guest from the Royal Danish 

Ballet) stood at the piano, listening and responding to 

the dramatic Igor Stravinsky score. Three years ago 

Gogua, though possessed of a beautiful line and 

technique, couldn’t seem to relax, to just dance. Now she 

has come into herself, lithe and sensuous, moving with 

ease and plenitude. Though Kloborg wasn’t as refined 

physically — he doesn’t yet have the crispness for the petit 

allegro sections — he was temperamentally well-suited to 

Gogua. 

The eight women in Jiri Kylian’s “Falling Angels’’ seemed like 

marionettes propelled almost entirely by Steve Reich’s 

“Drumming, Part 1.’’ They skittered neurotically with their feet 

close together or stepped methodically from one long lunge to 

another, like slo-mo cyborg marathoners. Sometimes the 

women stood or lay down in their own squares of light as if 

they were boxed in, a sense heightened by the mostly unison 

dancing. The solos and duets that broke out only underscored 

the stark repetition: A quickly bent knee or flung out arm 

caught the eye like a sudden ripple in a quiet pond. 

It was rigorous stuff, and uneven in execution. Not all the 

women have the upper body strength for some of the piece’s 

demands, and though flexible, they don’t all know how to 

undulate organically. Nonetheless the company persevered, 

leaving us with a worthy Kylian, and the promise of possibility. 

Arabesque 55

nino gogua, vasil axmeteli. „demoni“ 

NINO GOGUA, VASIL AKHMETELI. DEMON 

56 

Arabesque

premiera 

Premiere 

giorgi aleqsiZis dabadebidan 

70 wlisTavis aRsaniSnavad 

Tbilisis operisa da baletis 

saxelmwifo Teatris sabaleto 

dasma misi qoreografia aRadgina. 

qoreografis saiubileo saRamo 

11 da 12 maiss S. rusTavelis 

saxelobis saxelmwifo dramatul 

TeatrSi gaimarTa. gogi aleqsiZis 

qoreografiis aRdgenaze misma 

meuRlem, sabaleto dasis pedagogrepetitorma 

marina aleqsiZem da 

qaliSvilma, dasis solistma 

mariam aleqsiZem imuSaves. 

programa, romelic 

or ganyofilebad iqna 

warmodgenili 12 sabaleto 

miniaturisa 

(a. vebernis, m. de falias, 

j. f. ramos, o. karavaiCukis, 

g. yanCelis, v. kaxiZis, 

a. piacolas, i. dunaevskis da 

a. knaifelis musikaze) 

da balet `demonisgan~ (g. yanCelis 

#6 simfoniaze) Sedgeboda. 

gTavazobT Jurnalist 

sofo kilasonias werils, 

romelic gamoqveynda yoveldRiur 

gazeT `24 saaTSi~. 

The Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre 

Ballet Company staged choreography 

by George Aleksidze, to mark the 70 years 

anniversary of the birth of the 

choreographer. The evening took place at 

the Shota Rustaveli State Drame Theatre 

on May 11 and 12. 

The reconstruction of the choreography 

was undertaken by Marina and Mariam 

Aleksidzes. The program, presented in two 

acts, consisted of 12 ballet miniatures 

(on music by A. Webern, M. de Falla, 

J. P. Remo, O. Karavaichuk, 

G. Kancheli, V. Kakhidze, A. Piazzola, 

I. Dunaevsky and A. Knaifel) and a full 

scale ballet Demon (on Symphony No. 6 

by G. Kancheli). 

We present the article by Sopho Kilasonia, 

published in the daily newspaper 24 Hours: 

Arabesque 57

`me, gogi aleqsiZe davibade 1939 wels, qalaq 

TbilisSi. adamiani Tavis dabadebas, pataraobas 

cxovrebis manZilze ixsenebs suraTebiT, 

mSoblebis da axloblebis mogonebebiT. am 

striqonebs vwer 65 wlis asakSi, am, SeiZleba 

iTqvas, cxovrebis mwvervalidan, scenebi da 

kadrebi bavSvobidan mikroskopiulad dapataravebulia 

da bindSia gaxveuli...~ _ ase iwyeba 

vrceli teqsti, romelic moicavs mis monologebs, 

Cvens dialogebs, amonaridebs mogonebebidan da 

gegmebs im momavlisTvis, romelic ukve mis 

gareSe, magram mainc viTardeba. teqsti, romlis 

sruli da erTaderTi versia, romelic misgan 

saCuqrad damrCa, jer mxolod Cemia, Tumca 

jerjerobiT... marTalia srulad mkiTxvelisTvis 

jer ar memeteba, magram esec jerjerobiT. ara 

erT rusulenovan gamocemas, male qarTulic 

Seemateba... wigni adamianze, romelmac, rogorc 

Tavad Tqva, sicocxle moZraobis gareSe 

wamiTac ver warmoidgina. 

giorgi aleqsiZisTvis 65 weli marTla mwvervali 

iyo da ara dasasruli, es imis miuxedavad, 

rom 3 wlis Semdeg wavida. albaT mxolod 

rCeulebi axerxeben sicocxlis bolomde darCnen 

iseTebad, rogorebic iyvnen `dasawyisSi~ _ 

SemoqmedebiTad aqtiurni, energiulni, savse 

ideebiT, survilebiT, magram bavSvebiviT 

Tavisufalni yovelgvari negatiurisgan. albaT 

es Tavisufleba da simSvide iyo mizezi, rom 

bolo Sexvedrisas, roca miTxra, `male waval, 

bevri ar damrCenia~, mainc mSvidad ijda, 

axalgazrda, Tanamedrove musikosis mier 

Seqmnil eleqtronul musikas usmenda da 

qoreografiul monaxazebs rveulSi ìwerda~... 

