Levan Khetaguri

[Abstract] Located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, between East and West, Europe and Asia,Georgia is a key link on the Silk Road.Georgian culture has flourished in the context of multiculturalism,diversity, mix of ideas and traditions, but still keeps and develops its strong national tradition.Dance in Georgia,or traditional Georgian Dance, originated in ancient times, starting from the pagan time and growing in the Christian period.Mainly discussing the Georgian traditional dance, this paper begins with recounting the Georgian history, then introduces several regional dances of Georgia, and finally presents the development of ballet and contemporary dance in Georgia.Georgian dance is highly diversified and has unique theatrical forms in different parts of the country.

[Keywords] Traditional Georgian dance, rituals, ballet, physical theatre, movement theatre, George Balanchine,George Gurdjieff, Nino Ananiashvili, Robert Sturua

Georgia is located at the crossroad between two seas(the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea), between East and West, Europe and Asia, so it is the heart of the Silk Road.Historically, Georgia (Kingdoms of Kolkheti and Iberia)was part of ancient tragedies: Prometheus in Caucasus,Medea and Argonauts.Georgian culture has therefore flourished in the context of multiculturalism, diversity,mix of ideas and traditions, but at the same time keeps and develops its strong tradition.

This paper focuses on dance in Georgia, which is often called traditional Georgian dance or some companies call National Ballets.Starting from the pagan period and growing during the long Christian period,Georgian dance is very diverse, with each part of Georgia giving unique theatre-chorographical performances.Traditional authentic performance included dance and polyphonic singing together.This paper would give a few examples from the past and different parts of Georgia.

Most of these dances are either pagan or pre-Christian, following the strong esoteric, ritual traditions of Sun, Moon and other Astral or oldest cults.Dances very often imitate symbols from the universe, which is very well expressed in traditional forms of “Perkhuli”, the round dance, and are very old artifacts of intangible culture.

Archeological discoveries have shown that the round dance of hunters in masks is shown on silver cups from the second millennium BC.Probably this ritual was dedicated to the goddess of hunting.Hunting rituals can still be found in the mountain parts of Georgia.A modification of such rituals is warriors dances like Khorumi.Another important artifact is a dancing girl on the bone plate from the sixth century BC.This painting proves the existence of female dance rituals dedicated to the goddess of productivity.

Georgian dance could be categorized by chronology(pre-Christian and Christian), by character (sacred and civil), and by location of origin (urban and rural).

Christian (starting from the fourth century)Character Sacred Civil Location of origin Rural Urban Chronology Pre-Christian(starting from the second millennium B.C.)

Public performances (mostly at the royal palaces)during the 11th to the 13th centuries in Georgia had synthetic forms of expression, and dialogue was made through dance.Dance usually contained 4 or 5 parts,including male and female roles, which was a reflection of the civil and urban culture.

An introduction to the oldest dances

Khorumi is a dance from the region of Adjara,the oldest dance of worriers.Historians believe that it originated during the pagan time but was systematically performed till the 12th to the 13th centuries before the battles.This dance has very clear dramaturgy, musically supported by drums and wind instruments, with clear ritualistic rhythm and geometrical forms of movement,including round dance and beautiful lines.The number of dancers ranged from 5 to 20, but nowadays about 30 to 50 dancers perform this dance, which is similar to Greek chorus movement figures on the orchestra.

The story line of the dance is that a few warriors are searching the area for a campsite and enemy camps perform the initial prelude to the dance.Afterwards, they call the army onto the battlefield.Its strength, simple but distinctive movements and the exactness oflines create a sense of awe on the stage.The dance incorporates the themes of search, war, and the celebration of victory.Khorumi is performed only by males with a protagonist.

Other interesting old dances are Khanjluri (Sword Dance) and Parikaoba (Sword play, fencing or epee)which is also called Khevsuruli by the name of the region.Telling different stories, both come from mountain regions and are marital type of dances.Their origin is hard to pinpoint, but both had pagan and Christian features.

Many Georgian dances are based on the idea of competition.Khanjluri is one of them.In this dance,shepherds, dressed in red Chokhas (traditional men’s wear), compete with each other by using daggers and performing complicated movements.One performer replaces another, and courage and skill overflow on the stage.Since Khanjluri involves daggers and knives, it requires tremendous skill and practice on the part of the performers.There are syntheses of circus elements and dance, as well as well trained shepherds — warriors,dancers and performers.

