VAKHTANG CHABUKIANI MEMORIAL HOUSE-MUSEUM

Vakhtang Chabukiani (1910–1992) was a Georgian dancer, choreographer, and teacher, People's Artist of the USSR, and the founder of professional Georgian ballet.

Chabukiani is considered a reformer of ballet art. He gave independent significance to male dance, creating a heroic style of male performance. By blending classical ballet with Georgian folk dance, Chabukiani developed a distinctive form of national classical ballet. One of his most celebrated roles was Othello, where he masterfully combined expressive dance with pantomime. The premiere took place on March 12, 1958, at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow during the Decade of Georgian Art and Literature. Othello was hailed as a triumph of Georgian art. The legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya wrote in admiration:
“Vakhtang Chabukiani’s portrayal of the Moor is unmatched. His Othello expresses immense simplicity, grace, and wisdom, infused with a childlike sincerity.”

Chabukiani choreographed his first concert piece, “Dance of Fire,” at the age of 15. He made his first mark in heroic-style dance with the piece “Dance of Fire with Torches” (set to music from Anton Rubinstein’s opera Feramors), which he both choreographed and performed in 1929 for his graduation performance from the Leningrad Choreographic School. That same year, he was accepted into the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theatre, where he performed thirty roles over ten seasons in both classical and contemporary ballets.

Chabukiani’s performance at New York's famed Carnegie Hall turned his name into legend. He also wrote and directed ballet films based on his own scripts: “Masters of Georgian Ballet” (1955) and “Othello” (1961). He was the recipient of numerous orders and medals, a laureate of all major state prizes, a Hero of Socialist Labor, and honored as People's Artist of both Georgia and the USSR.