Altynai Asylmuratova
In the final decades of the 20th century, once the craze for Russian ballet, mainly caused by
the first revealing appearances in the West of the Bolshoi and Kirov companies, but also by
the defection of several Soviet dancers in the sixties and seventies, had subsided
and was supplanted by a general indifference toward Russian schooled artists,
there were only a handful of Russian dancers who really made a name for themselves in the West.
Altynai Asylmuratova of the Kirov Ballet is one of them.
In 1988 she was the first Kirov ballerina (with long-time partner Farukh
Ruzimatov) to be allowed to guest with an American company, American Ballet Theatre.
Quickly recognized as one of the Kirov's most intensely fascinating talents in years, Altynai
Asylmuratova, combining superb schooling with a rare expressive power and compelling beauty
spiced with an air of exoticism, arrived as a refreshing wind on the international stage and gave Western audiences
a virtually ideal vision of Russian ballet in the late 20th century. Many consider her
the last great ballerina in the long and illustrious St. Petersburg lineage.
Born in 1961 in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, into a family of dancers, Altynai Asylmuratova was
in a way destined to become a dancer. She studied at the Vaganova Academy in Leningrad and graduated as a pupil of
Inna Zubkovskaya. At graduation in 1978 she joined the Kirov Ballet, to become a principal in 1982.
At the Kirov she worked mainly with Olga Moiseyeva, who played a crucial role in her artistic
development, preparing her for her first major parts like Swan Lake. Moiseyeva would remain her coach
for the whole of Asylmuratova's career.
With the Kirov Ballet Asylmuratova has danced all the major 19th-century ballerina roles (Giselle,
Odette-Odile, Nikiya, Aurora, Masha, Kitri, Raymonda), as well as ballets of Fokine
(Chopiniana, The Firebird, Sheherazade) and some of the great Soviet dram-ballets
(Romeo and Juliet, The Fountain of Bakhchisarai).
She was moreover largely succesful in mastering Western choreographic styles,
giving further proof of her versatility and especially finding an additional outlet for her
dramatic talent in the work of Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, and Roland Petit.
The altered political situation in the early nineties allowed Altynai Asylmuratova to guest
extensively in the West (foremost with ABT, the Royal Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, and
the Ballet National de Marseille of Roland Petit) and satisfy her artistic curiosity without
ever having to detach herself completely from the Kirov. Her hugely acclaimed appearances with Western
companies as well as her tours with her home company resulted in the bizarre situation that
Asylmuratova's fame and popularity was far more prominent in the West than in her homeland.
In January 2000 she was named Artistic Director of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, a nomination which eventually
ended her active performing career.
Altynai Asylmuratova is an Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation (1983) and a People's Artist of Russia (2001).
In 1998 she was awarded the Baltika Prize for her outstanding achievement in ballet and in 1999
she received 'The Golden Sophit', the highest theatrical award in St. Petersburg for
her interpretation of Roland Petit's Carmen.
Altynai Asylmuratova can be seen on several videofilms, documentaries as well as performances, some of which are now available on DVD.
ASYLMURATOVA VIDEO LIST.
Marc Haegeman
Her repertoire includes:
With the Kirov Ballet
- title role in La Sylphide
- title role in Giselle
- Odette-Odile in Swan Lake
- Nikiya in La Bayadère
- Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty
- Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty
- Masha in The Nutcracker
- Kitri in Don Quixote
- soloist in Esmeralda Pas de Six
- title role in Raymonda
- Medora in Le Corsaire
- soloist in Paquita Grand Pas
- Fanny Cerrito in Pas de Quatre
- Zobeide in Sheherazade
- title role in The Firebird
- soloist in Chopiniana
- Shirin in Legend of Love
- Mekhmene Banu in Legend of Love
- Zarema in The Fountain of Bakhchisarai
- Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (chor. Lavrovsky)
- Aegina in Spartacus (chor. Jakobson)
- Caroline in Le jardin aux lilas (chor. Tudor)
- Terpsichore in Apollo
- soloist in Theme and Variations
- 1st movement of In The Night
- title role in Carmen (chor. Petit)
- title role in Manon (chor. MacMillan)
With the American Ballet Theatre
With the Royal Ballet
- Natalia in A Month in the Country (chor. Ashton)
- title role in Manon (chor. MacMillan)
- Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (chor. MacMillan)
With the Ballet National de Marseille (all chor. by Roland Petit)
- title role in Coppélia
- Le Guépard
- L'Arlésienne
- title role in Carmen
- 'Elle' in Le Lac des Cygnes et ses maléfices
Copyright © 2001-2005
Text and photo of Altynai Asylmuratova Copyright © 2001-2005 Marc
Haegeman. All rights reserved.