im dRes Tu vinme dardobda, Tu vinmes eSinoda 

Cvens Soris, es me viyavi da ara is. 

sakuTari dadgmebis Tbilisis sabaleto 

scenaze xelaxla xilvas bolo ramdenime weli 

58 Arabesque 

sicocxle 

sofo kilasonia 

24 saaTi, 23.05.10 

moZraobaSi 

giorgi aleqsiZe _ 70 

eloda. marTalia, mis sicocxleSi es ver 

moxerxda, magram 11 da 12 maiss mis 70 

wlisTavTan dakavSirebiT, Tbilisis operisa 

da baletis Teatris sabaleto dasi misi 

dadgmebiT gamovida SoTa rusTavelis 

saxelobis Teatris scenaze. giorgi aleqsiZis 

sxvadasxva periodis dadgmebi mariam da marina 

aleqsiZeebma aRadgines. 

qoreografis 70 wlisTavisadmi miZRvnili sa- 

Ramos programa ZiriTadad qoreografiul 

miniaturebs moicavda. neoklasikisa da 

modernis stilSi folkloruli, 

miTologiuri Temebi da ubralod usiuJeto 

kompoziciebi SesaZloa avtoris xelovnebis 

masStabs vera, magram misi xelweris 

tendenciebs da msoflxedvas mainc naTlad 

warmogvidgens. aleqsiZis am dadgmebis 

kamerul xasiaTs ki rusTavelis Teatris 

scena-darbazi adekvatur ganwyobas matebda. 

Tu am saRamos konteqsts, saiubileo TariRs 

CamovaSorebT, aRmovaCenT, rom Tbilisis 

operisa da baletis Teatris sabaleto dasi 

sakuTar sarepertuaro erT-erT xazs 

agrZelebs _ mis erTmoqmedebian baletebsa da 

mcire sabaleto opusebs amieridan aleqsiZis 

mcire dadgmebic Seemateba. Tu gaviTvaliswinebT 

imas, raoden didi mniSvneloba eniWeba 

dasavleTSi, konkretulad evropaSi 

saavtoro, originalur balets, SeiZleba 

vivaraudoT, rom ramdenime dadgma, 

romelsac warmogvidgens, SesaZloa dasis 

sagastrolo repertuarSic aRmoCndes da 

warmatebac daimsaxuros. miT ufro, rom 

qoreografis qaliSvilma, mariam aleqsiZem, 

aRniSnuli miniaturebidan ramdenime damoukidebel 

gastrolebze evropis sxvadasxva 

qalaqSi ukve ramdenjerme Seasrula da 

yovel jerze `bisze~ gavida.

sabaleto saRamo ramdenime nawilad daiyo. ar 

yofila vinme, vinc giorgi aleqsiZeze gvesaubreboda. 

mxolod misi xelovneba da kidev 

misi monologi _ Canaweri, romelic 

periodulad ismis da ganmartavs detalebs _ 

musikis rols, arCevanis Tavisuflebas, 

formas xelovnebaSi da a.S. 

saRamoze, qoreografiuli miniaturebis 

garda, mxolod erTi SedarebiT masStaburi 

dadgma _ `demoni~ (musika _ gia yanCelis me-6 

simfonia) gaxldaT warmodgenili, riTic 

dasrulda qoreografiuli saRamo, Tumca 

yanCeli, sxvebTan erTad, manamdec ismis... rac 

Seexeba `demons~, rom nino goguas daxvewili 

formebi da plastika am Zalian pretenziul 

dadgmas da aleqsiZisTvis damaxasiaTebel 

stilizirebas ara Tu uZlebs, Zalian ixdens. 

am Semsruleblis wyalobiT dadgma gaxda ara 

mxolod saintereso, aramed Zalian sanaxaobrivi. 

qoreografia ki Zalian metyveli. 

programaSi CarTuli gaxldaT baletis moyvarulTaTvis 

kargad cnobili dadgma `tangos 

magivrad~, romelsac isev lali kandelaki, 

isev araCveulebrivad asrulebda. qarTveli 

mayureblisTvis nacnobia aseve knaifelis 

`frTebi~. magram saRamos programa ramdenime 

iseT miniaturasac gvTavazobda, romlebic 

qoreografma seriozuli travmis Semdeg, 

sicocxlis bolo wlebSi ukve peterburgSi 

dadga da TbilisSi pirvelad Sesrulda. maT 

Soris unda gamovarCio `SuSanikis tanjva~, 

romelsac pirvel SemadgenlobaSi nino 

oCiauri, xolo 12 maiss lana mRebriSvili 

asruleben. dramatizmi, romelic am dadgmaSi 

ukiduresia da romelic saerTod aleqsiZis 

bolo dadgmebSi Zalian TvalsaCinoa, zogadad 

misTvis manamde damaxasiaTebeli laRi maneris 

fonze, orive mocekvavis mier kargad, magram 

gansxvavebulad aris gaazrebuli, rac maTi 

gansxvavebuli plastikiT da Sinagani 

dinamikiTac aixsneba. 

giorgi aleqsiZis qoreografiis saRamos 

yvelaze originaluri da dasamaxsovrebeli 

saxe mainc mariam aleqsiZis wiTeli gaxldaT, 

wiTeli _ kostiumi da am feris adekvaturi 

temperamenti, romliTac flamengos monaxazebsa 

da aleqsiZis stilis ariTmias aerTianebda. 

ar vici darCeba Tu ara `giorgi aleqsiZis 

qoreografiis saRamo~ Tbilisis saxelmwifo 

sabaleto dasis repertuarSi. faqtia, rom 

momswre gavxdi Tu rogor kargad miiRo 

mayurebelma is da ramdenad didi iyo interesi. 

ar vici ra darCeba aleqsiZisgan dRevandel 

dass, magram is ki zustad vici ra dagvrCa 

Cven, vinc mas vicnobdiT, rogorc maswavlebels, 

rogorc respondents, rogorc megobars, es 

aris misi mowodebebi _ SemoqmedebiTi Tavisuflebis, 

ubralod Tavisuflebis da siyvarulis, 

saqmisa da sicocxlis siyvarulis Sesaxeb. 

