Despite the ethereal swans and sylphs she’s played on stage, superstar ballerina Nina Ananiashvili has regularly shown her iron will off of it. Among the first Soviet-era ballerinas to dance freely in the West without defecting, the former Bolshoi prima was not afraid to publicly denounce Russia’s military action in Georgia last summer.
The Tbilisi-born dancer joined American Ballet Theatre 16 years ago and these days also heads the State Ballet of Georgia, where she lives with her young daughter, Helene, and her husband, Gregory, Georgia’s Foreign Minister. With her husband taking a more prominent role on the political stage, Ananiashvili is retiring this week from ABT to devote more time to her family and troupe. On Saturday night, the 46-year-old dancer gives her final performance, in Swan Lake. The dual role of Odette/Odile is equal parts fragile creature and ballsy vixen and few can muster the goods to deliver superbly on both counts. Ananiashvili is among them and it’s bound to be an emotional night. As she prepared for her final bow, the dance diva talked to W. Read interviw here…