Tsisnami (Sissy) Sakvarlishvili left the country of Georgia after Russia invaded it in 2008, but it has never left her heart. The only person in her family to receive a visa to leave, she went first to Italy to earn a master's degree in Florence and then came to the United States in 2013 to study and try to make some money to send back to her family.
Now married and sharing a home with her husband in Amagansett and Brooklyn, she recalls the early days of her arrival and the jobs she could find without a green card. She ended up working as a caregiver in East Hampton.
"I was treated very poorly from the family," she said in accented English. "These people looked at me and see me only as a caregiver. They had no idea who I am and who I was." That she was someone with an advanced degree, fluent in four languages, and successful in her career at home and in Italy made it even more disheartening.
That feeling has stayed with her, particularly as she sees other immigrants working hard in this area, doing jobs that American citizens do not want, with backgrounds and lives in their home countries that no one appears to be aware of or appreciate.
Looking for a way to remedy that on a personal level, she decided she wanted Georgian culture to be seen in East Hampton. Her desire was to share it with an audience that may never have experienced it, or known that the country was invaded by Russia just as Ukraine was more recently.
On Sunday at 2 p.m., along with the Pesvebi Georgian Cultural Center and LTV, she will host a program of Georgian national dances with choreography by Shorena Barbakadze, Jurkha Lomtadze, Giorgi Goderdzishvili, and Ivan Goderdzishvili. Ms. Sakvarlishvili will read passages from her book "Diary of a Red-Haired Girl" describing her own experiences as an immigrant as well as the culture and literature of Georgia. It will take place at LTV Studios in Wainscott.
As the country fights for its freedom, she said, its economy suffers. Families have broken apart as members have left to help bring support back home, taking whatever jobs are available to them.
"It doesn't mean that these people are not educated or they don't have college degrees or they're not brilliant," she said. Georgia, as a country, is particularly well educated and ambitious, but Americans may not be familiar with the culture.
The traditional dances that will be performed are about love and togetherness, and finding commonality with people, she said, adding that George Balanchine, a founder of the New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet, was of Georgian extraction.
The afternoon of Georgian culture will be accompanied by samples of Georgian wine and traditional cuisine such as a cheese bread, soup dumplings, and eggplant with walnut sauce. "Come and taste the culture and cuisine," Ms. Sakvarlishvili said.
Tickets, which are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, can be purchased through the LTV Studios website.
