State Ballet of Georgia rehearsing for Georgian premiere of Yuri Possokhov's 'Medea'

State Ballet of Georgia dancers are in rehearsals for the Georgian premiere of Medea, a one-act ballet by Yuri Possokhov to be presented in a bill with two other works by the choreographer in Tbilisi next month.

Staged by Possokhov - who previously worked on his Sagalobeli and Reflections in the Tbilisi-based troupe - in 2002 for San Francisco Ballet, the production was seen as his tribute to the American company's principal dancer Joanna Berman.

Originally titled Damned, the work based on a play by Euripides was in performance at the company and presented by them in their tour to New York. The ballet was restaged for the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre in Russia in 2009 under the current title.

At the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre - the home venue of the State Ballet of Georgia - Medea will premiere with changes to the original form and will involve conductor Papuna Ghvaberidze and pianist Vakhtang Jordania for the two-day bill. The venue's orchestra will also feature in the production.

'Medea' was originally staged by Yuri Possokhov as 'Damned' at San Francisco Ballet in 2002. Photo: Liz Hafalia.

Dancers of the company will be seen in costumes by designer Tatiana Vyushinskaya - with contributions by associate costume designer Eva Ott - and lighting by Ivan Vinogradov.

The Tbilisi bill will also involve what the company has called a "surprise" for its viewers - a pas de deux from Possokhov's Nureyev, the "most hotly anticipated and controversial Russian ballet in years" (The Guardian). The work premiered in Moscow in 2017, with its director Kirill Serebrennikov absent from the event due to an internationally debated house arrest in the capital.

The work paid tribute to the artistic life of Rudolf Nureyev, widely recognised as the greatest male dancer in ballet history, with the pas de deux fragment set to be performed in the Georgian capital by Maria Alexandrova and Vladislav Lantratov, two of the most recognised dancers from Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre.

Bolshoi Theatre stars Maria Alexandrova and Vladislav Lantratov in 'Nureyev' during the Russian Ballet Icons Gala in London in 2018. Photo: Marc Haegeman​​​​​​​.

Finally, the Medea premiere and the Nureyev tribute will combined in next month's bill with Sagalobeli and Reflections, two one-act pieces Possokhov staged for the Georgian troupe in 2008 and 2012 respectively.

The choreographer graduated from Moscow's Choreographic Ballet Academy and joined the Bolshoi as dancer, performing leading roles in a range of productions over the next decade. He combined his dancing with studies of choreography at the State College of Theatrical Arts, later embarking on a career in staging.

For his work in choreography Possokhov is a recipient of the Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Magrittomania, a ballet he staged for San Francisco Ballet’s Discovery Programme in 2000. His other works include Don Quixote for Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet in 2011 and A Hero of Our Time for the Bolshoi Theatre in 2015.