`cxovrebis azri imaSi mdgomareobs, rom 

ecado gaxde ukeTesi, Tavisufali Seni 

usaSvelod dabneuli azrebisgan, vnebebisgan, 

SiSisgan. ar unda misce sxvebs ufleba 

ibatonon Sen Sinagan samyaroze, yvelas Tavisi 

sakuTari cxovreba aqvs... sicocxle ar unda 

gaflango... unda gaufrTxilde sulier 

simSvides. yvelaferi warmavalia, amitom nu 

ganicdi wvrilmanebs da rac mTavaria, iyavi 

yofiTze cota ufro maRla.” 

mariam aleqsiZe. òri espanuri simRera~ 

MARIAM ALEKSIDZE. TWO SPANISH SONGS Arabesque 59

SOPHO KILASONIA 

“I, George Aleksidze, was born in 1939 in Tbilisi. Man recalls 

his birth and childhood with pictures and memories of 

parents and relatives. These lines are written by me at the age 

of 65, when frames of childhood are seen diminished and as 

in fog, from this so-called ‘peak’ of life…” – this is the 

beginning of a extensive text encompassing his monologues, 

our dialogues, fragments from memories, and plans for the 

future that goes on, now without him. This text, in its full 

and only version, is left to me from him, and belongs only 

to me, at least yet... It is hard for me to share it in full with 

readers, yet. Numerous Russian editions will be enriched 

by a Georgian one soon... The book about the man who, 

in his own words, could not imagine life without movement, 

even for a second. 

60 

Arabesque 

24 Hours 

Life 

in Movement 

GEORGE ALEKSIDZE - 70 

lali kandelaki, vasil axmeteli. „tangos nacvlad“ 

LALI KANDELAKI, VASIL AKHMETELI. INSTEAD OF A TANGO

For George Aleksidze, 65 years was the peak, and not the 

end, despite that he passed away 3 years after. Perhaps only 

the chosen manage to stay until the end like they were at the 

‘beginning’,– active in artistic work, energetic, full of ideas, 

wishes, but free of anything negative, like children. Probably 

this freedom and calmness was the reason, that during our 

last meeting, when he said “I will leave soon, not much is left 

for me”, he still sat calmly, listening to the electronic music 

of a modern young musician, and ‘noted’ the choreographic 

sketches in notebook… Of us two, it was me who was 

concerned and afraid that day. 

He had been waiting for the last few years to see his 

productions restaged in Tbilisi. While it did not happen 

during his life, the ballet company of the Tbilisi Opera and 

Ballet Theatre presented his works in the Shota Rustaveli 

Theatre on May 11 and 12, to mark the 70 years anniversary 

of his birth. George Aleksidze’s stagings from various times 

were reconstructed by Mariam and Marina Aleksidzes. 

The anniversary evening program consisted mainly of the 

choreographic miniatures. The neoclassical and modern 

mythological themes, as well as simple plot-less compositions 

may not display the scale of author’s artistic work, but 

definitely present his signature trends and ideology. And the 

mood for the chamber character of these productions was 

augmented by the Rustaveli Theatre stage-hall. 

If we separate the anniversary context from this evening, it 

can be discovered that the ballet company of the Tbilisi 

Opera and Ballet Theatre carries on with one of its repertory 

lines – the miniature stagings by Aleksidze will join the oneact 

ballets and minor ballet opus’. Taking into account the 

significance that is attached to author’s ballets of original 

work in Europe, it can be speculated that several of the 

works presented today and tomorrow could find their place 

in the company’s touring repertory and enjoy success in this 

manner. Especially as Mariam, the choreographer’s daughter, 

has already performed several of the mentioned miniatures 

on individual tours to several European cities and enjoyed 

curtain calls each time. 

The evening was split into several parts. There was nobody 

speaking to us about George Aleksidze. It was just his art 

and his monologue, which periodically explains the details 

like the role of music, freedom of choice, form in art, 

and so on. 

Besides the miniatures, a work of a larger scale – Demon 

(Symphony No.6 by Gia Kancheli) was presented, which 

concluded the evening. Kancheli’s music can also be heard 

before that, though… And regarding Demon it can 

be said that Nino Gogua’s exquisite physique and plastics 

not only endure this pretentious production with 

Aleksidze’s stylistics, but suits it to itself well. Thanks 

to this performer the work has become not only 

interesting, but beautiful to witness, while the choreography 

is very telling. 

Instead of a Tango, well-known to the balletomanes, 

was also included in the program, and performed 

marvelously by Lali Kandelaki, again. Wings by Knaifel is 

another piece familiar to the Georgian audience. But the 

evening treated us to several miniatures staged by the 

choreographer in St. Petersburg, after suffering the significant 

trauma, and performed in Tbilisi for the first time. 

