Meet the Ballet Dancer Who's Also a Professional Martial Arts Fighter

February 6, 2018

George Birkadze spends some of his mornings as a guest teacher at Boston Ballet. But this ballet dancer and choreographer also spends much of his time training as a professional martial arts fighter. In fact, Birkadze has a black belt in not one but three different styles including Brazilian jiu-jitsu, judo, and Kyokushin karate. (He’s like a ballet ninja!)

Though martial arts and ballet may seem extremely different, Birkadze says the two actually share more similarities than you might think. Both require discipline, dedication, and daily training. In fact, Birkadze credits ballet for having helped him improve as a martial artist.

While ballet was his first love, Birkadze started studying martial arts to protect himself from bullies who gave him a hard time for dancing. “All dancers are fighters and all fighters are dancers,” he says.

Watch this and be wowed by Birkadze’s super human dancing and martial arts moves!