Famous story retold through choreography

A pretty red-haired gypsy enchants the men with a smile and an unforgettable dance. Afterwards, London’s Moving Theatre actress, Ana Aleksishvili, performed Carmen at Konstantine Purtseladze’s chorographical play with her troupe members at Tbilisi’s Vaso Abashidze Music and Drama Theatre on November 3.

Accompanied by Bizet-Schedrin’s music from Carmen Suite, Purtseladze’s troupe retold the story through dancing.

Having gathered a wonderful team of his own students, Konstantine Purtseladze said they perfectly understand his “language.”

The twelve participants had several months of rehearsals beginning in May of this year leading up to the London festival this past September.

The Georgian Carmen Suite was first premiered in England and afterwards the troupe danced for the Georgian audience. Aleksishvili said it was a double responsibility to share the story not by speech but by plastic movements.

She said the audiences do not differ but the foreign audiences are amazed with the Georgian performance, which they find different from their own theatric traditions.

Music and drama theatre was one of the four troupes at London’s festival where the participating countries showed one and the same story in their own unique ways in the frames of the European Union’s educational and cultural program. Next June, Carmen Suite will visit several English cities and take on some new challenges.

Rustaveli Theatre actor Bacho Chachibaia was invited to play Jose, who is madly in love with Carmen. It was the first choreographic performance for Chachibaia. He felt amazed to dance in this story. “None of the participants are dancers. We are all actors,” he told The Messenger.

Emphasizing how the team worked together during these months, Bacho said Carmen has become one of his most favorite plays, but it is always the viewers’ responsibility to define the fate of the play.