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Home » And there’s always room for some Georgian dancing

And there’s always room for some Georgian dancing

The New Neo Posted on by

Those of you who’ve read this blog for a long time know how much I like Georgian dance, and they also know what I mean by “Georgian.”

So here’s some more for your weekend enjoyment. It’s short but varied, and as usual there are a few knives:

Comments

And there’s always room for some Georgian dancing — 44 Comments

  2. I’d love to see a video of Art Deco dancing. Bet it would make Elaine look like Margot Fonteyn.

  3. From the few descriptions of herself I have read, Neo is small enough to have been a dancer, which might explain her abiding interest.

    Thanks for posting this, Neo. I’d never seen Georgian dancing before.

  5. Do you have a sister, a mother, someone who is looking for a slightly used and abused male companion? Because every time you post about Georgian ballet with the knife throwing I’m like, “Yes! Finally a woman who gets me. I can now go the ballet because it involves knife throwing.” It’s too bad you don’t drink, because after the knife throwing I traditionally down a few shots.

  8. I keep trying to teach my self a little Georgian. Fascinating language. The consonant clusters are crazy.

  9. Thanks! They are great. I hope that some time they come to Denver. I might have to force myself to drive down.

  13. Well if you’re not going to take credit for it, I guess I will. Now you owe me a drink! And so do all Malteds. Maltians. Maltesers. Maltinians. WTF are those people called, anyway?

  14. Knives and daggers and dirks, oh my! It looks like quite something. One more reason to put Georgia on my list.

  19. Extraordinary country.
    Beautiful vistas (with peaks higher than the Alps)
    Amazing food (and wine—one can read about the six-or-so-thousand-year-history of Georgian wine-making techniques, which are still used currently—and “chacha”, which is a tasty, potent quaff made of distilled skins and dregs, akin to French “marc”, i.e., tastier and more colorful than grappa).
    Fascinating history and traditions.
    Nice people.
    Nifty alphabet.
    Um, “creative” drivers (AKA be careful).

    BTW, George Balanchine was Georgian (or half-Georgian) and considered himself so (though I’m not sure that he ever actually lived there but did visit as much as he could), loved Georgian food and collaborated, with personal observations, on a fabulous Georgian cookbook.

  20. Neo, the dancers are amazing, and some of the choreography in the video is also visually stunning. One shot made me think of Busby Berkeley *g*.

    Thanks for the introduction to this whole type of dancing, completely new to me.

    Wow!

  21. Balanchine? A Georgian cookbook? I will have to visit eBay. Thanks for the info.

  22. A beautiful book. Fairly standard size, even a bit on the slim side, but for some reason pretty heavy. Great photos, too, to accompany the recipes and Balanchine’s culinary reminiscences.

  23. If you visit Malta, you will of course visit Valletta. Do your self a favor and visit the cathedral.

    You laugh.

  24. Steve, why would I laugh at a suggestion to visit a cathedral? Well, okay, unless it’s something Frank Lloyd Wright or Le Corbusier threw together, then laughter might be an appropriate reaction. If I get to go there, I fully expect to visit Valletta and the fortress where that famous battle happened. Fregosi wrote about it – I can’t think of its name just now. It would obviously be covered in Allen’s book as well, which you mentioned.

    Oh, and thank you for your contribution to that endeavor, too!

    As for Georgia (in a valiant effort to get back on topic), I saw a book in the library last year about Georgian viniculture. I got to read a few chapters of it; pretty engaging. It helps a bit that I know a Georgian family around here. And to visit some of the monasteries could be good for me, too. Not to mention the dance troupe that Neo got us started with. I suppose they must play to the home crowd at some time or other.

  25. Yikes, I forgot to mention the music….

    Another centuries-old tradition of amazing beauty, both of the sacred and the folk variety.

    Everyone sings. Music, music everywhere…in Georgia’s extraordinary modes.

    (They even have their own form of yodeling, as one might expect in a mountain people.)

    Music of the spheres. Polyphony unbound….

  27. Steve, but you didn’t insult. 🙂 No worries, mate! as our Oz friends say. (I found myself wanting to eat Marmite the other day.)

