Anton Genza
The Georgian Royal National Ballet is also stopping in Almaty as part of its world tour. Between tradition and innovation, the troupe embodies national pride, a fighting spirit and artistry – and sets its own accents in the process. About the non-Soviet ballet in the former Soviet republics.
Graceful and battle-hardened
Georgian ballet by no means has its own history independent of the master perspective of Soviet art. Since the 3rd century A.D., Georgian dance has combined music, choreography, theater, song and circus elements into a distinctive oeuvre of historical proportions. Based on ancient traditions and folklore, the Georgian ballet as we know it today is not just an entertaining dance, but more than a thousand-year-old form of transmitting Georgian culture. Between imaginative allusion and a healthy dose of rationality, it bridges the gap between the social classes. Georgian dance enjoys great popularity at home and abroad.
The Georgian National Ballet – “The Fire of Georgia” – combines modern and traditional elements. The costumes worn by the 370 dancers are symbolic, representing different regions of the country and eras.
The explosive, combative and fiery movements of the Georgian dancers can also be seen as a display of national pride. As Gela Potskhishvili, the director of the troupe, said about a performance in Moscow in 2019: “We are not going to Moscow to entertain anyone, but to show that we will not be kept down”.
Ballet for the masses in the USSR
Even if nostalgia for “Soviet tradition” continues to swell in many countries of the former Soviet republics, the turn of an era must also be seen as an opportunity for further development and new discovery. Since the collapse of the multinational state and the declarations of independence, Soviet ballet has shed its guise and the artistic diversity of former Soviet republics has become more accessible to a wider audience.
The long history of the Soviet Union combines several approaches to the infamous art form. The Imperial Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg is considered the zenith in the history of ballet. Although the art form originated in France and Italy, ballet had become an important institution of Soviet art by the end of the 19th century.
The political added value of ballet was already recognized by the Bolsheviks at the time of the October Revolution in the Russian Empire. The synchronous, even movements of the dancers were symbolic of the people’s drive. In line with the Bolshevik-Communist guiding ideology, the will of the individual was to be shaped by the needs of the collective. Accordingly, the individual was subject to a larger, common goal in the sense of “social progress”. The imperative of national self-discovery and patriotism were ideals exemplified by example.
Although Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” was not initially a huge success when it was first performed in Moscow in 1877, this changed after several reinterpretations. The indoctrination of proletarian culture meant that a complete rejection of the Tchaikovsky ballet would have meant a confrontation with the population. Instead of banning it, the Soviet authorities used the ballet for their political purposes. Mass appeal, accessibility and sincerity were the virtues that the art form was supposed to embody. This was intended to define class consciousness within the population.
From then on, Swan Lake was not only performed on big stages; during the Khrushchev thaw from 1956, it was also regularly shown at high-level foreign receptions. For the Soviet generation from the 1960s onwards, Swan Lake probably first evokes memories of collective mourning and shock. After the death of Leonid Brezhnev, whose term of office is framed in today’s Russia as the “golden age of the Soviet Union”, the ballet was broadcast on television even before the news of the death of the Supreme Soviet was carried to the population. This was repeated by his successors, as well as during the August putsch in 1991.
Politics, art and tradition
The word “tradition” has been used several times here. It refers to a longer-lasting period during which a certain form of cultural life was practiced and at the same time significantly shaped the thinking of later activities. To put it more simply: tradition refers to thought patterns that originated in a time of cultural flourishing. Lived tradition, i.e. further development over time, is to be understood in contrast to the political-philosophical concept of “traditionalism”. The static tradition as a buzzword is often appropriated by political decision-makers to assert their own ambitions and determine narratives.
Art is never not political. Art, broken down, is a form of communication with the environment and the system in which we operate. Behind art there is usually – whether obvious or in the background – a value system.
Art is both a pawn and a backdrop in political disputes. In the case of Georgian ballet, it serves to maintain tradition and etymological self-reflection. At the same time, without the demarcation from the outside, no process of self-discovery would be conceivable. Georgia’s geopolitical position, with Iran, Turkey and Russia in its immediate vicinity, is extremely inconvenient. Throughout its history, it has had to defend itself against aggressors and external influence on several occasions. The strong impulse to preserve its culture and language is clearly noticeable when you visit the country. Adaptation and appeasement have always been a leitmotif and survival strategy in Georgian history.
Of course, there are many other ballets that do not fit into this mold. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is just one extremely prominent and vivid example of how art is subverted by ideology under the guise of a freely interpreted understanding of tradition. ///nCa, 18 December 2024
About the author
Anton Genza studied East Asian Studies and Journalism in Berlin. He holds an M.A. in Japanese Studies and is currently enrolled in the German Academy of Journalism. He is a freelance journalist and translator in Almaty.