Among them should be noted The Martyrdom of Queen 

Shushaniki, with Nino Ochiauri in the first cast, and Lana 

Mghebrishvili on May 12. The drama, reaching its peak in 

this work, and characteristic to the Aleksidze’s last 

stagings in contrast to his earlier free manner, is 

acknowledged, although differently, by both dancers. 

This can also be explained by their different plastics 

and inner dynamics. 

Although the most original and significant image of the 

evening was the red of Mariam Aleksidze - the red costume 

and the appropriate temperament, encapsulating the 

flamengo lines and arrhythmics of Aleksidze’s style. 

It is difficult to know if The Evening of Choreography by George 

Aleksidze will retain its place in the ballet company’s 

repertory, although I can be definite about the warmth the 

audience received it with, and the interest towards it. I do not 

know what today’s company will inherit from Aleksidze, 

although I know for sure what will stay with us, the ones 

who knew him as a teacher and a friend – it is his calls for 

artistic freedom, freedom in general, and love towards the 

work and life. 

“The essence of life is to become better, to become free 

from your utterly confused thoughts, passions, fear. You 

must never let others reign over your inner world, as 

everybody has their own life… You must not waste life… 

You must cherish your spiritual calmness. Everything is 

ephemeral, so do not worry about trivialities and most 

importantly, stay slightly above the earthly matters.” 

Arabesque 61

didi saxelebi 

The Great Names 

balerina, romelic baletis samyaroSi 

„Savi margalitis~ saxeliT aris cnobili. 

balanCinis muzaTagan erT-erTi, 

romlisTvisac man legendaruli baleti 

„brolis sasaxle~ Seqmna. 

qarTuli warmoSobis Tamara Tumanovas 

saintereso cxovrebiseuli istoria da 

ana pavlovas gulsabnevi, romelic 

Tumanovam nino ananiaSvils aCuqa. 

62 Arabesque 

THE BALLERINA, KNOWN AS THE BLACK 

PEARL IN THE WORLD OF BALLET. 

ONE OF THE BALANCHINE’S INSPIRATIONS, 

FOR WHOM THE LEGENDARY LE PALAIS DE 

CRISTAL WAS CREATED. 

HERE IS THE STORY OF TAMARA TOUMANOVA 

AND HER GEORGIAN ORIGIN, AND ANNA 

PAVLOVA’S NECKLACE, GIVEN AS GIFT BY 

TOUMANOVA TO NINA ANANIASHVILI. 

Tamara Tumanova. foto nino ananiaSvilis arqividan 

TAMARA TOUMANOVA. PHOTOGRAPH FROM NINA ANANIASHVILI’S ARCHIVES

aletis „Savi margaliti~ 

Tamara Tumanova 

THE BLACK PEARL OF BALLET 

Tamara Toumanova 



Tamar Tumanova saqarTveloSi arasdros yofila. sxva qveyanaSi daibada. uCveulo istoriaa: ruseTi 

areulobas moecva. evgenia TumaniSvili Soreul cimbirSi mididoda. meuRles unda Sexvedroda _ 

kavkasiis samxedro olqis eqims konstantine zaxarovs. swored matareblis vagonSi gaCnda Tamari... 

konstantine zaxarovs evgenia TumaniSvili Zmam, zaqaria TumaniSvilma, gaacno da maTi qorwinebis 

iniciatoric Tavad gaxldaT. `Cemi mSoblebi omma da revoluciam daaSora~ _ dawers mogvianebiT 

Tumanova. vladimer xazidoviC-borecki ki, romelic yvla publikaciaSi Tumanovas mamad aris moxseniebuli, 

rogorc Cans, evgenia TumaniSvilis meuRle iyo meore qorwinebidan. xazidoviC-boreckis 

Tamar TumaniSvilis aRzrdaze didi Rvawli qonia. magram misTvis mainc deda iyo yvelaferi. 

Tamara Toumanova had never been to Georgia. She was even born abroad, which was not an ordinary story – it happened in 

train, while Evgenia Tumanishvili was on her way to the Siberia to meet her spouse Konstantin Zakharov – the Doctor at the 

Caucasian Military District. Zakharov and Evgenia were acquainted via her brother Zakaria, also the initiator for their 

marriage. “My parents got separated by the war and the revolution”, wrote Toumanova later. Vladimar Khazidovich- 

Boretsky, cited as her father in all later publications, seems to be Evgenia Tumanishvili’s husband from the second marriage. 

He is regarded as having had significant influence on Tamar Tumanishvili’s opbringing, although mother was all for Tamara. 

Evgenia was never a dancer, although she loved ballet much – The Mariinsky Theatre, evenings of which she often 

attended, was then in awe of Preobrajenskaya. Inspired by her, she wished to enter her child into a ballet school. 

The family first arrived to Shanghai from Vladivostok, and then moved to Cairo, although Evgenia said once: “I want my 

daughter to be raised in Paris”, and that is what happened. One of the things that made Paris more appealing was that 

Preobrajenskaya was teaching there. It was difficult to accept Tamara at the age of five, while the Russian ballet schools 

received the children at seven. Still, she was accepted, and soon Toumanova was dancing in Anna Pavlova’s company. 

Preobrajenskaya changed her surname to Toumanova. In 1929, Diaghilev’s ballerinas – Tatiana Chamie and Natalya 

Branitskaya – invited the mother and the daughter to the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre, for the program of Nabokov’s Ode and 

Balanchine’s Apolo Musagete. During the intermission Tamara was introduced to Diaghilev, Balanchine and Lifar by 

Tchelitchew: “This is the girl I saw at the Paris Opera; her dance is magnificent.” Toumanova was 10 years old and this 

was her first meeting with Balanchine, who was trying to establish himself in Europe and to create a company. Not much 

time had passed since the meeting until Balanchine arrived at Preobrajenskaya’s studio to see Toumanova. Alongside 

Tamara, he selected Irina Baronova and Tatiana Riabouchinska – the pupils of Preobrajenskaya and Matilda Kshesinskaya. 

