Victoria Jaiani, a company artist at The Joffrey Ballet, is the quintessential ballerina. If you see her walking down the street in the Loop on a rehearsal break, you see the slim figure, long dark hair, expressive eyes and immediately know she’s a dancer — and that she’s someone special. She captures your attention and immediately draws you in. Who is that? If she can do that on a random Monday afternoon, you can imagine what happens when she’s on stage. She’s a bird, a ghost, a mermaid, a lover. She magically transforms into every role she’s given. She’s someone dancers young and old look up to, or, as the kids say these days, she’s “iconic.”
A few accolades include winning the bronze medal at the New York International Ballet Competition, gracing the cover of Dance Magazine, being named one of Chicago’s top women in the arts by Today’s Chicago Woman and best dancer by Chicago Magazine. Critics in reviews have used bravura, brilliant, amazing and exquisite to describe her dancing. Although 20 years is a milestone many ballet dancers don’t reach, Jaiani shows no signs of slowing down or stopping any time soon. Things that may have sidelined another dancer — having a child or recovering from a knee injury — have only made her stronger.
Jaiani opened her 21st season the with Joffrey in October, dancing the role of Elizabeth in Liam Scarlett’s epic Frankenstein, and she’s at the creative height of her career. “For two decades, Victoria Jaiani has brought authenticity, discipline and commitment to every performance,” said Joffrey’s The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE. “She has danced the works of numerous renowned choreographers and originated countless iconic roles, forever etching her name into ballet history. Victoria’s commitment to our art form is a testament to the boundless power of her performances, which have captured our hearts for a remarkable 20 years.”
Throughout her career, she has dazzled countless audiences, inspired dancers across the globe and became a muse for more than a few choreographers. But it is her life off stage that keeps her inspired. Namely, her husband of 17 years, former Joffrey artist Temur Suluashvili and their son, Maxim. The couple met at the V. Chabukiani Ballet School in Tblisi, Georgia (Republic), and Jaiani immediately had a crush on Suluashvili. “I don’t think he noticed me for a few years,” she said in an interview at Joffrey Tower. Eventually, they started dating, but fate intervened, and Jaiani moved to New York to study at the Joffrey School on full scholarship, leaving her post-Soviet Union, war-torn home and family. “Things became tough, and it was getting dangerous. It became clear to my mom that we needed to leave,” she said. “My mom sold a few things to buy me a plane ticket. I had $100 in my pocket.” Being alone in the States and not speaking the language, Jaiani relied on frequent phone calls to friends back home, including Suluashvili. She suggested he send an audition tape to Joffrey, as she had, and he also got a scholarship. “It was a safe path. When someone gets in the door, we keep the door open.”
Once in New York, their relationship grew as well as their careers. One day Joffrey co-founder Gerald Arpino — affectionately known as Mr. A — asked to see a few students perform some of his choreography, Jaiani and Suluashvili among the small group. They were both offered contracts to the main company which meant a move to Chicago in 2003. “I didn’t understand the significance of it then,” Jaiani said. “I was happy I would be getting paid and could help. I could send money back home.”
In her first season at Joffrey, she was cast as Juliet in John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, the youngest of three ballerinas to perform the role. “I would take notes and write everything down, then work with Temur after hours,” said Jaiani. “I had a lot of work to do. I could’ve either doubted myself and completely shut down or think that they see something in me, so I’d better not disappoint.” She chose the latter. Thirteen years later, she danced Juliet again in a more modern version by Krzysztof Pastor. “I was so happy to revisit that role as a grown woman. I was partnered with someone very young, so it felt like a full circle.” She has also had the privilege of dancing other roles twice: Giselle in 2007 and 2017, Christopher Wheeldon’s Swan Lake in 2014 and 2018, and Kitri in Don Quixote in 2010 and 2022. All were opening night performances.
Another full-circle moment came in 2019 when Yuri Possokhov created Anna Karenina for Joffrey with Jaiani in the lead role cementing her in the ballet lexicon for originating this role. Possohkov won the Benois de la Danse Award — known as the “Oscars of Dance” — for best choreography. Her first memory of seeing Possokhov was as a student in Tblisi, watching him dance Prince Albrecht in Giselle. “It was the best thing I’d ever seen,” she said. “I was obsessed. He’s the best Albrect that ever was. I just kept staring at him. He was in his own world. I thought, ‘I want to get there. I want to feel what that feels like.’ I remember going backstage to get his autograph, then sneaking to the back of the line to get another one.” From that starstruck student, a full-fledged artist grew. And, once again she brought her life experience to the role. “I had read Anna as a student, but I didn’t like it,” said Jaiani. “I was so young; I judged her. Not until working with Yuri, did I understand the woman. I saw her through his eyes.”
One of the most challenging sequences in Anna Karenina is her last solo. It comes at the end of the ballet and is the last time we see her dance before she kills herself — spoiler alert! The ballet itself is taxing emotionally and physically, and carrying the weight of the lead role is extra pressure. “At the beginning, you’re coming back into society a ruined woman, so you’re entering the stage vulnerable,” she said. “The final monologue is a tough one. It’s difficult. You’re fighting technically and in your thoughts. You’re fighting for breath … it’s so hard in so many ways. I’m looking forward to dancing it again on tour. I don’t know when will be the last time, so I want to take it all in.”
Over the years, Jaiani has been frequently paired with her husband in ballets such as Orphee and Eurydice, RAkU, and Fool’s Paradise. Others were created on them including Bells and a bespoke duet Adagio by Possokhov. The husband-and-wife team flourished on stage and off. Enter Maxim. In 2013, just after opening night of Stanton Welch’s La Bayadère, Jaiani announced that she and Suluashvili were expecting a baby. She went on to perform not one, but two, of the leading roles for that performance run before taking time off. After giving birth to Maxim in the spring, she set about getting her body back to the elite level required to dance. Five months later, she danced opening night of Wheeldon’s Swan Lake in the dual role of Odette/Odile, a rite of passage for any ballerina. “I had just become a mom and I was doing it,” she said. “To this day, the first time the prince touches her, I get goosebumps. I had those on stage too. I thought, ‘This is it. I made it. I’m the Swan Queen.’ At home, I was breastfeeding, but at work, I could just be a swan.” Always the professional, focused and driven artist, she said becoming a mom grounded her and she became fully present which enhanced her life at home and her art.
Wheeldon was so impressed with Jaiani, her artistry and work ethic, that when he came back to Joffrey in 2016 to create a new version of The Nutcracker, he created the lead role of Mother/Golden Statue on her. She dances those roles again this month during their annual engagement at the Lyric Opera. “Victoria is a singular artist of great and beautiful paradox. Vulnerable delicacy and steely strength,” said Wheeldon. “When choreographing the role of the Golden Statue on her for The Nutcracker, I wanted to capture her lush expressive, highly emotional dancing and combine that with the majesty of the Tchaikovsky music. No longer just a classical showpiece pas de deux, but an expression of love for the man who has protected her child and taken them on this magical journey.”
This new take set the ballet in 1892 pre-World’s Exposition Chicago focusing on an immigrant, single mother sculptress and her children. Jaiani takes inspiration from her real-life role as “Mom” to her on-stage part. “I let my instincts take over,” she said. “I know how a sleepy kid walks. I know what it’s like to lean him against me, to put him to bed. That along with my knowledge of ballet theater and gestures guides me and I can’t go wrong.” In the second act of Wheeldon’s version, the Sugar Plum Fairy has been transformed into the Golden Statue, a centerpiece of the Colombian Exposition, which the mother is seen sculpting in Act One. The traditional grand pas de deux showcasing the technical skills of the dancers is now also a passionate love story.
Another rite of passage for dancers is being cast in opening night. The stakes are raised when it is the first performance of a world premiere, especially for a ballet that replaced a beloved classic that was created by Joffrey’s founders. Jaiani handled it with aplomb, managing the emotional toll of dancing the final performance of Robert Joffrey’s Nutcracker with her husband one season, and opening the new Wheeldon version with Miguel Angel Blanco the next. Her son, Maxim was in the audience for both. “I have a special place in my heart for Robert Joffrey’s Nutcracker. The Sugar Plum Fairy was such an epic role,” said Jaiani. “I’m so grateful to Ashley (Wheater) for giving us the opportunity to be the last couple. It was difficult to say goodbye, but once we did, then we said hello to something brilliant. Chris (Wheeldon) was so generous with his choreography, his musicality, his guidance … he made it special. He’s so open, such a positive force of nature. He created space for all of us, so it was an exciting new beginning.”
When we look at Jaiani, we see a seasoned artist and performer melding her personal and professional lives seamlessly. In her eyes, she’s still the little girl whose grandma took her to see her first ballet and watched her dance in the living room. “She took me to see La Fille Mal Gardee. I fell in love,” she said. “My mom was worried about putting food on the table, but I just wanted to be a ballerina.” Dreams do come true.
The Joffrey Ballet performs “The Nutcracker” Saturday, December 2 through Tuesday, December 27, 2023. Tickets start at $36 and are available for purchase by visiting Joffrey Ballet online, by telephone at 312.386.8905 or at the Lyric Opera box office located at 20 N. Upper Wacker Drive, Chicago. Get 15% off tickets with code BETTER24.
More From Better:
- 31 Best Things to Do in Chicago and the Suburbs This December 2023
- Joffrey Ballet President and CEO Greg Cameron Honored for Lifetime Commitment to Nonprofits and the Arts
- Harris Theater Celebrates 20 Years of ‘Groundbreaking’ Work With $5M Donation and Latest Show ‘Jungle Book reimagined’
Vicki Crain is a Chicago-based, freelance arts and culture writer. Her work has recently been featured in Chicago Magazine, and See Chicago Dance, as well as on her blog/podcast Rogue Ballerina. The second book in her children’s book series, The Furry Princess, will be published in 2024.
