A Look Back on an Exceptional Tbilisi Ballet Gala
Review
Last weekend saw the Ballet Gala performed at the Tbilisi State Opera. The public got to enjoy the performances of world-famous Maria Kochetkova, Sebastian Kloborg, Andrey Batalov and many local dancers from the Tbilisi Opera. GEORGIA TODAY had the chance to interview some of them and to attend the show.
The Gala in Three Acts was composed of classical ballet as well as neo-classic and contemporary pieces. The audience comprised many well-known personalities including ambassadors, and all enjoyed the fantastic three-hour show.
The concert opened with Act I, presenting Alexander Glazunov’s Raymonda, with leading soloists of the State Ballet of Georgia Ekaterine Surmava and Philip Fedulov performing the parts of Raymonda and Jean de Brienne.
Act II welcomed the performance of the international duo Maria Kochetkova from Russia and Sebastian Kloborg from Denmark, who presented a contemporary ballet. Their show was very moving, the scenery was simple, with a special play of lights participating in creating this touching note. The public was very enthusiastic and answered the final bow with thunderous applause.
We had the pleasure to talk to Maria Kochetkova and Sebastian Kloborg after Act II. They explained that they often dance together and were very happy to do so in Tbilisi. It was the first time that the Russian dancer had performed here, and she was eagerly-awaited by the public. We asked her what she thought of the choice of mixing contemporary dance with classical ballet: “I think it is nice to have a mix of every style, the last part is Balanchine which is neoclassical, so it is nice for the audience to see a variety of styles and different dances: they get a taste of everything.”
Sebastian explained that it was his fourth time in Tbilisi and he particularly appreciated being able to better enjoy the city this time round. “We’ve been here for four days now and have had time to see [and] enjoy the city, whereas usually you arrive, you do your show, you go home.”
We also spoke to Ruika Yokoyama, who made a wonderful performance in the second act’s Pas De Deux from the ballet Esmeralda and in the third, Symphony in C.
She looked back on her career, which began when she was very young, in Japan: “I started ballet when I was four years old. When I was fifteen, I left for Portugal to learn ballet and then I came here [to Tbilisi]. All my life I was only doing ballet, I did not even go to high school in Japan”. She told us how dancing a Symphony is rigorous and being supported by other dancers helped her a lot to get ready for the Gala. “The preparation was not too stressful […] when we dance together, people help me a lot, from behind, even from wings: dancers help each other and that’s amazing.” Yokoyama also had one of the main roles in the Laurencia Ballet a week prior, also in Tbilisi State Opera.
Finally, we had the chance to exchange some words with Nutsa Chekurashvili who performed in the second act’s Pas De Deux ballet from Le Corsaire and in the third act’s Symphony in C. She was very moved to have danced with international stars. “Sharing a stage with Kochetkova and Kloborg was so nice and so beautiful, I would never have imagined dancing with them, an I thank Nino [Ananiashvili] for this possibility.” She also noted how exceptional it was for her to dance with Andrey Batalov: “Yesterday and today were really meaningful for me because I was dancing with Andrey Batalov, he is a worldwide professional star, everybody knows him”. “I had only three days to work on this Pas de Deux and we met for the first time on stage during the general rehearsal […] I was really nervous because it was the first time I was dancing Le Corsaire, […] it is a very difficult variation […] I love ballet but it is very hard technically.”
The dancers told us they had one day off before going back to rehearsals for future performances, and we can only admire their inexhaustible motivation.
By Gabrielle Colchen
Photo: With Nutsa Chekurashvili