Art, Mastery and History in Dance

On May 2, 2026 I finally had a chance to see Beka and Nika Nozadze's live performance. It blew off all my expectations.

I've been following Beka's Facebook page ever since I arrived in Tbilisi and was eagerly awaiting to see a dance program rather than the amazing shorts he puts out on social media.

So I was excited to see the announcement about their performance at SKENE Theater, a mind-blowing cultural space that was discovered underground relatively recently, only about 15 years ago, in the very heart of Old Tbilisi on Sioni St.

A group of enthusiasts led by Nino Basharani decided to turn the tunnels of a 16th-17th century Caravanserai (Silk Road trading spaces with lodgings) into a unique underground multi-functional cultural space, specializing in blending wine culture, contemporary art, and intimate performances. On the ground floor, it is connected to a small museum with the private collection of artifacts that as I understand were recovered when the tunnels were discovered.

Here's a short TV report, aired on Georgia's public broadcasting channel, where Nino Basharani explains what SKENE is about and how it came to existence. It is in Georgian but the automatically translated closed captions are faithful enough and you can see how if feels to be in that space.

Located in the historic 17th-century Karvasla building, SKENE has a small intimate stage, shaped and colored like the national fruit of Georgia -- pomegranate. It is a perfect space for dance groups like RedBlack Dance Studio that the cousins Nozadze run.

To say I was excited is to say nothing. From Beka's shorts, I was impressed with their unique dancing style. I would describe it as combining the power and energy of the traditional Georgian male dance with the fluidity of contemporary dance and agility of the dancers' bodies.

Here I should make a note: In traditional Georgian dancing, the brunt and physicality of the dance is carried by men whose movements are incredibly powerful, energetic, expressive, and intense. Men do a lot of dance moves, spins with landing on knees, and jumps on the bent feet - a unique technique that is hard to replicate and is very different from the ballet pointe work. It is intense, creating an impression of a coiled spring that propels the dancer upward. Women, on the other hand, mostly only glide and float on the stage in traditional long dresses, making gracious and fluid movements with their arms and hands.

It's changing recently, with women in modern versions of traditional dances taking a more active role and moving around the stage with more intensity, energy, and more sophisticated leg and foot work as well. I've seen this in all the traditional dance performances I attended, starting with Kartveli and ending with Potskhishvili ballet.

RedBlack Dance Studio took this trend to the next level. Their female students - Sand Girl - are active partners in the choreography, not just the passive beauties that float around and need to be courted and impressed. Their movements are flowing and measured, precise and coordinated to perfection, and the dance turns into a modern fairy tale with a cool background story. Beka Nozadze's talent as the choreographer shines through in all the dances that were performed during the concert.

Watching them perform on the SKENE pomegranate-colored fiery stage was pure pleasure. When they started out with their version of a traditional dance, it was immediately clear to me that this was a masterpiece:

My absolute favorite dance was Chubina, the song by East Duo that has an old legend behind it about a medieval archer (chubina means "archer," apparently the word is of Mongolian origin) who'd shot and killed his master noble for bad treatment of his people. Chubina had to wander around the country because of the law punishing those who rebel against their nobles, until he saved the life of another noble who had been attacked by road robbers, taking them all out one by one with his skillful archery. The grateful noble took Chubina under his protection and he later became a warrior fighting fiercely for Georgia.

Chubina is one of the most beautiful modern Georgian songs rooted in the rich and long musical tradition. When I need to relax or concentrate for work, I play it on a loop. It definitely deserves this beautiful dance:

Another favorite of mine was this expressive and sensual love dance. The lead Sand Girl was sitting right in front of me when Beka started the dance, so her emergence in the video may seem a little sudden:

In the second part of the concert, the Nozadze cousins presented a masterclass in choreography, to show how they work with their dancers. The dancers were caught a little off-guard but accepted the challenge with grace and determination to get it right. The lesson took about 12 minutes, and this is the last but one outcome of it. In the last take they performed with perfection but I didn't record it, unfortunately:

The program included more numbers and finished with an immersive version (moving beyond the stage in the audience isle) of Papaoutai that was breathtakingly mesmerizing.

I hope that this performance is just the beginning for the RedBlack Dance Studio and their future concerts will include more numbers and go bigger. The whole world definitely deserves to see them perform.