Nina Ananiashvili is a Georgian ballerina and artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia. She has been described by the Daily Telegraph as one of the twelve greatest ballerinas of all time, and in 2002 was named Best Ballerina of the Year by the US Dance Magazine. Ananiashvili has been a prominent fixture of the Soviet, Russian and Georgian ballet scene for decades. Shortly before the fall of the Iron Curtain, in 1987 a New York Magazine critic praised her as "the best thing about the Bolshoi's Giselle whether she appeared in the title role or as the queen of the wilis." In 2014, a film of her 1991 performance in Giselle with the Bolshoi ballet was released.
Georgian dance is the traditional dance of Georgia. It has its roots in the military moves, sports games, and dances celebrated during holidays in the Middle Ages.
Vakhtang Mikheilis dze Chabukiani was a Soviet ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher highly regarded in his native country as well as abroad. He is considered to be one of the most influential male ballet dancers in history, and is noted for creating the majority of the choreography of the male variations which comprise the classical ballet repertory. This includes such famous ballets as Le Corsaire and La Bayadère.
Henryk Hryniewski (1869–1937) was a Polish-Georgian painter, graphic artist, and illustrator. He was also known as a scholar and an educator of traditional Georgian architecture. He was arrested and put to death during Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge. Few of his original work survive.
The Georgian National Ballet was the first professional state dance company in Georgia. Founded by Iliko Sukhishvili and Nino Ramishvili in 1945, it was initially named as the Georgian State Dance Company. Thanks to this company the Georgian national dancing and music has become known in many parts of the world.
Simon (Soliko) Virsaladze was a Georgian and one of the Soviet Union's leading designers of ballet, film and opera. He also worked as collaborator with the founders of Georgian National Ballet company, Iliko Sukhishvili and Nino Ramishvili, in the creation of classic Georgian costumes.
Laurencia is a ballet made by Vakhtang Chabukiani to music by Alexander Krein, based on Lope de Vega's Fuenteovejuna. Created at a time when "choreodrama" was considered in the Soviet Union the only acceptable form of contemporary ballet, it harks back to a genuine drama, wherein movement was a vehicle for meaning, and dance could serve as divertissement as well as dramatic purpose. At the same time, the story of a peasant revolution was obviously the ideal subject for a Soviet ballet. Vakhtang Chabukiani was one of the first to create a new choreographic language by means of his own particular blend of folk dance and classical dance. He asserted once and for all the importance of male dance, furthering in particular the notion of "heroic" male dance.
Tamaz Vashakidze — ballet artist, premier dancer of the State Georgian Ballet, choreographer, Holder of Order of Honor of Georgia (2001), founder and awardee of “Chabukiani-Balanchine...” International Festival of Ballet Art, founder of “New Georgian Ballet” Theatre of Modern Dance, holder of Special Award of Balanchine's Family, founder of the Foundation “Chabukiani-Balanchine”.
The Chabukiani-Balanchine International Festival of Ballet Art — festival-contest, the first in history of the Georgian ballet, was founded by choreographer, People’s Artist of Georgia Tamaz Vashakidze in 2001.
Irma Nioradze, is a Georgian ballerina and Principal Dancer of the Kirov-Mariinsky Ballet.
The Tbilisi State Academy of Arts is one of the oldest universities in Georgia and Caucasus. It is located in Tbilisi city near the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre on Rustaveli avenue.
Nino Shalvovna Ramishvili was a Georgian ballet dancer, choreographer, and the co-founder of the Sukhishvili Georgian National Ballet. She is the most famous Georgian dancer.
Maia Makhateli is a Georgian ballet dancer. After terms with the Colorado Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet, she joined the Dutch National Ballet in 2006, where she now is a principal dancer.
Lali Kandelaki is a Georgian ballerina with the State Ballet of Georgia.
Gorda is two-act ballet by the Georgian composer David Toradze, first premiered in 1949 at the Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater. Originally performed by prominent Georgian ballet dancers Vakhtang Chabukiani and Vera Tsignadze, Gorda was revived in 2016 by Nina Ananiashvili.
Vladimir Djouloukhadze, or Juluhadze, or Djuluhadze,, born in 1952, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, USSR, is a Georgian ballet dancer, a former principal of the Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi, Ballet Master, teacher, and choreographer.
Elene Virsaladze, also known as E. B. Virsaladze was a prominent Georgian folklorist known for her extensive writing and fieldwork. Her work has been translated into Russian, French, German, and English.
Vera Varlamovna Tsignadze was a Georgian-Soviet ballet dancer, choreograph and pedagogue. Signadze was the partner of Vakhtang Chabukiani until 1970.
Marina Medvetskaya is a Georgian prima ballerina. She danced with the Tbilsi State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, in Tbilsi, Georgia. She was a student of the legendary ballet dancer Vakhtang Chabukiani. She is currently the artistic director of the St. Petersburg Classic Ballet Theatre
