Full house at Kazakh ballet’s debut at London Coliseum

LONDON. KAZINFORM - Kazakhstan’s oldest theater – the Abay Kazakh State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater – attracted a full house at its debut night at the famous London Coliseum. The company performed the classic one-act ballets Chopiniana and Scheherazade, Kazinform has learnt from the Kazakh Embassy in London.

The tour of the theater was organized with the support of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the United Kingdom and the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as part of the Year of Youth in Kazakhstan and the Rukhani Janghyru program.

Over 2,000 guests, including UK politicians, business executives, the diplomatic corps, art critics and other ballet lovers, praised the high level of skill of the Kazakh dancers.

«For me this was the first time I saw Kazakh ballet and it was very impressive. The standard of the dance and the perfection of the performers – I was delighted. It was really professional, and it was a big surprise for me,» said Sara Meidan, one of the guests.

The one-act ballets created by the famous choreographer Michel Fokine and performed by the Kazakh company delighted the British audiences from the first minutes. At the end of the performance, the audience expressed their enjoyment through rapturous applause and admiring exclamations.

Scheherazade was performed for the London Coliseum audiences with some new choreography by the Italian choreographer Tony Candeloro, who became famous for his work in the Zurich Opera, the National Ballet of Cuba and the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.

The principal roles in Chopiniana and Scheherazade were performed by the leading ballet soloists: Zhanel Tukeyeva, Malika Elchibaeva, Arisa Hashimoto, Rakhim Dairov, Dinara Yesentaeva and Azamat Askarov.

«It was very beautiful, very well danced. Kazakh ballet is very good, I liked the technique, I liked everything! Congratulations on the stunning performance!» said Luis Rodriguez de la Sierra.

The Abay Kazakh State Opera and Ballet Theater was founded in Almaty in 1934. The theater was named after the Kazakh poet, philosopher and enlightener Abay Kunanbaev (1845-1904). The first composer of the theater was Yevgeny Brusilovsky, who laid the foundation for Kazakhstan’s national opera. Kazakhstan’s very first opera was also premiered at this theatre, which today stages Kazakh and European masterpieces of opera and ballet.