Georgian troupe's men generate sparks onstage

The fabled choreographer George Balanchine, whose ethnic roots were in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, famously proclaimed that "ballet is woman."

But it is the men who dominate the Georgian State Dance Company. And Saturday night at the Auditorium Theatre -- where the spectacular company of 70 dancers and 10 musicians put on one of the most thrilling, technically astonishing spectacles to come this way in a long time -- those men literally generated sparks.

Whether whirling on their knees at jet speed, spinning like gyroscopes on the curled toes of their sleek, leather-tipped black boots, or soaring through the air while engaging in death-defying combat (the clash of their knives and shields sending little bolts of lightning into the air), the troupe's male dancers brilliantly captured the wild, highly competitive nature of their country's alpha types. [More]

Veteran’s ‘Giselle,’ Full of Spontaneity, and No Apologies

While glasnost was a buzzword, no ballerina exemplified it better than Nina Ananiashvili. When, after a long hiatus, the Bolshoi began again to tour Britain and America in 1986-7, she was its youngest star, marvelously fresh in the full-length “Raymonda” and “Giselle.” She soon began interleaving her Bolshoi career with engagements in the West. She has danced Balanchine with New York City Ballet, Ashton and MacMillan with the Royal Ballet of London, Bournonville with the Royal Danish Ballet, Petipa with the Kirov Ballet: That is, she, like no one else, has gone to all the main choreographic centers of ballet classicism to dance their home choreography, and she remains too a principal guest artist with American Ballet Theater. (She dances “Swan Lake” there on June 28.)

As that “-ashvili” end to her name suggests, this international star comes from Georgia, and her main focus today is as artistic director and prima ballerina of the State Ballet of the Republic of Georgia. That company is now touring America with a range of repertory ancient and modern. [More]