LA VITA COME ARTE
THE SAGA OF THE
BALANCHIVADZE
David Bukhrikidze
O
Georg e BalanchineFrom archives of Tbilisi Z. Palishvili Opera and Ballet State Theater.
ne Georgian writer says that great men are lost without a monument; we’d like to add that so are the great people of art and Nicko Pirosmani could represent a good example of that. Nevertheless, in a century of total information, personal code and a vast number of web-sites, the number of those “lost without a monument” is significantly reduced. The existence of the ‘white spots’ in the past was determined by the fact that the epoch, pressed by the no information era, destined an artist for oblivion. But only for a while...
Among the three children of the composer Meliton Balanchivadze –Tamar, Giorgi and Andria, Giorgi or George Balanchivadze is the most remarkable. The famous choreographer moved to Europe from St Petersburg school of Choreography together with Diagilev’s troupe in the
In the twentieth century the family of Balanchiveadzes, blessed with artistic talent are a clear example of interchanging success, oblivion and glory. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Anton Balanchivadze, born in the village Banoja, the parson of the Church of Peter and Paul, could never have imagined that he would have started the great family, which gave a number of talented artists to his motherland and made his name famous.
Meliton’s younger son Andria is one of the most talented performers of contemporary Georgian music: He was the composer of the first Georgian ballet “The Heart of the Mountains”, which was staged in the 1930s. He taught a whole generation of Georgian composers and his works were very successful all across the Soviet Union.
Both of Anton’s sons, Meliton and Vaso, earned a noble place in the history of art: Meliton Balanchivadze is the founder of Georgian professional music together with Zakharia Paliashvili and Dimitri Arakishvili while Vasili was a remarkable representative of the Georgian theatrical culture. Both of the brothers were awarded the title of ‘Georgia’s Peoples’ Artist’ in Stalin’s time, though they were never proud of this fact, neither were they friendly with the party elite.
1920s. Later, he went to the USA, where he carried out his experiments in ballet. They were eventually qualified as masterpieces, therefore he is justly considered the founder of American choreography. He was the greatest reformer of the twentieth century Neoclassical Ballet.
The elder sister of Giorgi and Andria, Tamar Balanchivadze was undoubtedly artistically gifted and was a talented and original painter. Sadly, she unexpectedly passed away during the Second World War. Andria Balanchivadze’s children were also people of art: a dancer in the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet soloist Tsiskar Balanchivadze and the talented musician Jarji Balanchivadze. We shall now regale the saga of the Balanchivadzes in more detail.
January-February
45