CHABUKIANI Vakhtang Mikhailovich (1910-1992), ballet dancer, choreographer, pedagogue, People's Artist of the USSR (1950). Upon graduating from the Leningrad School of Choreography, where he had studied under V.I. Ponomarev, Chabukiani danced at the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre in 1929-41. He performed title roles in the ballets La Bayadere by M.I. Petipa, Don Quixote by А.А. Gorsky, The Flame of Paris by V.I. Vaynonen, and Taras Bulba by F.V. Lopukhov. The passion and agility of Chabukiani's dancing was combined with a gift for profound sincerity in his acting. Chabukiani choreographed several ballets, including The Heart of the Mountains by A.M. Balanchivadze (1938), Laurencia by A.A. Krein (1939), and Othello by A.D. Machavariani (1960). Even during the period of dramatic theatre's strong influence on ballet, Chabukiani's productions were distinguished by distinct elements of dance. Many celebrated artists starred in Chabukiani's ballets, among them T.M. Vecheslova, E.G. Chikvaidze, N.M. Dudinskaya, A.Y. Shelest, A E. Osipenko, B.Y. Bregvadze, S.G. Koren, B.V. Shavrov, and others. He was awarded the Stalin Prize several times (1941, 1948, and 1951) and the Lenin Prize (1958), and lived at 21a Dobrolyubova Avenue.
References: Красовская В. М. Вахтанг Чабукиани. Л.; М., 1960; Кригер В. В. Вахтанг Чабукиани: Страницы из творч. жизни. М., 1960.
G. N. Dobrovolskaya.
