Abstract

This article examines how Georgian national dance encodes and transmits collective character. Drawing on historical and interpretive methods, the authors trace the long evolution of choreographic forms from pagan roots to their present, celebrated status, and consider why precise origins remain contested. Reading dance as a cultural "text," the study identifies recurring traits – love of homeland, loyalty, chivalry, valour, friendship, mutual support, and religious tolerance – embedded in movement, music and performance practice. The research argues that Georgian creativity constitutes an embodied, transformed intelligence: a living medium through which communal memory and identity are cultivated, refined and presented to the world as an intangible cultural treasure.