Arabesque 63

evgenia mocekvave ar yofila, magram baleti 

uyvarda _ marias TeatrSi, romlis speqtaklebs 

xSirad eswreboda, im dros preobraJenskaias 

aRmerTebdnen. misi siyvaruliT STagonebuls 

Svili baletze undoda mieyvana. 

vladivostokidan SanxaiSi Casuli deda-Svili 

SemdegSi kairoSi gadavida sacxovreblad. 

`Cemi Svili parizSi unda gaizardos~ _ Tqva 

erTxel evgeniam da ocneba aisrula. parizSi 

cxovreba gansakuTrebiT momxibvleli mas 

Semdeg gaxda, rac Seityves, rom preobraJenskaia 

aq balets aswavlida. Tamaras miReba 

gauWirdaT, xuTi wlis iyo. rusul baletSi 

swavlebas ki Svidi wlis asakidan iwyebdnen. 

mainc daitoves. male patara gogona ukve ana 

pavlovas dasSi cekvavda. preobraJenskaiam 

gvari Seucvala da Tumanovad monaTla. 1929 

wels diagilevis antreprizis balerinebma 

tatiana Samim da natalia branickaiam deda- 

Svili Tumanovebi sara bernhardtis TeatrSi 

miiwvies. programaSi nikoloz nabokovis òda~ 

da jorj balanCinis àpolon musageti~ iyo. 

antraqtze, scenis ukan, CeliSevma patara 

balerina Tumanova diagilevs, balanCins da 

lifars warudgina: èsaa is patara gogona, 

romelic parizis operaSi vnaxe. is gansacvif- 

64 Arabesque 

reblad cekvavs~. Tumanova 10 wlis iyo. es misi 

pirveli Sexvedra iyo balanCinTan, romelic am 

dros evropaSi cdilobda damkvidrebas, dass 

qmnida. am Sexvedris Semdeg didi dro ar gasula 

_ balanCini preobraJenskaias studiaSi 

Tumanovas sanaxavad mivida. masTan erTad 

preobraJenskaias da matilda kSeSinskaias 

moswavleebi _ irina baronova da tatiana 

riabuSkina SearCia. ase gaxda Tumanova 

balanCinis „Baby Ballerina”, gogona, romelsac 

balanCinma didi momavali uwinaswarmetyvela: 

`dubrovskaia varskvlavia, Tumca meore 

varskvlavi Tqveni qaliSvili iqneba~ _ 

uTqvams balanCins evgeniasTvis. 

Tumanovam didi sabaleto kariera 13 wlis asakSi 

daiwyo. balanCini misTvis gansakuTrebuli 

adamiani iyo. man sakuTar Tavze aiRo patara 

gogonaze zrunva. ramdenime baletic daudga _ 

„Cotillon” (1932), `mocartiana~ (pirveli versia 

1933). male isini erTmaneTs daSordnen. 

balanCini amerikaSi gaemgzavra, Tumanova ki 

kvlav evropaSi agrZelebda gamosvlebs. is, 

rom balanCini mis cxovrebaSi SemTxveviTi 

pirovneba ar iyo, Tumanovam yovelTvis icoda. 

dRiurSic Cauweria _ „TamariCka, frTxilad 

iyavi!... is yvela qalisTvis saurveli jentlmenia~. 

aleqsei fadeeCevi, iuri grigoroviCi, Tamara Tumanova, nino ananiaSvili. amerika. 1987 

ALEXEI FADEECHEV, YURI GRIGOROVICH, TAMARA TOUMANOVA, NINA ANANIASHVILI. USA 1987

This is how Toumanova became the ‘Baby Ballerina’ of 

Balanchine, and the girl destined for greatness by him. 

“Doubrovska is a star, although your daughter will be the next 

one.”, Evgenia was told by him. 

Toumanova’s big ballet career started at the age of 13. Balanchine 

was a special person for her, and he cared for the little girl. He 

staged several ballets for her – Cotillon (1932), Mozartiana (the 

first version dated 1933). Soon they were apart, as Balanchine 

traveled to America and Tamara carried on performing in 

Europe. He was not an ordinary person in her life, and 

Toumanova knew it. She even wrote in her diary – “Look out, 

Tamarichka! He is the most wanted gentleman for every lady.” 

Later she also moved to the United States and starred in a 

Broadway musicle Star in Front of Us. The movie career proved 

successful for her, starring in Days of Glory by Casey Robinson 

in 1944 and partnering Gregory Peck. Relationship with 

Robinson became bigger than the work, and they married in 

the Russian-Greek Orthodox Church of St. Mary in 

California. Later she recalled seeing Balanchine, when he 

approached her and said: “How could I have missed the 

marriage of my own daughter?” 

Balanchine was never indifferent to her. In 1946 he proposed 

that they moved Paris Opera, and one day she was called to a 

rehearsal, where Balanchine met her with a smile and told her 

about the big plan of staging Le Palais de Cristal on Symphony in 

C (the title the ballet itself received later) by Bizet. This is how 

Toumanova became the performer of the second part of the 

production – the adagio. She performed it with Roger Ritz. 

