Not to Miss Tbilisi Ballet Festival - Famed Troupes, Int’l & Local Stars to Perform

The 3rd edition of the Tbilisi Ballet Festival officially opens on June 22 and closes with a grandiose gala concert on June 30. The festival will traditionally bring in-demand dancers, ballet companies and stars to the city’s primary Opera Theater to delight the local audience and theater goers alike. The festival was established in 2017 on the initiative of Artistic Director Prima Ballerina Nino Ananiashvili and ultimately has formed as a tradition celebrated annually. Like in previous years, apart from the Georgian State Company, this year the festival will host other international bright stars and world-renowned troupes as well. The festival also seeks to present productions from annual performance seasons of the State Ballet of Georgia.

The main part of the festival will be a guest performance from the K-Arts Dance Company (Korea). The Korean troupe will present both contemporary and classical ballet shows.

On June 22-23 the audience will see revived ballets The Two Pigeons by André Messager, and Holger Simon Paulli’s Le Conservatoire with August Bournonville’s choreography. The latter is staged by Frank Andersen and Eva Kloborg, who earlier came at the invitation of Nino Ananiashvili to train the Georgian dancers in the Bournonville dance style.

“Christopher Carr, a choreographer from the British Royal Theater, came on a special visit to Tbilisi to work on staging The Two Pigeons. It was very interesting to collaborate with him,” Georgian lead soloist Nutsa Chekurashvili told GEORGIA TODAY.

The K-Arts Dance Company from Korea will perform on June 25-26. This will be the troupe’s first visit to Georgia, bringing both contemporary and classical shows to the stage of the Tbilisi Opera. Their program is to feature: ‘What about Classical Movements?’ ‘Hallyangmu,’ ‘Between,’ ‘La Sylphide,’ ‘Pearl,’ ‘The White Road,’ ‘Bow,’ ‘Tchaikovsky Pas de deux,’ ‘Whispering and Calling,’ ‘Sabre Dance,’ ‘Gak-si,’ ‘Diana and Actaeon,’ ‘Sogo Chum,’ and ‘MOB.’

“The festival week encompasses performances of different epochs and masterpieces by great choreographers, such as Frederick Ashton, Bournonville, Marius Petipa,” Georgian soloist Nino Samadashvili told us. “The festival will be closed with a Gala Concert where we will perform Sagalobeli (chant) by Possokhov; this is our trademark dance, since it is staged to Georgian National music and we traditionally perform it every year.”

On June 27, the audience will see Adolphe Adam’s two-act Giselle with the participation of guest ballet stars. The title roles will be performed by soloists of Taras Shevchenko National Opera and the Ballet Theater of Ukraine, with choreography by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa.

“The concept of this festival is to present contemporary ballet along with traditional,” Ekaterine Surmava, young Georgian dancer and soloist of the State Ballet told GEORGIA TODAY. “It is a well-known fact that the Georgian audience is more attracted by classical ballet than modern, so one of the missions of the festival is to introduce a new product to the larger audience, not only through our performance but also through that of international troupes. The Korean company is one of the best-recognized ballet troupe in the world. The festival is important in many ways, as it gives the Georgian audience an opportunity to see extraordinary performances by international stars as well as helps to position Georgia on the world map,” the dancer added.

On June 28, the beloved two-act Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky will be presented, showcasing Nino Samadashvili (Odette/Odile) and Ruslan Skvortsov (Prince Siegfried), principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet in the title roles.

On June 30, the festival will close with an impressive concert involving the State Ballet Company and invited stars: Victoria Jaiani, Temur Suluashvili (Joffrey Ballet, Chicago, USA), Francesco Piccinin (Estonian National Ballet), Martina Arduino, Marco Agostino (La Scala Theatre, Milan, Italy), Ruslan Skvortsov, Anastasiia Goriacheva, Ana Turazashvili (The Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Russia).

All the performances will be accompanied by the Orchestra of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theater.

Tickets are available online www.tkt.ge/Show/6883/tbilisis-baletis-festivali

By Liko Chigladze