Lali Kandelaki on Her Last Don Quixote & Brooklyn Mack on Dancing with Her

Exclusive Interview

On November 16, on the stage of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater, Prima Ballerina Lali Kandelaki gave her final Don Quixote performance. Complementing the thrilling dancing was excellent artistic and lively choreography (by Nina Ananiashvili and Alexey Fedeechev) and splendidly colorful costumes and sets providing a great sense of life and vitality. The theater orchestra provided a rousing rendition of the ballet score. “Overall, the production was extremely likeable and enjoyable and a crowd-pleasing, fitting tribute to the marvellous career of the endearing Lali Kandelaki which fully deserved the standing ovation it received at the end,” said spectator Andy Bukavs, Member of the Friends of the Georgian Ballet.

Lali Kandelaki is considered one of the most outstanding performers of the ‘Chelita Variation’ in Don Quixote, having danced the role several times, not only in Tbilisi but also in other theaters around the globe. Her performance on the stage of the Bunka Kaikan in Japan, where she was partnered by principal dancer of the American Ballet Theater, Ángel Corella, was especially remarkable.

At the November 16 performance, Kandelaki, leading soloist of the Ballet Company of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater, danced with Brooklyn Mack, a world-renowned international principal guest dancer.

The performance was received warmly by the Georgian audience and received positive feedback. Kandelaki’s final performance in Don Quixote, and her inimitable partnership with world-famous ballet star Brooklyn Mack, left the spectators excited and impressed. And the event proved especially emotional and important for Lali Kandelaki and her fans.

GEORGIA TODAY met the Georgian Prima Ballerina prior to her performance, to find out how she was feeling about her final Don Quixote performance, her partnership with renowned ballet dancer Brooklyn Mack and her future career plans.

“I can’t even remember how many times I’ve performed in Don Quixote. I’ve danced Chelita with successful partners on the stages of so many theaters around the world,” she told us. “It is a very emotional and exciting moment in my life, performing in Don Quixote for the last time. But while it’s a sad day for me, it is also a great honor and joy. I’ve had a very successful 30-year career and I’m happy with how I danced Chelita.”

According to the Georgian Prima Ballerina, the partnership with Brooklyn Mack was a matter of great importance and an honor.

“He is a world-famous ballet star and it is a great honor for me to have him visit Georgia to perform in Don Quixote. Brooklyn has done brilliantly helping me to perform my final ‘Chelita Variation’ and I’m very grateful and excited about it,” she said.

This was not the first partnership between the Georgian Prima Ballerina and Mack, as they danced together in January 2017, in Tbilisi, at Andris Liepa’s Gala Evening, performing a ‘Pas d'Esclave’ from Le Corsaire by A. Adam.

“He is a reliable and experienced partner and I always feel calm and confident while dancing with him: I trust Brooklyn and know that I can rely on him,” Lali noted.

Despite the fact that Lali Kandelaki gave her final Don Quixote performance on November 16, fortunately for fans, she will continue to perform and says her “career is not over yet,” though she noted that she is not going to continue her career abroad.

“I will continue dancing here in Georgia and will still participate in performances. I wanted my final Don Quixote performance to be very special and memorable, for my fans to remember me in this role. Of course, I will still perform in other plays, but Don Quixote is especially important for me. I wanted my final ‘Chelita Variation’ to be a success and did my very best to make it that way. I’ve been performing abroad for years and always felt proud to be a Georgian ballerina. I got a lot of offers to perform in the name of various countries, but I always refused. Today, I’m happy and proud that I contributed to raising awareness about my country internationally and that I successfully expressed what I wanted to say through my career,” she elaborated.

Kandelaki tells us she has a special love for the followers of her career. “The Georgian audience is quite critical,” she noted, but at the same time “is very fair.”

“When I compare the Georgian audience with the foreign, I see they can be quite critical, especially of successful dancers. However, they have a very warm heart and can be loving when you truly deserve it. I’m very thankful for their love and I love them back!” she said.

She recalled her first Don Quixote performance in the 1990s, a very difficult period in modern Georgian history.

