NINAANANIASHVILI

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Nina Ananiashvili became a champion ice skater at the age of ten, before entering the State Choreographic School of Georgia. She continued her training at the Bolshoi Choreographic School under the famous teacher Natalia Zolotova. “Today she is the classical ballet’s undeniable superstar” - wrote New York’s foremost ballet critic Clive Barnes, while the Clement Crisp of the Financial Times raves ““In an age when the word, let alone theidea of a ballerina, is so debased, Nina Ananiashvili reasserts its meaning.”

The number of top international ballet awards made to Nina Ananiashvili is unprecedented:

- Gold Medal, 10th Varna (Bulgaria) competition, 1980 (junior group);

- Grand Prix, 4th Moscow competition, 1981 (junior group);

- Gold Medal, 5th Moscow competition, 1985 (senior group);

- Grand Prix, 3rd Jackson (USA) competition, 1986 (senior group).

In 1981 Ms. Ananiashvili joined the Bolshoi Theatre as a ballerina and is now their prima ballerina. Throughout this time she has been coached by the legendary Russian dancers, Raissa Struchkova and Marina Semyonova, for the roles of Swanilda in Coppelia; Odette/Odile in Swan Lake (which she performed for the first time - to a 30 minute standing ovation - with the Bolshoi Ballet in Hamburg at the age of seventeen); Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty; title roles inGiselle, Romeo and Juliet (original production of L. Lavrovsky and Y. Grigorovich version), Raymonda; Kitri in Don Quixote; Medora in Le Corsaire; Clara in The Nutcracker (Y. Grigorovich version); Nikia in La Bayadere; Eleonore in Kermesse in Bruges of A. Bournonville; Rita in The Golden Age; leading roles in Les Sylphides, Paquita, Pas de Quatre, Le Spectre de la Rose, etc. The title role in the Bolshoi Theatre’s production of the opera-ballet Mlada by N. Rimsky-Korsakovwas created for her.

The superb technique, virtuosity, exquisite and refined style, flowing movements and dramatic talent of Ms. Ananiashvili quickly turned her into today’s most sought after guest artist.

Her unique place in the ballet world has provided her with the opportunity to enlarge her theatrical and artistic perceptions, by performing the masterpieces of Western choreography with almost all of the great companies of Europe and North America. In a historic engagement with the New York City Ballet (1988) Ms. Ananiashvili was the first guest ballerina to appear in G. Balanchine’s Raymonda Variations, Symphony in C and Apollo - all rapturously received by audiences and the critics alike.
Ms. Ananiashvili has been a frequest guest with the Royal Ballet since 1990 and has performed the role of Princess Rose in MacMillan’s Prince of the Pagodas; Lise in Ashton’s La Fille Mal Garde; title roles in MacMillan’s Romeo andJuliet; Ashton’s Cinderella and Fokine’s Firebird ; and the Sugar Plum Fairy in Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker, among others.

Nina Ananiashvili became the first Russian ballerina to be invited by the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen to perform the title role in La Sylphide; Terezina in Napoli and Flower Festival in Genzanopas de deux as well as other ballets.

Ms. Ananiashvili had been a regular guest with the Mariinsky (formerly Kirov) Ballet, where she premiered the revival of the legendary production of L. Lavrovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, and performed title roles in Don Quixote, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty among others.

Since 1993 Nina Ananiashvili has been the principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre, performing at the Metropolitan Opera HouseSwan Lake, La Sylphide, Don Quixote; Natalia Makarova’s version ofLa Bayadere; MacMillan’s Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet and Manon;Ronald Hynd’s Merry Widow;Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella and The Snow Maiden (the title role was specially created for her); Medora in Le Corsaire, plus works of Balanchine, Tudor, Mark Morris etc.

“Nina Ananiashvili’s Odette/Odile allowed us to gauge the sweep and breadth of her sovereign, if not to say, monumental interpretation of the role. It is the purity and authenticity with which Ms. Ananiashvili epitomizes the great Russian school. She dances her Odette/Odile, which is such a colossal creation, in a direct line of succession from the great Russian ballerinas of the past”, - wrote the L. Kaplan after the New York performance.