Khevsuruli or Parikaoba has a narrative of triangle love stories, showing respect for women and awe for marital competition.Parikaoba is a good example of acrobatic and marital training of traditional warriors,dancers in Georgia.Using real swords, they need to be very skillful.

This warrior’s dance is from the far northeastern region of Khevsureti.This mountain dance is probably the best representative of the Georgian spirit.It integrates love, courage, and respect for women, toughness,competition, skill, beauty, and colorfulness into one amazing performance.The dance starts with a flirting couple.Unexpectedly, another young man appears, also seeking the hand of the woman.A conflict breaks out and soon turns into a vigorous fighting between the two men and their supporters.This dance is an energetic battle with sword and shield.When the girl throws down her headdress, the men must stop according to tradition, only to renew their battle soon after.

Those dances correspond to or may be somehow similar to the traditional Chinese theatre with the episodes of swords and battles.

The last example of traditional dance, Shejibri, is also based on competition where dancers are engaged in a colorful competition with each other through dance,acrobatic skills, difficult movement, and bravery.This dance, with the high level of dancing skills, physical training, brings a feeling of festivity, and the emotional interactions and rhythmic exchanges always excite the audience.

Each of these dances has mini dramas as chorographical,plastic narratives and characters as types.They are the representative traditional performing arts of Georgia.Meanwhile, Georgian dance needs to be considered not only as Georgian traditional performing arts; it is one of the examples of world intangible heritage, too.Many elements or full replicas can be found in different productions worldwide, even in the Cirque Du Solei.At the Central Cathedral in Mtzkheta, the wall painting shows dance procession together with astrological,mythological and theological images, which underlines the importance of dance not only for the civil society but also for the church.

The tradition of folk dance is very strong later although in the 14th century the concept of classical ballet was imported from Europe and Russia.One of the remarkable Georgians who created ballet in the USA was Giorgi Balanchivadze, who is better known as George Balanchine.

In the early 20th century Tbilisi, capital of Georgia,Jana Zaltsmann created a school of rhythm (based on anthroposophy) and later Giorgi Gurdjieff opened his Human Harmonic Development Institute during 1918—1920, based on sacred dances.Giorgi Gurdjieff had already started rehearsals for his work Battle of Magicians at Tbilisi Opera Theatre, but Russian occupation (in 1921) cut short his project in Georgia.Only some of dances were shown in 1920.The Soviet Union stopped anything except “Imperial” ballet.

Later, there were few experiments, but during the 20th century Georgian dance shifted from a very competitive dance form to classical ballet.In Georgia,there were many famous dancers who worked in Bolshoi or Marinski Theatres till now.

The first experiments in contemporary dance started in the 1990s.Personally, I was working with the Netherlands Theatre Institute, bringing in Georgia —Jan Langedijk, with movement theatre De Daders.I published A Field Guide for Imaginary Behavior and implemented a series of workshops in 1999.

At the same time, the French Institute started funding contemporary dance workshops and later DilisSaari (Morning Chant) was staged, which was first shown at Montpelier Festival in 1999.The performance featured drama actors, using music and poetic text.The choreographer was Tamaz Vashakidze.

In 2003, I was a co-producer in a project with the NL and Germany during the Avignon Festival.The Dutch choreographers, working with actors and young dancers from a folk company in Kutaisi, created a contemporary dance based on folk dance elements, but it was “redirected”.It was successfully shown in Germany and NL during one month in 2003.

At the same time, Nino Ananiashvili from the Bolshoi Theatre returned to Georgia as an artistic director at the national opera and ballet theatre in Tbilisi after 2004.Soon, she restored its classical repertoire and Balanchine’s works, implemented IrjiKylians ballets,inviting young choreographers and they toured around the year.In 2017, she established the International Ballet Festival in Tbilisi.

In the late 1990s, Kakha Bakuradze, an actor of mime theatre, first created a movement-dance Richard III, based on the Shakespearean play.This performance was brought to the festivals in Armenia and Russia in 2000.After Kakha Bakuradze created his movement theatre.Since 2010, he already gave many street performances in Georgia and abroad.

At the Rustaveli National Theatre, well-known drama director Robert Sturua have also engaged in the experiments of movement theatre.In 2003, he created STYX based on Gia Kancheli’s music.For the worldfamous Robert Sturua, the expression through traditional text-based theatre wasn’t enough and he started using movement and physical theatre language as new forms for self expression.

