Dance: Bright Future

A Georgian friend informed my wife and I some weeks ago that she had bought us tickets to a Georgian dance spectacle in the Griboedov Theater at Liberty Square. We gladly accepted, and I took along my GEORGIA TODAY press card, hoping to have the freedom to take photographs for this article. The director agreed, and someone showed me where I could operate, which was actually in quite a lot of space on both the main and second levels. Our tickets were front-row, and as the show began I took a few shots from this close-up point, but then moved back for some more distant shots with a longer lens, careful not to obscure the viewing of the audience.

If this is the future of Georgian dance and theater, it is in good hands. Shows like this deserve to go international

The show is called Mamber (Lord of the Wolves), dating from 1990, and its booklet describes it further as a “children’s national ballet by [David] Potskhishvili”. I had never heard of it, or him, so was glad for the story breakdown and production details. The instructor and choreographer is Nino Kartvelishvili. The dancers are soloists of the Metekhi national ballet and the national children’s ballet. Georgia’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth is a main supporter. The event was for one night only, October 29, so we were very happy to have the chance to see it.

The show’s story concerns King Mirdat of Kartli and Queen Sagdukhti, and their son Vakhtang, who will come to have the second name Gorgasali and will found the city of Tbilisi, over 15 centuries ago (his main statue, on horseback, is in the courtyard of Metekhi Church in the Old City). Plots against them ensue: poisoning of the king, kidnappings, the escape of the young prince, his conflict with a pack of wolves, rescue and mentoring by Mamber, their Lord. Eventually Vakhtang, now a young man, rescues his widowed mother, defeats the evil, takes his throne and strengthens the kingdom.

The action and music were thrilling, a mix of traditional Georgian dance, ballet, synthesis of the two, and some modern elements seamlessly blended in. The spectacle was only 55 minutes in length, although there have been longer versions too. But it held our attention from beginning to end, spellbound. As the cast and director were coming out to a rapturous standing ovation, a little girl of perhaps three was released by her mother onto the stage to run to them and present a big bouquet of flowers to one of the young ladies and give her a hug. She, too, obviously unafraid and committed to this action, won our hearts.
True to my style in photographing dance, I mostly used a slow shutter speed of 1/8 to 1/30 of a second. I do this to allow motion blur, either keeping the camera still or moving it; because my idea is that dance is all about motion, and frozen photos of dancers do little to convey this. Let the movement show! I also processed the photos in black and white only, not wanting the colors to distract from the forms, tones and compositions of the photos. Out of nearly 280 shots, I chose about 130 as usable, with a few special ones from that set. The music, lighting and smoke effects really added to the mood of the show, along with beautifully painted backdrops and the magnificent costumes. Among these, the lupine heads of the wolf-children really stood out.

If this is the future of Georgian dance and theater, it is in good hands. Shows like this deserve to go international, and I hope it gets its chance to shine abroad and introduce people all over the world to the wonders of this little country’s culture, which should be much more famous than it already is. Viva!

BLOG by Tony Hanmer

Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti2