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State Ballet of GeorgiaAugust 2008 Edinburgh, Playhouse by Bruce Marriott |
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Nina Ananiashvili acts like no other I've seen. I think if she was talking about herself she would talk about acting with a 'Big Heart'. If you've never seen acting with a big heart then take it from me it's much more than you would ever expect. To see Nina do a dramatic role like Giselle is to see the emotion painted at billboard height and not to have the vaguest doubt as to what is going on in the ballet and what she is feeling. That's the 'Big' bit. In other hands it could very easily fall into cliched melodrama but that's where the 'Heart' of Nina comes in - there is utter sincerity in her emotions: she is not acting, but the spirit of the character has taken her over and you are seeing total reality. To describe her just as a wonderful actress is way too cheap for what is going on and the power she conveys. I'm obviously smitten by Ananiashvili the actress but she couples the bold naturalness of her acting with a wonderfully precise technique and a jump to die for. She is one of the world's great ballerinas and does all a great ballerina should... and a little bit more. The State Ballet of Georgia's Giselle is old in style, even if only created (by Alexei Fadeyechev) since she took over the company four years ago. The costumes look from a time when USSR ballet design used very odd colours and fabrics and the sets look rather flimsy/amateur. The staging is pretty traditional, although I found it odd that the hut where Albrecht left his sword and fine clothes seems to be supervised by an old babushka who presumably requires payment for provision of secret storage services. Very odd.
The company also brought a mixed bill and thus more opportunity to see their wider strengths. Sadly the hostilities between Russia and Georgia were in full spate and that forced some last-minute changes in musicians. It's to the company's great credit that you would never have known this judged purely on the show. The evening started with two Balanchine works, the relatively rarely seen Chaconne and Duo Concertant. As danced by Nino Gogua and Lasha Khozashvili, Duo Concertant looked very strong indeed. She is long, lean and beautifully controlled and he tall and a princely fine partner - both seemed entirely at home with the playful yet stern violin and piano of Stravinsky. Dancers at this level would find a home in any company. Chaconne, for the wider company, and to Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice, has a stately charm from another age. The senior dancers looked well-coached but elsewhere it felt ragged and the non-original, locally-designed costumes looked very wayward (one was memorably described by Renee Renouf as an 'ornamental cabbage'. Balanchine was a Georgian, so it's wonderful that his countrymen are now performing his works and commissioning new pieces for themselves, which is where the final works of their visit came from. Alexei Ratmansky's Bizet Variations is a pas de six built around Nina. While there is no story, there is a happy/sad interplay between the dancers and their boss against the backdrop of pleasant partnering and flowing movement. It's not a major piece of Ratmansky but it left you feeling cheered, gave Nina a wonderful jump and the final tableau, Nina atop them all, made us smile and summed up the company at the moment.
 Nina Ananiashvili in Bizet Variations © Lado Vachnadze Sagalobeli to Georgian folk songs, and very good it was too. The boys looked tall, in charge, and proud and the girls full of shimmering allure, mixing ballet and more earthy movement. It's a terrific calling card for the company and left the audience very happy and not a little sorrowful at the thought of their country's current plight. So, an impressive first visit to the UK, I think. If Ananiashvili can achieve this in only four years goodness knows where they will be in four more years. They brought joy to us at a difficult time and we should toast them in return wherever we can. |
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