Maia Makhateli

Biography

Makhateli was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, to Nikoloz Makhateli and Marina Loladze, dancers at the Georgian National Ballet; her grandfather was a notable folk dancer in Georgia. She trained in ballet in Tblisi at the Cabukiana Choreographic Institute with Larisa Chkikvishvili. When she was 15, her father was offered a job with the Sun Valley Ballet School in Ketchum, Idaho, US. Makhateli also attended the school where she danced in The Nutcracker together with her elder brother David Makhateli. Her brother is a principal with The Royal Ballet, and her parents now run the Makhateli Ballet Academy in Denver, Colorado. She trained in Colorado with German Zamuel and Valentina Mukhanova.

In 2002, she joined the Colorado Ballet, dancing several principal roles. In 2006, Makhateli moved to England where she spent a year with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. That year, paired with her brother, she danced Romeo and Juliet at the World International Ballet Festival in Tokyo, saying, "It's quite hard to be Juliet when Romeo is your brother." She joined the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam in 2007 as a grand sujet. Two years later, she became a soloist and was promoted to principal dancer in 2010. She was a guest teacher at The Hague's 2014 Summerschool Den Haag program and has been a guest artist at the Portland Oregon Ballet.

Awards