“There was a [civil] war in the country, and we had to overcome many challenges. I want to thank everyone who worked at the Theater at the time, keeping it going. Sometimes, we had to perform in front of just five spectators, and it was awfully cold in the concert hall. It is impossible to express the hard working conditions of the time. It was very difficult to dance, but when you’re standing on stage, you forget about the problems. I did my best to please my audience in 1991, when I danced the ‘Chelita Variation’ for the first time. I was very nervous, as I was only 18 and it was a big responsibility for me to perform this part. But it was time for me to start performing the leading roles and I’m very thankful to all the directors who saw my talent and gave me the responsibility,” she told us.

GEORGIA TODAY heard from several attendees of Kandelaki’s final Don Quixote show, all of whom evaluated it with positivity and, in many cases, awe.

“Being a member of Friends of the Georgian Ballet, I am honored to have had the privilege of witnessing Lali Kandelaki’s achievements throughout the years,” said Andreas Heidingsfelder, Sheraton Grand Tbilisi Metechi Palace General Manager. “I can certainly say that her final performance in Don Quixote was extraordinarily remarkable, together with the talented Brooklyn Mack. As always, she demonstrated flawless technique paired with spectacular artistry. Who wasn’t at the Ballet missed a remarkable performance! Along with Nina Ananiashvili, I consider her to be a supreme ballerina of the Georgian Ballet and beyond. With immense pleasure, I wish her the greatest success with all of her future endeavors and really hope to see her back on stage again.”

“The final performance of Lali Kandelaki in Don Quixote provided a hugely entertaining and memorable evening,” said Andy Bukavs, Member of the Friends of the Georgian Ballet. “The immensely popular Tbilisi-born prima ballerina of the Georgian State Ballet Company danced the lead role of Chelita with sparkling vitality as well as wonderful grace and charm. She also managed to add a delightful warmth and likeability to the character with her easy smile. Opposite her, the American ballet star Brooklyn Mack provided a spectacular and highly energetic performance in the role of Basilio, his high leaps on occasion leaving the audience gasping. Both principal dancers clearly enjoyed performing together and exuded happiness and pleasure. They were also ably supported by an exciting and apparently effortless performance from the ‘corps de ballet’.”

GEORGIA TODAY also got the chance to talk to Brooklyn Mack prior to last Friday’s show. We asked him his impressions of Georgia and how it was to dance with Lali Kandelaki.

“This is my second visit to Georgia. The first was quite short- only two days. Despite that, I feel very positive about this country. People are quite warm here, and there’s great food and wine. My partnership with the Georgian ballet dancers has been awesome. The Georgian audience is very warm-hearted. When I dance, I always give the spectators my best and I can feel the positive energy coming back at me from them,” he said.

Of his partnership with Lali Kandelaki, the renowned ballet dancer said that it was a great pleasure for him to dance with Lali and to contribute to her successful final ‘Chelita’ performance.

“My partner is amazing. I’ve danced successfully with her before, and that time after only one rehearsal. She’s very passionate and responsive, and it’s always a pleasure when you feel your partner’s energy while dancing. I’m glad and honored to be here in Georgia and to help her with her last Don Quixote performance. We wanted this performance to be especially successful and I think we did it,” he said.

Brooklyn Mack has performed in Don Quixote many times. When asked about the reasons behind the show’s unchanging popularity, he noted that the youthful spirit and positive emotions it brings to the audience are what makes it so widely loved throughout the world.

“Don Quixote is such a fun ballet, not heavy,” he told us. “It’s light-hearted and brings a youthful spirit. It shows young people dancing and falling in love, so the performance itself is quite romantic and full of optimism. The world is full of sad and tragic things that can pull us down, but we all need love. So, such a special performance expressing carefree youth will always be popular and loved by the wider audience,” he said.

When asked about his future plans, Mack said that at this stage he has no current projects set for Georgia, but that he would definitely be back to visit.

“I would really love to visit Georgia again, as I really enjoy being here. My career has been taking me round the world performing as an international guest star, but from next year, I’ll be looking to settle down in my career and find a new base,” he said.

By Ana Dumbadze

Photo here and in print version by Teimuraz Puluzashvili.