There were many other workshops and smallscale experiments, but very few succeeded.During this period, choreographer Mariam Aleksidze presented a few performances, which were called contemporary dance but still looked like neo-classic (Kaparchana, Harira, Gurji Khatun).

At the Tbilisi Music and Drama Theatre, choreographer Kote Purtseladze staged some movement performances like Salome, Carmen and Three Sisters by Chekhov.

Several workshops in contact improvisation were organized in Georgia, including 2013 Goran Bogdanowski from Slovenia and International journey in contact improvisation 2013 and 2014.

The latest experiments come from the very famous Sukhichishvili National Ballet Company, which created Ramishvili as a piece of contemporary dance.

In 2000, they started an interesting initiative to link traditional dance with modernity.They set up a series of evenings called folkoteka and ASSA parties which became very popular among the young people.They also did many experiments with traditional dance for audience development and making new attractions.

Mostly dance projects are conducted in cities like Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi where there are many young independent groups practicing street dance, break dance and other forms.They are still not yet developed but exploring education in contemporary dance.

Bibliography

Primary sources

［1］ Khetaguri Levan, Gurdjieff and Twentieth Century Culture, Gurdjieffin Tiflis, edited by Levan Khetaguri, Constance A.Jones, TAFU,Tbilisi, 2007.

［2］ Khetaguri Levan,Gurdjieff and Tiflis at the Turn of the (19th—20th) Centuries, International Interdisciplinary Conference, Pirosmani and Georgian Culture, Proceedings, Tbilisi, 2014.

Secondary sources

［3］ https://georgiaabout.com/2012/09/03/about-culturegeorgian-dance-part-1.

［4］ http://www.sukhishvili.com

［5］ http://www.laurelvictoriagray.com/georgian-dance.html.

格鲁吉亚舞蹈

列万·赫塔古里

【内容摘要】

格鲁吉亚位于黑海和里海之间，介于东西方之间和亚欧之间，是丝绸之路的核心地区。因此，格鲁吉亚文化的发展，得益于多种文化的融合、不同思想的碰撞，同时也保留了格鲁吉亚的民族传统。历史上的格鲁吉亚（科尔赫提王国和伊比利亚半岛）是古希腊悲剧的场所的一部分，是普罗米修斯在高加索的囚禁之地，以及美狄亚公主的祖国和阿尔戈英雄寻找金羊毛的国度。

格鲁吉亚舞蹈，即格鲁吉亚传统舞蹈，起源于古代，始于异教徒时代，在基督教时期不断发展嬗变。本文将主要讨论格鲁吉亚的传统舞蹈，也将介绍格鲁吉亚的民族芭蕾舞和当代舞。格鲁吉亚舞蹈高度多元化，在国内的不同区域都有独特的剧场创作表演形式。真正的传统表演大多是舞蹈和复调合唱混合的歌舞。在此，笔者举例讲述格鲁吉亚的历史，介绍格鲁吉亚几种不同的地方歌舞。

格鲁吉亚的舞蹈大多源于基督教传播之前，可以追溯到非常神秘的异教仪式的传统，包括对太阳、月亮和其他星体的崇拜，以及最古老的宗教等，都对格鲁吉亚舞蹈有很大的影响。舞蹈常常试图模仿宇宙中的符号，这些符号在圆舞（perkhuli）等传统舞蹈中有充分的体现，是格鲁吉亚的非物质文化遗产。

有学者写道，考古发现告诉我们，公元前2000年的银杯上戴面具的猎人所跳圆舞，也许这种仪式是奉献给狩猎女神的。格鲁吉亚山区仍然保留着这样的狩猎仪式。这种仪式后来演变成骑士们的“战马舞”。

另一项重要遗存是公元前6世纪骨盘上所绘的跳舞的姑娘。骨盘上的舞女形象表明女性舞蹈仪式的存在，这是向和寺庙紧密联系的生殖女神致敬的舞蹈仪式。

格鲁吉亚传统舞蹈按历史阶段可以分为前基督教时期和基督教时期，按人物可以分为神圣的舞蹈和民间舞蹈，按起源地可以分为城市舞蹈和农村舞蹈。

从11至13世纪，格鲁吉亚的舞蹈表演采取综合表现形式（主要是在皇宫表演），即通过舞蹈进行对话。舞蹈通常分为四个或五个部分，表演者包括男性和女性舞者，主要反映市民和城市文化。

