Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Nina Ananiashvili was Georgia’s junior skating champion at age 10 and started ballet training that same year. Her impressive progress led her to study at the Moscow Choreographic School, the Bolshoi Ballet’s school, at age 13. During her studies, Ananiashvili won the Gold Medal (Junior Division) at the Varna International Competition in 1980 and the Grand Prix (Junior Division) at the Moscow International Ballet Competition in 1981.
In 1981, she joined the Bolshoi Ballet upon graduation. In 1985, she won the Gold Medal (Senior Division) at the Moscow International Ballet Competition and won the Grand Prix in the USA International Ballet Competition of Jackson in 1986. Her touring with the Bolshoi won great acclaim. Along with Andris Liepa, she became one of the first Soviet dancers to guest with New York City Ballet in 1988 and became an international ballet superstar. While a Prima Ballerina at the Bolshoi, she was named Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre. She also appeared with Kirov Ballet, The Royal Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, National Ballet of Portugal, Birmingham Ballet, Boston Ballet and Tokyo Ballet, amongst others, and toured with her own company “Nina Ananiashvili and International Stars”, frequently with Aleksei Fadeechev.
Ananiashvili was named Artistic Director of State Ballet of Georgia in 2004. There she introduced new versions of Ballet Gorda and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, Les Sylphides, La Bayadère, Laurencia and, with Fadeechev, staged Don Quixote, Raymonda (Act III), and La Fille mal gardée at Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre. Additionally, she has been invited to be a jury member and staging choreographer for theatres around the world.
Her achievements have earned her many accolades, including Georgia’s Shota Rustaveli State Prize, People Artist of Georgia, Order of Honour and Presidential Orders of Excellence, Russia’s Triumph Prize, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation and Order For Merit to the Fatherland, Italy’s Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity and, most recently, the Japan’s prestigious Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in 2017.