I was mentally balancing my expectations this way through the evening when suddenly the tables turned. For the final piece on the program, "Sagalobeli," Ananiashvili had called upon her friend and former partner at the Bolshoi, Yuri Possokhov, now resident choreographer at the San Francisco Ballet. There could have been no one more perfect to give the State Ballet of Georgia a signature ballet. My Dance Insider colleague Aimée Ts’ao has previously noted Possokhov's talent for bringing out "the best in dancers and show(ing) facets of them that have not been even hinted at before." He did that and more for the State Ballet of Georgia. In the program notes, the choreographer (who hails from the Ukraine) writes, "For anyone who lived in the former Soviet Union, Georgian polyphonic songs, folk dances, theater, cinema, and art are an essential part of cultural awareness." Possokhov can bend ballet vocabulary to suit an expression, and he gave the audience and the dancers a ballet that spoke joyfully of a connection with the land and rhythm of life in that region. It was confidently and dynamically performed; truly owned by the dancers. (The traditional Georgian Folk music was performed live on traditional instruments by the Sagalobeli Ensemble.)

Sometimes, we don't need a company to be another Bolshoi or another New York City Ballet, we just need it to really be itself.

Nina Ananiashvili and the State Ballet of Georgia conclude their 2008 U.S tour this weekend at the University of Minnesota, with a mixed program tonight and with Ananiashvili starring in "Giselle" tomorrow, before returning to perform at home in Tbilisi beginning April 5. For a photo gallery of the company, click here.