It is the end of August, and new principal dancer Lasha Khozashvili has been at Boston Ballet less than a week. But already he dances like he owns the place, filling the studio during a rehearsal of “La Bayadere’’ with lofty jumps and bold turns, his long strides rocketing him through space.

With curly dark locks and flash-ing eyes, this native of Tbilisi, Geor-gia, is destined to be a company heartthrob, but a wide grin and an exaggerated “Whew!’’ at the end of one particularly energetic series of leaps also suggest a lively sense of humor. He claps appreciatively as

fellow danc-ers Lia Cirio and Jaime Diaz com-plete their pas de deux.

Khozash-vili is just one of 19 new dancers who will in-fuse Boston Ballet’s ranks with fresh energy when the company opens the sea-son Oct. 23 with the fifth annual “Night of Stars’’ gala, followed by a company premiere of “La Baya-dere’’ Nov. 4-14. Pointe shoes, tights, and leotards in tow, they’ve come to Boston from around the globe — Cuba, Japan, Brazil,

Ukraine, France, Australia, Spain, and more. They represent a signifi-cant expansion of Boston Ballet’s artistic roster, bringing the full com-pany total (including the 11-member apprentice troupe Boston Ballet II) to 58 dancers from 15 countries.

Just two years ago, facing a fi-nancial crunch, Boston Ballet laid off staff and reduced the main company from 50 to 41. Artistic di-rector Mikko Nissinen said the aim was to operate short-staffed for two years in order to regroup and pay off debt, then build the company back up.

“We did two to three rounds of trimming on every possible front,’’ Nissinen said recently by phone. “We cleaned out our debt royally, and moved our financial picture to a

very good place.’’ This season, working on a budget of $24 mil-lion-$25 million, the main company roster is back up to 47, and further additions are planned over the next few years.

Khozashvili, who previously danced with the State Ballet of Georgia, comes in as the first princi-pal hired from outside the company since Erica Cornejo in 2006. “He’s a

phenomenal dancer,’’ Nissinen says. “Very impressive technique, a virtu-oso romantic type. Ladies, fasten your seatbelts.’’ (Actually, ladies, Khozashvili has been married for four years to another new dancer, corps member Ekaterine Chubinid-ze.) For Khozashvili, Boston Ballet represents an opportunity to settle in and grow. Rather than resting on

Arts & Culture

Who should fund theatrical pro-ductions, symphonies, visual artists, writers and musicians?

Given the B.C. goverwnment’s turnaround this week in funding the arts, the question arises about what is the best way to support tens of thousands of (often-starving) artists in the province. Should artists sink or swim on their commercial ap-peal? Should governments withdraw from the arts, or spend more on them? Should the wealthy again become the dominant patrons?

Behind these questions is the ultimate one: Which funding ap-proach produces the most creative, meaningful, influential, relevant and transformative art, the kind that best contributes to a healthy society?

With Victoria this week respond-ing to protests by restoring $7 million to the B.C. Arts Council — hiking its budget to about the level it was a year ago — let’s examine west-ern history for insight on financing the arts.

In the medieval and Renais-sance eras, artists were hand-picked by aristocrats or churches. Some wonderful art flowed, including by Michelangelo, Bernini, Shakespeare and Mozart.

However, a great deal of pseu-do-art also came into existence, as noted University of Illinois econo-mist Deirdre McCloskey acknowl-edges. “A bunch of nasty guys and gals” in the aristocracy and churches commissioned art, McCloskey says, mainly to bolster their ambitions or distract the poor from oppression.

It was not until the rise of the capitalist merchant class in the 19th century that funding for the arts shifted away from wealthy benefac-tors to consumers who could sud-denly afford it. The state also began democratizing art, bringing more of it to the people.

But the funding issue has not been settled. For the past century and longer, many have maintained that only paintings, classical music and books that sell on their own should be produced. Artists who cannot financially support them-selves should just find jobs as wait-ers or electricians.

Why? McCloskey, who is famous for her feisty economic opinions, says the main reason is that too many artists rely on government largesse to produce sophomoric “anti-capitalist” art.

McCloskey, who describes herself as a “gentle anarchist,” believes artists should “not bite the hand that feeds them.” Instead of mocking the bourgeoisie, McClos-key makes a good point that more artists should celebrate “bourgeois virtues,” such as respect and equal-ity, and bourgeois people, such as grocery store managers.

Douglas Todddtodd@vancouversun.com

Saving the arts AN INTRICATE RITUAL

Mehndi holds a great deal of cultural signifi-cance in Indian traditions. Be it weddings, Karva Chauth or other occasions, mehndi plays a very important role in all the ceremo-

nies and festivals of India. In today’s era of modernization, the new styles and de-

signs of mehndi are coming up and are adding glamour and fun to the tradition.

Weddings being the most important day in ones life, mehndi has become an ornament for the soon to be brides. There is, in fact, one whole ceremony dedicated to its cel-ebration popularly known as Mehndi Ceremony or Mehndi Ki Raat. Besides this, the phrase Haath Peele Karna as often heard from elders of the family is a rasam of mehndi directly synonymous to marriage. This significance maybe attributed to symbolic meaning of mehndi, for example fertility.

Mehndi Ceremony is among the pre wedding rituals in Indian weddings performed a day prior to the marriage. Just as Haldi ceremony symbolizes cleanliness, mehndi signifies beautification.

Mehndi-Ki-Raat is usually a private affair with close rela-tives, friends and family members, celebrated amidst lot of dancing and feasting. This ritual is often combined with

Sangeet ceremony and so is primarily a womens function. The atmosphere is imbued with dholak beats and singing of traditional songs while mehndi is applied on brides hands and legs by mehndi experts. The brides mehndi interweaves the name of her would be husband and he is expected to find his name in the pat-tern. The female relatives of the family also apply mehndi on their palms to take part in the celebra-tions. This ceremony is performed by families of both the Indian bride and the Indian groom.

Even the color of mehndi is given high im-portance in Indian culture as the darkness of the col-or signifies the degree of husbands and mother-in-laws love. It depicts love and affection between the couple as it is believed that the longer it retains, the more aus-picious it is. The bride is traditionally not allowed to work in her husbands home until her mehndis color fades away completely. plied on all the important occasions, festivals and

By Deepika Bansal

An Indian bride goes through the rituals with her female family members on her wedding dau.

Bride Niveen Pakilan shows her traditonal Mehendi, or Henna, on her hands which is considered beneficial to the couple’s future. She was married at the Lyman Estate in Waltham, MA.

See RITUAL, B3

THE BOSTON GLOBE

Glen Cooper/DMPJ

Glen Cooper/DMPJ

Wednesday November 17, 2010

Expanded Boston Ballet adds 19 international dancersBy Karen CampbellTHE BOSTON GLOBE “When adding new dancers, the

company’s chemistry changes, and I get to redefine it.”

— Artistic director Mikko Nissinen

See BALLET, B3

B

Mehndi ceremonies are at the center of Indian weddings

Inside

Mikko Nissinen

Nutcracker is on it’s way to theaters in across the coun-try for this holiday season, B4

The Boston Globe Boston.com

UPCOMING EVENTS

Russian Ballet, Nov. 15

Avenue Q, Nov. 17

EL Arts Festival, Nov. 18-19

Section

MORE EVENTS, B4