National Archives of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia purchased the collection of Georgian Ballet artist and ballet master Aleqsi Chichinadze from the private person. Collection unifies the photo negatives taken in 1932-1967. Henceforth the collection will be preserved at the Audio-Visual and Film Archives of the National Archives of Georgia.

Collection consist the materials depicting the Georgian ballet stage of the second half of the 20th century. One will meet the photo negatives of the original staging of Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre. Among them are the materials depicting the ballets – “Othello”, “The Heart of the Mountains”, “Giselle”, staged by Vakhtang Chabukiani. Collection also preserves several coloured scenes from the filming location of the film “Masters of Georgian Ballet” (director Shota Managadze, Vakhtang Chabukiani). Fragments from the ballet “Light”, staged by Vakhtang Chabukiani in early years on Tbilisi stage, are also presented.

Among the photos, unified in the collection, are the materials depicting the foreign dancers (Beryl Grey (“Giselle”), Maya Plisetskaya and Nikolai Fadeyechev (“Swan Lake”), Raisa Struchkova and Sergei Lapauri (“Concert Waltz”), Boris Khokhlov (“Don Quixote”) and others), on tours in Georgia, and their performances.

Comparably smaller part of Aleqsi Chichinadze’s collection concerns the earlier period of Georgian Ballet and Music stage. It consists the group and individual portraits of composer Zakaria Paliashvili, conductor Ivane Paliashvili, other members of their family, as well as the singer Nadezhda Buzoghli, Evgeni Mikeladze, ballet master Davit Machavariani and others; also several scenes from “Absalom and Eteri”, staged by Alexandre Tsutsunava.

Aleqsi Chichinadze graduated from Moscow Choreographic School in 1941. He was the solist of Moscow Musical Theatre since 1944, and ballet master – since 1955. He worked as a chief ballet master in Warsaw Wielki Theatre in 1967-1970; Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Musical Theatre - in 1971-1984. 

Aleqsi Chichinadze often visited Georgia. He wrote Ballet and Opera librettos for Kutaisi Opera Theatre, where he staged opera “Iolanta”. In 1966 three of his performances – “Choreographic Poem”, “Don Giovanni” and “Francesca da Rimini” were presented in Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre.