Nina Ananiashvili is
a Georgian ballerina and artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia. She
has been described by the Daily Telegraph as one of the twelve greatest
ballerinas of all time, and in 2002 was named Best Ballerina of the Year by the
US Dance Magazine.
Ananiashvili has been
a prominent fixture of the Soviet, Russian and Georgian ballet scene for
decades. Shortly before the fall of the Iron Curtain, in 1987 a New York
Magazine critic praised Nina Ananiashvili as "the best thing about the
Bolshoi's Giselle whether she appeared in the title role or as the queen of the
wilis."