The premiere was triumphant, and when she moved down to 

the audience while on partner’s knee, the audience met it with 

amazement. She was accompanied by her beloved ‘Mamushka’ 

at every performance, the person Tamara credited for her 

successful career. Balanchine introduced Evgenia Tumanishvili 

to Karin von Aroldingen in Los Angeles, during the New York 

City Ballet tour: “This is Toumanova’s mother. When Tamara 

was in Paris Opera, Evgenia softened her pointes so that she 

would not feel pain.” 

In 1989, the family of painter Gia Pkhakadze in Tbilisi received the 

phone call from Tamara Toumanova, with sad news of her mother 

passing away. Gia Pkhakadze is the grandson of Toumanova’s 

uncle Zakaria Tumanishvili. She wanted her mother to be buried 

in Tbilisi after she would pass away herself, as the mother’s grave 

was the greatest of treasuries for her. Evgenia Tumanishvili’s 

epitaph, in the United States, reads: “The Princess Evgenia 

Tumanishvili” – she was the descedant of the noble Tumanishvilis 

family, who descended from the Mdivan-Begi of King Erekle. 

Gia Pkhakadze recalls that his grand father Zakaria 

Tumanishvili tried to meet his sister and her daughter before 

his passing away, and even met Yekaterina Furtseva, the 

Minister of Culture of USSR for this matter. Plans for 

Toumanova’s tour to Moscow were almost done, although the 

conditions from the American side demanded the traveling of 

their own orchestra, which ended the possibility of the 

successful outcome. And so ended his hopes to see his sister 

Tamara Tumanova da nino ananiaSvili. aSS. 1987 

TAMARA TOUMANOVA AND NINA ANANIASHVILI. USA 1987 

and Tamara. Zakaria Tumanishvili maintained correspondence 

with Evgenia during the period of him being in political 

repression, especially after the war, when he was partly 

rehabilitated. 

Vladimer Ukhtomsky, the partner to Toumanova, visited 

Tbilisi in the 70ies, asked for her relatives in the Opera Theatre 

and even visited Zakaria Tumanishvili’s house, although the 

latter was ill at the time, passing away soon after. 

The unique photograph at the beginning of the article was 

brought to Tbilisi to Nina Ananiashvili by Alexander Vasiliev, 

the well-known fashion historian and designer. The photo 

depicts Tamara Toumanova in the Georgian dress. An 

interesting story about Toumanova is told by Ananiashvili 

herself. She was told about Toumanova by Tamara Finch, the 

interpreter for the Bolshoi Theatre company and the former 

Diaghilev ballerina, during the tour of the company to the 

Covent Garden. Finch promised her to send the Georgian 

ballerina’s regards to Toumanova, and Ananiashvili recalls the 

emotion of hearing from Yuri Grigorovich that Tamara 

Toumanova was visiting the Bolshoi company during their tour 

of the United States to see her. “I was shocked, did not even 

know what to say to her... she came in, congratulated me on 

successful performances, handed over a small box, and said: 

“This necklace belonged to Anna Pavlova. She gifted it to me, 

wnd now I would like you to wear it, to have it as a present from 

me.” I can not relay the feelings of that moment. I was 

astonished, freezed. I often called her after the meeting, and 

wanted to dedicate a concert to her, although she was already ill 

and could not leave home due to the medical procedures.” 

Tamara Toumanova, the Black Pearl of the Ballet world, 

passed away on May 29, 1996 in Santa Monica. She is buried 

at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, alongside her mother. 

Arabesque 65

mogvianebiT Tumanovac amerikaSi gadavida da 

1939 wels brodveis miuziklSi _ „varskvlavi 

Cvens Tvalwin~ miiRo monawileoba. kinokariera 

misTvis triumfalurad grZeldeboda. 1944 

wels keisi robinsonma Tumanova Tavis filmSi 

_ „didebis dReebi~ gadaiRo, sadac partniorobas 

gregori peks uwevda. robinsonTan 

urTierToba gadasaReb moedans gacda. jvari 

kaliforniaSi, RmrTismSoblis rusul-berZnul 

marTlmadideblur eklesiaSi daiweres. 

mogvianebiT Tumanova ixsendebda Tu rogor 

dainaxa eklesiaSi balanCini. „rogor SemeZlo 

sakuTari qaliSvilis qorwineba gamometovebina?~ 

_ uTxra balanCinma da miuloca. 

balanCini mis mimarT gulgrili arasdros 

yofila. 1946 wels jorjma masTan erTad 

parizis operaSi gadasvlac SesTavaza. erTxelac 

balanCinTan repeticiaze is operis 

reJisorma gamoiZaxa. dagvianebul Tumanovas 

sarepeticio darbazSi balanCini RimiliT 

Sexvda. swored misgan Seityo balerinam, misi 

xmauriani gegmebis Sesaxeb _ balanCini iwyebda 

„brolis sasaxlis~ (Le Palais de Cristal) dadgmas 

bizes „Symphony in C”-ze (mogvianebiT ase 

daerqva kidec am balets). ase gaxda Tumanova 

baletis meore nawilis _ adaJios Semsrulebeli, 

romelsac rojer ritcTan erTad 

cekvavda. premieram triumfiT Caiara. roca 

balerina mayureblisken daixara, darbazSi 

aRtacebis SeZaxilebi gaisma. rogor yvela 

warmatebuli gamosvlis dros, im dResac 

Tumanovas Tan misi ganuyreli „mamuSka~ axlda. 

swored dedas umadloda Tamara warmatebul 

karieras. erTxel, los anJelesSi, „niu-iork 

siTi bales~ gastrolisas, balanCinma evgenia 

TumaniSvili karin fon aroldingens warudgina: 

„es Tumanovas dedaa. rodesac Tamara 

parizis operaSi cekvavda, deda mis puantebs 

arbilebda, raTa Tamaras tkivili ar egrZno~. 

