Two Georgian dancers join prestigious Boston Ballet for 2016-17 season

Two Georgian dancers have been selected to join the Boston Ballet – one of the world’s leading ballet companies for its upcoming season and dance alongside some of the best ballet dancers in the world.

This week it was revealed Nina Matiashvili and Mamuka Kikalishvili were asked to join the prestigious ballet company and perform in the company’s upcoming season.

Now the two former dancers of the State Ballet of Georgia will move to the United States (US) and leave their current home in Hong Kong, where they have performed with the Hong Kong Ballet for the past two years.

Matiashvili and Kikalishvili were among 20 new dancers selected by the Boston Ballet for the 2016-2017 season.

The company's new roster was revealed by the Boston Globe website this week, while the company also shared the news with its Twitter followers:

We are kicking off the week w/ our 2016-2017 season roster announcement! Meet the Company >> https://t.co/Vi4L6uJNZFpic.twitter.com/F78UjHsKod

— Boston Ballet (@BostonBallet) 29 August 2016

Matiashvili and Kikalishvili will join compatriots Lasha Khozashvili and Ekaterine Chubinidze, who has performed as a principal dancer and a corps de ballet artist with the American ballet company since 2010.

With the newcomers, the Boston Ballet now fields 71 dancers of 18 nationalities who together are involved in a repertoire of classical, neo-classical and contemporary productions.

Tbilisi-born Matiashvili graduated from the Vakhtang Chabukiani State School of Ballet Art in the Georgian capital before joining the State Ballet of Georgia in 2007.

Watch a preview video for the Boston Ballet's 2016-17 season below:

Matiashvili was promoted to soloist of the State Ballet of Georgia in 2012 and performed leading roles in classical ballets including The Nutcracker and Don Quixote as well as contemporary works by choreographers Alexei Ratmansky and Jiri Kylian.

Kikalishvili, a native of Georgia's Black Sea port city Poti, is another graduate of the State School of Ballet Art in Tbilisi.

He danced at the State Ballet of Georgia before joining the Hungarian National Ballet in 2013 and the Hong Kong Ballet in 2014.

Kikalishvili has appeared in contemporary works by choreographers Jorma Elo, Alexei Ratmansky and Yuri Possokhov, as well as in new redactions of classical ballets The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

See the full cast of Boston Ballet dancers on the company’s website here.