It is when blood ignites like dynamite and when art is in the genes, the rhythm follows the heartbeat and you don't wipe the tears because you are not ashamed that you're crying!
   When speaking about the Sukhishvilis, the margin between genuine admiration and false pathos is slender, for this form of Georgian dancing has become a national heritage and every contact with it requires great delicacy. Even more so should the junior Sukhishvilis, Nino and Iliko carry on the legacy they have inherited with particular courage and responsibility.

In the offstage dust

   “We have grown up in the dust of the wings,” says Nino cheerfully with a peculiar pronunciation of hers.” I don't know whether no one could stay with us at home, or because of our own curiosity but since early childhood we have attended every concert. Iliko and I used to stand and watch the dancers. We loved and admired dancing immensely and it was so organic to me that I have never become bored with it. Just imagine, several months ago we gave 74 concerts in the United States and I attended them all!
   Apart from the wings, they were in the shadow of the great Iliko and Nino. In their childhood, as every offspring of great ancestors, they were driven by a sense of protest - they wanted to do something different and no less important. Perhaps that is why Nino specialized in ceramics at the Academy of Arts and Iliko graduated from the faculty of stage eurhythmics of the Central Academy in Moscow. Time passed, however, and this “inhibition” gradually disappeared. Both of them realized that their life was inseparably linked to the Sukhishvili dance company and that the National Ballet was their only vocation.
    “My 'academic' background has turned out to be very helpful today. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to work as Mr. Soliko Virsaladze's assistant and master the art of creating stage costumes. I help Iliko and try to invent something new. I suggested, for instance, that the girls dancing “Juta” should wear shepherd's caps with little bells… So costume design is a familiar and interesting work for me.
   Iliko has an exquisite ear for music. He can play every kind of musical instrument and is a professional dancer. He has been on the stage since he was eleven and his grandfather, the great Iliko has watched him dance. His desire to follow his own path in life has made him a highly professional choreographer.  Today he is the senior choreographer of the company.”
   With unusually piercing green eyes on a tanned face, Iliko jr. has acquired all the best qualities of his parents and grandparents. He gets annoyed if disturbed when working and at rehearsals his inexhaustible energy submerges everyone like a wave. Nino finds speaking about her brother embarrassing. “Not because he is my brother,” she says apologetically. “You know, our grandfather was the leader of the company, our grandmother - the chief choreographer and both of them were great dancers. Iliko has absorbed these qualities, which is very rare indeed. He does not only dance, but he also stages the dances professionally, being simultaneously engaged in musical arrangement. He is endowed with an unlimited creative imagination. He always comes up with new ideas, which he realizes successfully… Grandmother used to say: It is good when a dynasty really exists and lives up to expectations. It is not often the case though, but in Iliko's case the dynasty has really proved to exist.
   In the nineties when still studying in Moscow, Iliko was engaged in staging shows in newly opened nightclubs. He has also worked at the Taganka Theatre and with Sharoev at the Variety Theatre. He has continued his cooperation with Mauritz Van Hill, the Amsterdam Dancing Theatre manager to this day. In 1994 he staged the “Black Sea dances” and last year the “Caucasian dances”. Two or three rehearsals and the performance or a show outline is in place. Like all gifted creative personalities, Iliko does not like to speak about this work; he does consider it serious. He lights up, however, when his projects are referred to, particularly if the word “folkotheque” is mentioned…
 

 Moving forward towards the past

   Last year a surge of bewilderment swept across middle-aged and elderly Tbilisi society when the junior Sukhishvilis presented their new performance in the Philharmonic Hall. The first classical part of the programme was followed by strange developments in the second part - standing next to the men, women performed male steps, moving their feet at a breathtaking pace. The audience's first reaction was association with the River Dance: They are merely following the trend. They have defiled the legacy of their grandmother and grandfather, choosing to imitate the Irish national ballet.
 