回到格鲁吉亚最古老的舞蹈。“战马舞”是阿贾拉地区的古代武士舞蹈，历史学家认为它起源于异教时期，但直到12、13世纪仍在持续表演。这种舞蹈有着非常明确的戏剧性，伴奏乐器主要包括鼓和管乐器，具有显著的仪式感，舞蹈动作呈几何形态，包括圆形舞蹈和优美线条等。舞者的数量从5人到20人不等，如今也有30—50名舞者的表演。笔者个人觉得其类似于有管弦乐队伴奏的希腊合唱队。舞蹈的故事情节一般是武士寻找营地，而序曲是敌军营地的舞蹈。之后，军队便进入战场。舞台上富有力量、简单而独特的动作和形态线条的精确性让人震撼。舞蹈表达了搜索、战争和庆祝胜利的主题。“战马舞”只由男性舞者表演，有故事的主角。舞蹈风格有别，但情节大体是相同的。

另一种有趣的古老传统舞蹈是剑舞（Khanjluri）和剑术舞（Parikaoba，原地区名为Khevsuruli），两种舞蹈讲述不同的故事，但都是来自山区，属于婚庆舞蹈。它们的年代起源难以确定，都兼具异教徒和基督教时代的特征。

“许多格鲁吉亚舞蹈都体现了战斗的精神。坎里乌里（Khanjluri）就是其中之一。在这种舞蹈中，牧羊人穿着红色的乔卡（传统的男装），挥舞着匕首，表现复杂的战斗动作。在表演过程中，舞者轮流更替，舞台上洋溢着勇气和战斗技能。由于坎里乌里舞蹈运用匕首和刀，舞者需要具备高超的实际技能。”在舞蹈中，马戏和舞蹈元素相结合，舞者都是训练有素的牧羊人，他们既是战士，也是舞者。战斗舞通常讲述一个爱情故事（三角恋爱故事），强调尊重妇女，情节以抢亲为主。在战斗舞中，格鲁吉亚战士舞者使用真剑进行类似于杂技的表演，技巧要求非常高。一位舞者扮演来自东北部Khevsureti地区的战士。“这种山区舞蹈可能是格鲁吉亚精神的最好表现形式。在舞蹈中，爱、勇气、对女性的尊重、韧性、竞争、技巧、美丽和色彩融为一体，形成令人叹为观止的表演。舞蹈从一对情侣调情开始。然而，出乎意料地出现了另一个年轻人，他也爱这个姑娘。于是，一场冲突爆发，很快变成了两个青年及其支持者之间的激烈战斗。舞蹈是剑与盾的激战。”姑娘扔下头饰时，男人们则依传统停止战斗，不过随后又开始战斗。笔者觉得，这种舞蹈和中国传统武戏相似。

最后一种传统舞蹈战斗舞是Shejibri，舞者结合舞蹈和杂技的高难度动作，进行勇敢、精彩的表演。这种舞蹈融合高超的舞蹈和体育技能，有喜庆的感觉，情感洋溢，节奏紧张，让观众持续兴奋不已。

每一种舞蹈都有精致的编舞、情节和人物设计，因此可以视为格鲁吉亚的传统表演艺术。笔者认为，格鲁吉亚舞蹈不仅应该被视为格鲁吉亚的传统表演艺术形式，而且已经成为世界非物质文化遗产的典范。其中许多元素已应用于世界各地的各种表演形式之中，乃至太阳马戏团也曾复制其部分元素。Mtzkheta大教堂的壁画中既有对舞蹈表演的描绘，也有占星术、神话和神学图像，这有可能强调舞蹈对于民间社会和教会的重要性。总之，民间舞蹈的传统非常强大。

19世纪，古典芭蕾通过欧洲和俄罗斯进入格鲁吉亚。20世纪30年代，有一位杰出的格鲁吉亚人在美国开创了芭蕾舞，即大家所熟知的乔治·巴兰钦。20世纪初，在格鲁吉亚首都第比利斯，亚纳基于人智学创立了节奏学派，后来乔治·葛吉夫在1918—1920年以神圣舞蹈为基础，创办了人类和谐研究所。这是一个重要而漫长的故事，不是一篇简短的文章所能尽述的。葛吉夫已经开始为在第比利斯歌剧院开幕的魔术师之战进行排练，但因为被俄罗斯占领（1921年），导致他不能在格鲁吉亚实现这个项目，只在1920年表演过部分舞蹈。苏联禁止了除“帝国”芭蕾舞之外的所有舞蹈。后来的实验很少，但在20世纪，格鲁吉亚舞蹈一直是对古典芭蕾极具挑战的舞蹈形式。格鲁吉亚有许多著名的舞者，至今仍在莫斯科大剧院或马林斯剧院工作。

第二次世界大战后，乔治·阿列克西泽创作了很多作品，既有芭蕾舞剧也有现代舞，包括所谓的新古典主义舞蹈，但大多是美国和欧洲的现代风格。

在20世纪90年代，当代舞蹈的第一次实验开始了。就个人而言，笔者曾与荷兰戏剧学院合作，引进了乔治亚州的贾恩，1999年开展运动剧场的表演系列讲习班，撰写了《想象行为现场指南》。同时，法国学院开始资助当代舞蹈工作坊，后来的第一个舞蹈项目“迪利斯萨里/晨诵/表演”在1999年的蒙彼利埃艺术节上演出。该舞蹈主要由戏剧演员表演，融合采用音乐、声音和诗歌文本。舞蹈编导是塔玛兹·瓦斯基译。2003年，笔者与荷兰和德国艺术家合作，共同制作了一个节目，参加阿维尼翁艺术节。荷兰编舞与库塔伊西民间舞蹈团的演员和年轻舞者合作，创作了基于民间舞蹈元素的当代舞蹈作品，属于创新创作。2003年，这一当代舞蹈作品在德国和荷兰成功演出了一个月。同时，莫斯科大剧院的尼诺·安娜妮娅舒薇莉返回格鲁吉亚，担任第比利斯国家歌剧院的艺术总监，2004年后担任芭蕾舞剧院的艺术总监。她很快重排了经典剧目，包括巴兰钦的作品，并排演凯里·基利安芭蕾舞，邀请年轻的编舞一起合作，开展了一整年的巡演。2017年，她在第比利斯设立了国际芭蕾舞节。

20世纪90年代末，哑剧演员卡哈·巴库拉德泽开创了运动舞蹈，排演了基于莎士比亚戏剧作品《查理三世》的舞蹈作品。笔者促成这个节目参加了2000年在亚美尼亚和俄罗斯的艺术节。创建运动剧场之后，自2010年起，卡哈·巴库拉德泽在格鲁吉亚和国外进行了多场街头表演。鲁斯塔维里国家剧院的著名戏剧导演罗伯特·斯图拉也试验过运动剧场，最初是在1989年，后来是在1993—1994年也有过试验，最终于2003年创作了由贾·坎契里配乐的运动剧场剧目《斯提克斯》（STYX）。很明显，对于世界著名导演斯图拉而言，基于文本的传统戏剧的表达力是不够的，于是，他开始使用乐章和身体舞剧语言，作为自我表达的新形式。与此同时，仍然有许多工作室开展小规模的实验，但很少有成功的例子。编舞马里亚姆·阿列克西泽创作了少数节目，名义上是当代舞蹈，但实际上很像新古典主义的舞蹈。第比利斯音乐剧院的编舞科捷·普莱塞拉泽，2010—2017年创作了基于《莎乐美》《卡门》和契诃夫《三姐妹》的舞蹈运动剧场剧目。格鲁吉亚全国也举办了几次接触即兴创作研讨会，其中来自斯洛文尼亚的戈兰·博格达诺夫斯基参加了2013年和2014年的国际巡回接触即兴表演。

最新的实验来自非常著名的苏克希什维利国家芭蕾舞团，基于格鲁吉亚传统舞蹈，他们将拉米什维利的作品改编为当代舞蹈作品。2000年，他们开始将传统舞蹈与现代性联系起来，创作了“Folkoteka”和亚萨合（“ASSA”）舞蹈，很受年轻人的欢迎。他们还对许多传统舞蹈进行创新实 验，提高对观众的吸引力。大多数舞蹈项目都在第比利斯、库塔伊西和巴统等城市开展实施，我们可以看到许多青年独立团体练习街舞和霹雳舞，但至今未被纳入当代舞蹈教育。

【关键词】

格鲁吉亚传统舞蹈；仪式；芭蕾；运动剧场；乔治·巴兰钦；乔治·葛吉夫；尼诺·安娜妮娅舒薇莉；罗伯特·斯图拉