Nina Ananiashvili

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 the New York Magazine critic praised Nina Ananiashvili as the best thing about the Bolshois Giselle whether she appeared in the title role or as the queen of the wilis. In 2014, a film of her 1991 performance in Giselle with the Bolshoi ballet was released.

Nina Gedevanovna Ananiashvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR. Her father, Gedevan, and two older brothers, George and Levan, were all geologists her mother, Lia Gogolashvili, a philologist. She was a sickly child and at the age of 4, her parents started her ice skating in an effort to improve her health. At 10, she became champion in her age group in Georgia.

Source: Wikipedia