Who would have thought that Georgia would be a hot spot of culture? In the last two weeks, I have gone to performances by two very popular groups in Tbilisi: the Georgian National Pantomime Theater and the Georgian National Dance Company. Think about that for a minute. In the span of one week, you can see a troupe of mimes and a performance of cultural dancing in the same city. It’s like going to a tractor pull one night and the ballet the next. And what’s so amazing is, they were both very enjoyable and extremely well done.
I have to admit, I went to the Pantomime Theater solely out of curiosity. Sort of like rubber necking at a bus accident – you don’t want to, but you’d hate to miss something. So I went. It cost 5 Lari to get in – about $3. If that seems cheap, understand that you’re not paying for ambience. The theatre was unheated, the seats mostly busted or even missing, every other light bulb was out, and the bathroom was so filthy that roaches warned me not to go in. But the performance! Let me start by saying it’s the first performance I’ve been to here where I completely understood the language. It was not what you’d expect – the sort of “street mime” with the white face and giant invisible box. It was story telling in pantomime. There were, if memory serves, eight or nine “acts,” each of them about ten minutes long. Each act told a story familiar to citizens of Tbilisi – trying to cross a street full of traffic was hilarious and absolutely spot on. As he pirouetted through the traffic, dodging and ducking, I thought, “Hey, I’ve been that guy.” The story of the guy in a weight room trying to impress some girls has been played out in every gym I’ve ever been. And the scene where five short minutes of loving cost a fellow twenty long years of family “bliss” was both funny and poignant at the same time.
What was extremely impressive of the performance was the unexpected amount of dance involved in the pantomime. It was really a fascinating mixture of “typical” pantomime and modern dance. I would not have thought the two could be so closely intertwined, but it was so cleverly done it looked like an old married couple on the dance floor – each move was anticipated by the other. I will definitely go again.
The very next weekend I attended a performance by the Georgian State Dance Company. This performance absolutely epitomized the gender roles here in Georgia. The women wore beautiful gowns and glided across the stage looking virginal and flowing. The men wore traditional costumes, namely hunting outfits and military uniforms. Their dances were extremely masculine – sword fights and thrown daggers and marching in formation and acrobatics. This is exactly how a Georgian man sees himself – as that macho warrior defending the virginity and flowingness (yeah, I know; I just made it up) of the Georgian women.
You see the same attitude with sex here. Women are expected to remain virgins until they marry while men are expected to be experienced and wordly (not sure where they’re expected to gain their experience if women are off limits, but there are a lot of barnyard animals here). Premarital sex is practically unheard of, or at least not discussed in public. The insistence of remaining pure until marriage has led to a custom here called “bride napping,” where a would-be suitor kidnaps his intended and keeps her away from her family for a week or so. Then, when he attempts to return her to her family, the family refuses her, assuming that she is no longer a virgin, and, thus, not likely to get married, thus remaining in the home. The suitor then, in a display of chivalry, agrees to marry the girl which the family quickly agrees to. Thus, the male is actually rewarded for a felony – kidnapping – and the female has no choice in her fate. While this practice is, thankfully, not as popular as it once was, it is still not unknown, especially in the more rural areas.
But I digress. The point I was trying to make was, the dance of the culture seems to mirror the culture. I saw that in both performances; in the pantomime, good story telling is appreciated, and everyday challenges are looked at with humor. In the State Dance Company’s performance, the women are untouchable paragons of virtue and beauty while the men are fierce protectors of all that is good. That’s how the Georgians see themselves and how they want others to see them.
For me, it was a bit psychological, a bit social, and a lot entertaining. I’ve added some links below if you want to see for yourselves. Thanks for reading.
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