1989 wels TbilisSi, mxatvar gia fxakaZis ojaxSi, 

amerikidan Tamara Tumanovam samwuxaro cnobiT 

dareka. dedis gardacvalebis Sesaxeb auwya axloblebs. 

gia fxakaZe Tumanovas biZis _ zaqaria 

TumaniSvilis SvilTaSvilia. Tumanovas surda 

misi gardacvalebis Semdeg dedis neSTi saqarTveloSi 

gadmoesvenebinaT, radgan sakuTar 

sicocxleSi dedis saflavze ufro Zvirfasi 

araferi gaaCnda. amerikaSi dakrZalul evgenia 

TumaniSvilis saflavs amerikaSi aseTi warwera 

aqvs _ „princesa evgenia TumaniSvili~ _ igi 

erekle mefis mdivan-begis STamomavalTa, 

xelTubneli Tavadi TumaniSvilebis gvaris 

warmomadgeneli gaxldaT. 

66 Arabesque 

gia fxakaZe igonebs, rom misi didi papa zaqaria 

dimitris Ze TumaniSvili gardacvalebamde 

cdilobda das da disSvils Sexvedroda. am 

mizniT igi ssrk kulturis ministrs cnobil 

ekaterine furcevasac ki Sexvda. TiTqos yvelaferi 

gadawyda, Tamara Tumanova moskovSi 

gastrolze unda Camosuliyo, magram amerikuli 

mxare sakuTari orkestris Camoyvanas iTxovda, 

ramac gastroli CaSala. erTaderTi saSualeba 

da imedi _ axlos enaxa da da disSvili sabolood 

daikarga. represirebul zaqaria TumaniSvils 

dasTan mimowera sicocxlis bolomde hqonda. 

gansakuTrebiT, omis Semdgom periodSi, roca 

zaqaria ukve nawilobriv reabilitirebuli iyo. 

70-ian wlebSi Tbiliss Tamar Tumanovas 

partniori vladimer uxtomski ewvia. man 

operis TeatrSi Tumanovas axloblebi 

moikiTxa da zaqaria TumaniSvils saxlSic 

ewvia, Tumca igi ukve mZimed iyo avad da male 

gardaicvala kidec. 

werilis daswyisSi dabeWdili unikaluri 

foto modis cnobilma istorikosma da 

dizainerma aleqsei vasilievma saCuqrad nino 

ananiaSvils TbilisSi Camoutana. fotoze 

Tumanova qarTul samosSia. 

saintereso istorias gviambobs nino ananiaSvili 

_ didi Teatris „kovent gardenSi~ 

gastrolisas Tumanovas Sesaxeb mas dasis 

Tarjimanma, diagilevis antreprizis yofilma 

balerinam Tamara finCma mouyva da Sehpirda, 

rom misgan mokiTxvasac gadascemda. ananiaSvili 

dResac ixsenebs im emocias, romelic 

1987 wels didi Teatris amerikaSi gastrolis 

dros ganicada. iuri grigoroviCisgan Seityo, 

rom mis sanaxavad Tavad Tamar Tumanova 

mosuliyo _ `SokSi Cavvardi _ igonebs ananiaSvili 

_ arc ki vicodi ra unda meTqva misTvis... 

movida, momiloca warmatebuli gamosvlebi da 

patara kolofi gamomiwoda _ es gulsabnevi ana 

pavlovas ekuTvnoda _ miTxra man _ me maCuqa, 

axla ki minda, rom is Sen ataro, Cemgan saxsovrad 

gqondes~. ver gadmogcemT ra grZnoba 

dameufla. erTianad gavSri, mTeli sxeuli 

gameyina. am Sexvedris Semdeg yovelTvis vurekavdi. 

mindoda misTvis koncertic mimeZRvna, 

magram ukve iyo avad, mZime procedurebis gamo 

saxlidan gasvlas ver axerxebda~. 

Tamar Tumanova, msoflio baletis „Savi 

margaliti~, 1996 wlis 29 maiss gardaicvala 

santa-monikaSi da “Hollywood Forever Cemetery”-is 

sasaflaoze dedasTan erTadaa dakrZaluli.

30 marts, S. rusTavelis saxelobis 

saxelmwifo dramatul TeatrSi warmodgenil 

iqna l. minkusis baleti „don kixoti~. mTavari 

partiebi lali kandelakma (Celita) da vasil 

axmetelma (bazili) Seasrules. am speqtaklSi 

quCis mocekvavis partia pirvelad icekva nino 

maxaSvilma, boleroSi ki pirvelad mouxda 

gamosvla ana gorgiaSvils. mas partniorobas 

daviT ananeli uwevda. 

On March 30, at the Shota Rustaveli State Drama Theatre, Don 

Quixote by L. Minkus was presented. The leading parts were 

danced by Lali Kandelaki (Chelita) and Vasil Akhmeteli (Basilio). 

The performance saw the first appearance of Nino Makhashvili 

as the Street Dancer, while Anna Gorgiashvili danced in Bolero 

for the first time, partnered by David Ananeli. 

quCis mocekvave _ nino maxaSvili. `don kixoti~ 

THE STREET DANCER – NINO MAKHASHVILI. DON QUIXOTE 

bolero. ana 

gorgiaSvili, 

daviT ananiaSvili. 

„don kixoti“ 

BOLERO. ANNA 

GORGIASHVILI, 

DAVID ANANIASHVILI. 

DON QUIXOTE 

dasi 

The Company 

Jilber alberisa da nino ananiaSvilis saerTaSoriso sabaleto 

premia „varskvlavis~ gadacemisadmi miZRvnil gala-koncertze, 

29 aprils, rusTavelis TeatrSi pirvelad icekves: 

l. delibis „silvia~ (pa de de f.eStonis qoreografia) oTar 

xelaSvilma, ana muradelTan erTad. l. goStalkis „tarantela” 

(jorj balanCinis qoreografia) pirvelad Seasrules nino 

maTiaSvilma da iasaui mergalievma. J. masnes „taisi~ pirvelad 

icekves nino ananiaSvilma da vasil axmetelma. 

On the gala concert marking the awarding ceremony of the Nina Ananiashvili 

and Gilbert Albert International Prize “Star”, on April 29 at the Shota Rustaveli 

Theatre, the following dancers have had their debuts in respective productions: 

Sylvia by L. Delibes (choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton) – Otar Khelashvili, with Anna 

Muradeli. Tarantella by L. Gottschalk (choreography by George Balanchine) – Nino Matiashvili 

and Yassaui Mergaliev. Thais by J. Massenet – Nina Ananiashvili and Vasil Akhmeteli 

7 ivniss 158-e Teatraluri sezonis daxurvisadmi miZRvnil 

gala koncertze i.Strausis „gazafxulis xmebi” pirvelad 

Seasrules lali kandelakma da vasil axmetelma. 

sabaleto dasis solisti rodni jorj qaTbersToni axali 

sezonidan dasSi muSaobas aRar agrZelebs. mocekvavis am 

gadawyvetilebis Sesaxeb, sezonis bolos gamarTul wveulebaze, 

dasis msaxiobebs nino ananiaSvilma acnoba. man rodnis madloba 

gadauxada sabaleto dasSi saqmianobisaTvis da warmatebebi 

usurva momaval saqmianobaSi. 

On June 7, in the gala concert dedicated to the closing of the 158th theatrical season, 

Lali Kandelaki and Vasil Akhmeteli had their debuts in Voices of Spring by J. Strauss. 

The Company Soloist Rodney Cuthbertson will not be carrying on as the Company 

dancer, starting from the new season. The decision by the dancer was announced to the 

Company members by Nina Ananiashvili on the season-closing event. She thanked 

Rodney for taking his part in the Company performances and wished him the best for 

the future. 

Arabesque 67


NEWS 

68 

Arabesque 

axali sezoni gaixsna 

17 seqtembers axali sabaleto sezoni axal garemoSi gaxsna sabaleto dasma. sezonis gaxsnisadmi 

miZRvnil gala-koncerts `Tbilisi art holma~ umaspinZla. sabaleto dasis gamosvliT gaixsna 

es axali kulturuli dawesebulebaa. mayurebels mimarTes nino ananiaSvilma da `Tbilisi art holis~ 

warmomadgenelma nino wilosanma. 

sabaleto sezonTan erTad muSaoba ganaaxla qarTuli baletis megobarTa sazogadoebam. `Tbilisi 

art holis~ foieSi gaimarTa sazogadoebis pirveli Sekreba. sazogadoebis Tavmjdomarem 

elvira sandalma sabaleto dass warmatebuli sezoni usurva da sazogadoebis samomavlo 

gegmebze isaubra. 

The New Season Has Opened 

On September 17 the Ballet Company opened its new season in a new environment. The gala concert dedicated to the 

event was hosted by the Tbilisi Art Hall, and the gala was the opening event for this new cultural spot as well. The 

audience was addressed by Nina Ananiashvili and Nino Tsilosani, the representative of the Tbilisi Art Hall. 

Along with the new ballet season, the Friends of the Georgian Ballet have also renewed their work. The organization 

had its first gathering of the season at the foyer of the Art Hall. The chairman Elvira Pietraroia Sandalli wished the 

Ballet Company a successful season and spoke about the future plans for the organization. 

qarTuli baletis megobarTa sazogadoebam daasaxela axali sezonis stipendiantebi _ 

v. Wabukianis saxelobis sabaleto xelovnebis saxelmwifo saswavleblis moswavleebi: 

Friends of the Georgian Ballet also named the scholarships of the new season – 

the following pupils of the V. Chabukiani State School of Ballet Art: 

elene alafiSvili per da ula eklundebis saxelobis stipendia 

Elene Alaphishvili Scholarship in the name of Per and Ulla Eklund 

nikoloz papaSvili sara viliamsonis saxelobis stipendia 

Nikoloz Papashvili Scholarship in the name of Sarah Williamson 

giorgi baduraSvili mariela teftis saxelobis stipendia 

Giorgi Badurashvili Scholarship in the name of Mariella Tefft 

svetlana miminoSvili lia maWavarianis saxelobis stipendia 

Svetlana Miminoshvili Scholarship in the name of Lia Matchavariani 

anna-maria oniani lia gogolaSvilis saxelobis stipendia 

Anna-Maria Oniani Scholarship in the name of Lia Gogolashvili 

mariam gurgeniZe maiumi inos saxelobis stipendia 

Mariam Gurgenidze Scholarship in the name of Mayumi Iino 

TinaTin xaindrava merilis sevilia-gonzagas saxelobis stipendia 

Tinatin Khaindrava Scholarship in the name of Marylis Sevilla-Gonzaga 

mariam xalvaSi izumi takahaSis saxelobis stipendia 

Mariam Khalvashi Scholarship in the name of Izumi Takahashi

baletis „Savi margaliti - Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre

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