Nina Ananiashvili has also guested with the Royal Swedish Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, National Ballet of Portugal, National Ballet of Finland, Bavarian National Ballet, Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo, Birmingham Royal Ballet,Boston Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, etc. Together with the artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet, Frank Andersen, she has created a touring group, consisting of the best dancers from Russia, France, Denmarkand USA, which has performed successfully in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen, Paris, Dallas, Tokyo, Osaka and other cities of
Japan.
In 1996 - 2002 Nina Ananiashvili premieredat the Bolshoi Theatre V. Vasiliev’s production of Giselle; Alexei Ratmansky’s Charms of Mannerism and Dreams about Japan, Balanchine’s Mozartiana and Symphony in C; Alexei Fadeyechev ‘s Don Quixote; Pierre Lacotte’s Pharaoh’s Daughter; and Stanton Welch’s Green and Opus X.

Ms. Ananiashvili is the People’s Artist of Russia and Georgia.

She became the first ballerina to be awarded the National Prize of Russia “Triumph” for outstanding achievements in Fine Arts and the State Prize of Georgia for outstanding contribution to Georgian culture. In 2001 Nina Ananiashvili became the recipient of the highest Russian State Award “Order for the outstanding services to the Fatherland”.

In 2002 Nina Ananiashvili was named a Dance Magazine 2002 Awardee, receiving the most prestigious annual prize of the USA.

What the critics say:

"...So for heaven’s sake hold on to your regular guest artist, Nina Ananiashvili; her crystal clear technique is joined to a wonderful musical quality. No, Ananiashvili is not "like" Margot Fonteyn, but she brings her own equivalent of the wholeness, the harmony and the radiance which Fonteyn used to have. She certainly does not neglect the character: pathos, fun and romance all shine in her dancing."

John Percival, The Times, December 29, 1992 on Cinderella

"...Ananiashvili’s Kitri is surely peerless. It is a gigantic role, not only brimful of virtuoso dancing but also, as she plays it, a character of delicious, ever changing moods. Serious or merry, loving or teasing, she has us at her pretty feet throughout, gasping with sheer delight at the audacity of some of the technical feats thrown off without a trace of fear or exhibitionism. In my many years of balletgoing, I do not think I’ve seen any dancing which could surpass this." –

Mary Clarke, Dancing Times, September, 1999 on Don Quixote

"Ms. Ananiashvili has deepened her acting and dancing since she first performed Giselle in New York with the Bolshoi Ballet a decade ago. The better the dancing, the better any Giselle is as a whole, and Ms. Ananiashvili’s magnificent performance stood out for its power of technique as well as for its detailed mime."

Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times, May 26, 1998 on Giselle

"For the first two performances Mlada was played by the great ballerina Nina Ananiashvili, and her limpid and exquisite dancing both as Mlada and as Cleopatra (in the same musical episode famously used in Fokine's ballet Cleopatre) was sensational in every sense." –

Clive Barnes, New York Post, July 1, 1991on Mlada

"The Royal Ballet now does have facilities for display and we saw some good dancing this time in the big duet at the end: especially from Collier and Mukhamedov (a beautiful stylish pairing), Bussell and Cassidy, and above all Ananiashviliand Fadeyechev- she crisp and bright and poised,"he beautifully soft and buoyant... " John Percival, Dance and Dancers, February 1, 1991 on Prince of the Pagodas.

"At the heart of the piece, and its justification, the ballerina as Raymonda. In an age when the word, let alone theidea of a ballerina, is so debased, Nina Ananiashvili reasserts its meaning. Here is a dancer in the high summer of her art, superbly schooled, endowed with those rare gifts of lovely physique and commanding temperament that a true ballerina must have, mature in understanding, knowing exactly how choreography must be displayed rather than simply danced. So Ananiashvili takes Raymonda's treasury of solos and duets, and wears them like the Faberge jewels that they are."

Clement Crisp, Financial Times, July 21, 1999

"Raymonda cries out for technical excellence, and this it happily gets from an outstanding opening night cast. Nina Ananiashvili... is a porcelain beauty radiant with Russian classicism and possessed of the most unaffected national pride in her dancing. Some of Raymonda's variations are incredibly pretty and Ananiashvili is so inherently dainty, her steps picked out with exquisite poise and her phrasing decorated with sweetness."

Debra Craine, The Times, July 21, 1999 on Raymonda

“For Miss Ananiashvili was indeed more bold than delicate. She virtuallyflew about the stage with her astonishing leaps. There was an extraordinary lightness to these space-devouring jetes, which contrasted with her exceptional skimming steps on toe. If her arms were more free-form than in the Bournonville style, she could also clap her hands delightfully when the choreography required."

Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times, May 30, 1994 on La Sylphide

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