The State Ballet of Georgia’s Swan Lake aims to appeal to an audienceof all ages

United Kingdom State Ballet of Georgia’s Swan Lake: Dancers of the State Ballet of Georgia, Royal Ballet Sinfonia / Levan Jagaev (conductor). London Coliseum, 17.7.2026. (JO’D)

The State Ballet of Georgia brought its attractive and colourful Swan Lake to the London Coliseum two years ago. It returns with the same ballet, but in a production that has been restaged. In her invitation-only, pre-performance talk, Artistic Director, Nina Ananiashvili, used the word ‘dynamic’. Swan Lake, at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre in 2026, must appeal to an audience of all ages.

Ananiashvili herself first danced the role of Odette/Odile in 1982, with the Bolshoi Ballet on a tour of Germany. During her talk, she showed the movements of the arms she had to learn, then, over the course of a single weekend. It is in the movements of their arms that the dancers of the State Ballet of Georgia, individually and en masse, display their artistry and skill. In the case of the Swans (whose ballet Swan Lake will always, in essence, be), it is their arms and hands.

The role of Siegfried is taken, once again, by Oleg Ligai, a dancer of strength, stage presence and soundless landings from tours and leaps. He is denied, perhaps for the sake of dynamism, the character’s introspective, first-act variation and the haunting music that goes with it. This makes him a somewhat shadowy figure until Act II. As in 2024, Nino Samadashvili dances Odette/Odile: mournful expression and downcast eyes for the former; cynical smiles and complicit glances at the audience for the latter. In white for Odette, or black and silver for Odile, the dancer shows a deep connection to Tchaikovsky’s music (played here by the accomplished Royal Ballet Sinfonia, under the baton of Levan Jagaev).

As Siegfried’s friend, Benno, the likeable Masaaki Goto has musicality and ballon. Tomone Kagawa throws off her footwork in the Act I pas de trois with no apparent effort. The perfectly matched Four Little Swans might make Dame Ninette de Valois, if she could see it, revise her opinion that this dance is a ‘piece of music hall vulgarity’. The Neapolitan Dance (Tomone Kagawa, again, with Joshua Nunamaker) is a breath of fresh air compared to the tight and complex version Frederick Ashton choreographed for The Royal Ballet. The two women and two men of the much-applauded Spanish Dance give further demonstration of the company’s prowess in the port de bras.

A notice at the doors to the London Coliseum’s auditorium warns that the production deals with ‘themes of death’. But this Swan Lake has a happy ending. Baron von Rothbart (a lithe Marcelo Soares) does die, after being stripped of his wings by Siegfried. This allows Odette to step out of her tutu to show herself as the princess she really is. Even as the music might seem to be asking for something else, she and Siegfried are united: not in death; not in an afterlife, but in this life.

John O’Dwyer

Featured Image: Oleg Ligai (Prince Siegfried) and Nino Samadashvili (Odette) © Katja Ogrin

Creatives:
Music – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto – Nina Ananiashvili, after Vladimir Begichev & Vasil Heltzer
Choreography – Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Choreographic version and Staging – Nina Ananiashvili and Alexey Fadeechev
Set design – David Monavardisashvili
Costume designer – Cyrille Gassilline
Lighting designer – Steen Bjarke

Cast included:
Odette/Odile – Nino Samadashvili
Prince Siegfried – Oleg Ligai
Benno – Masaaki Goto
The Three Big Swans – Tata Jashi, Salome Iarajuli, Anastasiia Miliachenko
The Four Little Swans – Sesili Guguchia, Valerie Lin, Nino Khakhutashvili, Rio Takahashi
Hungarian Dance – Nino Khakhutashvili, Demian Reshetnyak
Mazurka – lene Gaganidze, Xavier Lara Gil
Neapolitan Dance – Tomone Kagawa, Joshua Nunamaker
Spanish Dance – Tata Jashi, Ana Modebadze, Giorgi Bestavsashvili, Otar Bisoshvili
With the soloists and corps de ballet of State Ballet of Georgia