[1] Kandelaki was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and trained under Vakhtang Chabukiani, Nina Didebulidze and Margarita Grishkevich.
She debuted in Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella at the Tbilisi's Z. Paliashvili Opera and Ballet Professional State Theatre, where her repertoire included Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Gamzatti in La Bayadere, Javara in Gorda, and Kitri in Don Quixote.
Kandelaki appeared in George Aleksidze's Symphonic Dances at the 1997 Edinburgh International Festival.
Until 2003 she played lead roles in N. Maghalashvili's stagings of Carmen, Porgy and Bess, Giselle, Le Corasaire (Medora), One thousand and one nights, and Romeo and Juliette.
[2] In 2008 she toured with the Royal Swedish Ballet in China, where her performance as Odette-Odile from Swan Lake reportedly included 32 double fouettés.