Tbilisi: Erisioni

Erisioni, Tbilisi, Georgia

Tonight I did something I wanted to do before I even left for Georgia.

I saw one of the three most famous dance troupes live. Tonight it was Erisioni.

Got my ticket yesterday. Not many left by the time I did so, and the concert subsequently sold out.

The night of the concert, I met a Tasmanian artist who bought a ticket from a scalper. Gay is a sculptor and furniture-maker, fashioning furniture from surrounding nature. She's been in Georgia for a number of weeks as an artist-in-residence, and returns home next Friday. We had a glass of wine before the performance and swapped stories about ourselves.

We separated to our respective seats, and I discovered a few seats down from mine was a retired teacher from California on a three-month tour of friends in Georgia and other European countries. We talked about the TLG program and I gave him some contact info.

I'd been worried about my seat location, but it turned out just fine. The only complaint I have about the production is the lighting sucked. For some performances, a stage light shined directly into my eyes (and Gay reported the identical problem in her seat, which was well below and to the side of mine). And sometimes the lighting was too dark in some dances, including my favorite, Khorumi. This was a criminal offense, truly.

The polyphonic singing was very intense - it reverberated into one's being.

The audience - so thunderously, enthusiastically appreciative. Georgians cherish their folk music and dance.

I'm posting my video of Erisioni's encore performane below, but check out here for gorgeous videos of their work.

Oh, why should I make you work so hard? Below is Erisioni's Acharuli: