International ballet stars set for glittering gala at Black Sea Arena

Famed Georgian ballet dancer Irma Nioradze will be joined by acclaimed artists from major troupes around the world in a gala concert at Georgia’s modern Black Sea Arena venue on Black Sea coast next week.

Nioradze will be joined for the performance by dancers including Laurretta Summerscales of English National Ballet, Mikhail Lobukhin of the Bolshoi Ballet and Ekaterina Borchenko of the Mikhailovsky Theatre.

Dedicated to the legacy of the founder of Georgian professional dance Vakhtang Chabukiani, the glittering show will be held at the Shekvetili resort venue on August 9.

Wiener Staatsballet first soloist Maria Yakovleva will feature at Black Sea Arena for the gala:

During the evening of performances audiences will see 15 artists from companies in Russia and western Europe appear in segments from ballet productions.

The roster will also include Wiener Staatsoper first soloist Maria Yakovleva and soloist Jakob Feyferlik as well as English National Ballet principal Yonah Acosta.

Beside classical performers the stage of Black Sea Arena will also host folk dances by internationally recognised Georgian National Ballet Sukhishvilebi, who first appeared at the venue last month.

The August 9 gala concert is directed by Andris Liepa, with Nioradze working as artistic director for the event.

Yonah Acosta won English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer Competition in 2012. Photo: danceworks.net.

The event will mark the artistic and teaching legacy of Vakhtang Chabukiani, Georgian dancer and ballet master revered by dance enthusiasts in Soviet Georgia and Russia in the 20th century.

The Georgian artist’s rise to prominence was underlined by his casting in some of the most famous classical ballet productions in Russia including Swan Lake and Don Quixote.

Returning to Georgia in 1941, Chabukiani worked to lay the foundations of professional Georgian ballet. As a ballet master he combined classical ballet with Georgian folk dance to create a national ballet style.

Later into his career the celebrated dancer worked as ballet master and raised a generation of professional ballet dancers in Georgia.

Laurretta Summerscales will be another English National Ballet artist  featured in the roster. Photo: Laurent Liotard.

Among his most famous students are Georgia’s internationally celebrated ballet artists Nina Ananiashvili and Nioradze.

Born in Tbilisi in 1969, Nioradze graduated from the State Choreographic School of the capital before joining the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre.

She was a prize-winner of the 1990 International Ballet Competition in the United States, which saw some of the first appearances of dancers from the Soviet Union in the country.

Nioradze joined the Mariinsky Theatre ballet troupe in 1992 and toured around the world with the company while performing leading roles in major classical productions.

She is a recipient of Georgia’s state Order of Honour and the titles of Merited Artist of Russia and People's Artist of Russia.