ABT Principal Dancer to Leave

Gather your Giselles while you may: American Ballet Theater announced Monday that Nina Ananiashvili would retire from the company after its 2009 summer season at the Metropolitan Opera House. Ms. Ananiashvili, right, who has been a principal dancer with the company since 1993, has appeared in “Swan Lake” and “Don Quixote” during its current season and is scheduled to dance in “Giselle” on July 7. Ms. Ananiashvili, who was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, was appointed artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia in 2004, and in recent years she has led it on international tours, including a visit to the Brooklyn Academy of Music this spring. Her husband, Gregory Vashadze, said in an e-mail message to a Ballet Theater publicist that it had become more difficult for Ms. Ananiashvili to travel overseas with their young daughter for the several months required for her to appear with the American company. The theater’s statement said that she planned to continue performing with the State Ballet of Georgia and to make guest appearances with other companies.

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