Maria Perini

Who was Maria Perini?

Maria Perini was an Italian ballet teacher who studied under the Italian ballet dancer and teacher Enrico Cecchetti. In 1916, she opened the first private ballet studio in the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts building at Griboedovi street, Tbilisi, Georgia. In 1920, it became the State Ballet School of Opera and Ballet Theatre, where she became a teacher and director. Perini grew up with several well-known artists, among them Vakhtang Chabukiani, founders of the Georgian National Ballet theater Iliko Sukhishvili and Nino Ramishvili, Tamar Chabukiani, and Solomon Virsaladze. She was married to the Polish-Georgian artist Henryk Hryniewski.