    Barry, is their music related to Byzantine? I’m glad to hear that singing is common there.

  28. Philip…Marmite is Pom food.
    Vegemite is for the Aussies among us. “It puts a rose in every cheek.” (find the commercials on YouTube with that line) 😉

    Oh…and Fair Dinkum…you don’t want to see me dance.
    Jus’ sayin’

  29. Barry: You are familiar with Georgia. The next time you come look me up. I will buy you a Chacha. I have been here 7 years now and have had many remarkable experiences. Neo, you would be interested to know you have a follower in Georgia as well. If any of you plan a visit, let me know. I can prepare an interesting itinerary for you.

    Merry Christmas …Christmas in Georgia today.

  31. Xylourgos:

    And Merry Christmas to you!

    Georgia, who woulda thunk it? Brings me back to my early days of blogging when I would check my sitemeter and be amazed at the fact that a small percentage of my readers would come from far-off places, some of them quite obscure. I’ve gotten more used to it over the years, but I’m still not blasé about it.

  32. Amazing dancing. I watched the video before falling asleep and dreamt about Georgian dancing all night!

  34. Philipp, I asked it you laughed because, you do know I was Sailor, right? I just thought you might find it funny that I’d visit a cathedral during a port visit. I usyed to visit the chapel A LOTs after we left port. And the Chaplains would laugh at me. “Hello.” they wouid say, “Where you were when you were fixing the orphanage?”

    “Helping their moms” I would answer.

  35. Just kidding. I was playing fussbal at the Atsugi O Club with a friend and I gave a reading from the book of obvious. “You know” I sez, “it just doesn’t pay to do something you can’t live with.” He snorts, “Good call,”

  36. Rule of life. Do you want your grandmother to see what you did last night on the TV news?

  37. And my grandma could put up with a lot. She used to advise me, “Steve don’t ever get old.” I tried my hardest but unfortunately it looks like I’m going to get old.

  39. Steve — I used to have* a step-uncle-in-law who kept saying the exact same thing (only he used to broadcast it to the assorted crowd at family parties and so didn’t address anyone in particular).

    *Unfortunately … he did get old.

    Mostly I don’t use a walker. But last year I turned 44 after three+ decades of being 43, so … I might be, um, becoming more mature.

  40. I guess I should just stifle myself (that alone should tell you how aged I am). I’m 56. And I’ve lead a hard life. 20 years in the Navy. I played Rugby until my mid 40ties. Then I rapidly declined. I just don’t know when to quit.

    The good news is, if I can afford the surgery I can get rid of the walker. I don’t know if I’ll be as good as new, but I’ll be better. And I’ll be back on the tatami mat in no time.

    Begging isn’t a good look, but I started a GoFundMe account to enable me to get the surgery. I don’t expect you to contribute, but if you know rich friends it would be nice if you told them about how I need my hips replaced. Even if you have insurance the amount of money is ridiculous.

  42. Julie, at 44 I was still playing Rugby.

    Is it any wonder that I destroyed every joint in my legs and both shoulders. I probably would have destroyed my elbows and wrists but I had already destroyed everything else and I just didn’t have the capacity. I don’t know if you’re going to find this amusing. I used to sprain my ankles. A lot. I never broke them though. And I would go skiing on them. I’d get off the lift, fall on my face, pick myself up and ski down the mountain over and over until it got dark. Then go back to the lodge and drink hot mulled wine. And then do it the next day.

  43. I hope I don’t come across as if I’m bragging. I’m not tough. I served in the military with men who were/are tough. Green Berets, SEALs, PJs, Recon Marines, etc. When I’m next to them I have no room to talk.

  44. One of my friends is former Green Beret. Then he joined the Navy. I met him at the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center (NMITC). It was during the Summer. Which is significant as the uniform of the day, for us Navy types, were summer whites.

    So this ex Green Beret is going off about how much he hates summer whites because of the IR signature. We’re rolling our eyes. So finally one of my friends says to him what we are all thinking, “If I’m ever stupid enough to run around in the jungle wearing my summer whites, please do the merciful thing and just shoot me.”

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