   “I get annoyed when we are compared to the River Dance, although I am not surprised at the reaction of general public at all. When you deal with the national heritage, it is dangerous to cross the border between greatness and indecency.  The Georgian National Ballet company cannot exist using solely the forms of the past. Like every living organism, it needs to develop and keep in line with the evolving times. That is why this “second part” of the programme was produced. In our century women have become equal to men both socially and politically. Why can't one have this reflected in a dance?! This is what the new programme does - the woman has an active role in it, equal to the parts performed by men. This is a requirement of the time. Doesn't a dance portray the history of a nation through movement?  It is history that is articulated in a language understandable to the audience at the same time as being the reflection of the past, present and the future! As far as the River Dance is concerned, I have seen them a few times on television. They have an excellent promotion, good management and undoubtedly a masterfully structured programme. I am not sure to what extent their dances are “Irish”, they look more a mixture of the step, the gypsy and the Russian dances to me. Our programme is fundamentally Georgian, without any “admixtures” whatsoever. The only thing that the River Dance and we have in common is popularity, but here also we have outstripped them - they have been “shining” for ten years only whereas the Sukhishvilis have “shone” for sixty! And let the guardians of the sacred national heritage have no fear - nobody will take better care of it than we will and nothing shall endanger the national pride! We are custodians and developers at the same time.”
   During the American tour the Sukhishvilis had a full house every night. After the second or the third dance, the wave of the energy mounted in the audience resulting in a near frenzy at the end. Demands for repeated performance did not stop and the music played by the orchestra between the dances - the newly arranged theme of “Gadi Gamodi Gutano” by Chabuka Amiranashvili, became a hit. The difference between the first and the second parts of the performance did not go unnoticed, and the ranks of the Sukhishvilis' old admirers were filled with teenagers. The same phenomenon is observed in Tbilisi today. The generation of grandmothers and grandfathers has “rejuvenated” and, as some claim, is being replaced by nihilist youth, for whom, according to them, nothing matters including national values. But this is, of course, not true. Genes determine the shape of our mentality and existence and when the “Khorumi” rhythm matches the beating of the pulse, the desire to provoke teenagers disappears and one gets seized with a sense of pride!
 

   This made Iliko jr. create the “Assa Party” - a club version of the Georgian national ballet known as a “folkotheque” which is a successful attempt at shifting it to the discotheque. And just like a black man follows naturally the rhythm of rap so did the “Noa Noa” and the Ajara Music Hall audience follow the rhythm of the Sukhishvili dancers dressed in sports clothes and the room was filled with boundless energy.
   “I know I'm losing my voice,” Iliko jr. was saying when I caught up with him between rehearsals. “It is almost a year since the idea of the “folkotheque” appeared to me. Vaniko Tarkhnishvili was very helpful in realizing this idea and Irakli Chachkhiani helped me with its musical arrangement. I am happy with the result because I was convinced that the youth, club version based on national motives has worked and, in return, I got from the audience just what I was expecting to get. There is still a great deal that needs to be improved, particularly the movements need to be simplified so that people at the discotheque are able to repeat them… I am also promoting the idea of the “Assa Party” theatre version… The most important thing is that your art must be truthful. It should not be fake, a surrogate. If you are sincere, it will work just as the “folkotheque” has done.

Back towards the future
 
 

   “I do hope that the Caucasian folklore will gain as much popularity in the west as the Spanish and Oriental motifs have. Of course, this requires “promotion” and a lot of money. I have become convinced that in show business money, although very important, is not the main thing. Regardless of everything, our company continues to exist successfully and the realization of new projects will allow us to maintain our troupe which is currently supported by a state subsidy. And let nobody think that we have profaned the relic! It is just the contrary, in this high-tech age we have breathed new life into it.”
   History repeats itself: the programme known as classical in our days was the product of great Iliko's free fantasy in the 1940s and was presented to the totalitarian regime under the cover of “folk dances”. Iliko Sukhishvili was indeed a smart man. Having refused the authorship, he managed to develop avant-garde ideas through national dances. But all this did not pass smoothly. I recall my grandmother referring to the harsh reaction of the high officials of that time - the Sukhishvilis were censured and were proclaimed desecrators. There was an uproar when “Khorumi” was first staged and the dancers started moving in a line? Today “Khorumi” is a classic and a monument to great Iliko. Previously three men used to perform this dance and it was known as “Samaia”… Today's “Samaia” is the fruit of Iliko's free will - it is a vivification of the Georgian fresco painting, the revival of the Queen Tamar's image. Or take red chokhas and hats with little bells in the “Khanjluri” dance. In the forties it was denounced and criticized as dancing rap under Georgian tunes is today… What else shall I recall?” Nino goes deep into thought. “Women wearing special Ajarian bands on their heads in the “Ajaruli” dance was daring beyond any limit because women used to dance in veils. When Nino Ramishvili put on a white chokha and performed a drop and whirling on her knee, you can imagine how everyone reacted to that! It had nothing to do with female movements! And we are criticized today for the women-dancers wearing shortened dresses and performing male steps with their feet in the “Juta” dance? Over the course of these years the line between the creative imagination of great Iliko and Nino and the truly national elements has disappeared and what used to be clear “impudence” for the forties, has become generally accepted as classic these days. Iliko jr. and I are doing exactly the same thing today that our grandparents did in the forties.”
   The juniors are building on the heritage and creating the future of the Georgian National Ballet, which in the middle of this century will too, perhaps, become a classic.
   For Nino and Iliko the routine of everyday life is the basis on which a deep sense of patriotism is cultivated and that will always protect their creative endeavors from falsehood and deceit.
 
          IRA CHELIDZE