Gamar Almaszade: Nation’s first ballerina

BThe first national ballet titled ‘The Maiden Tower’ was premiered on April 18, 1940 on the stage of the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theater.

The Maiden Tower is based on an old Eastern legend about Baku’s most famous landmark. The ballet consists of three acts with a prologue and epilogue.

Gamar Almaszade appeared in the ballet and became the first Azerbaijani ballerina.

The Maiden Tower was composed specifically for Gamar by her husband, Afrasiyab Badalbeyli. At the age of 25, she performed the lead role in the ballet.

The ballet managed to attract a large audience. Yong ballerina conquered the hearts of all who have ever seen her on stage.

Almaszade had the kind of talent that appears once every hundred, no, thousand years.

However, there's no easy path to success. She had to overcome many hurdles and difficulties.

When she was a young girl, the idea of becoming a ballerina was scandalous. Her father could not accept the fact that his daughter was performing onstage at the theater.

Despite her father's objections, Gamar became Azerbaijan's first world-class ballerina.

After graduating from the choreographic school in 1930, Gamar Almaszade began working at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre.

To meet her father's expectations, she also enrolled in a teachers' college. In 1932, she left for Moscow to continue her ballet education but soon returned to Baku after being chosen to perform a secondary role in Reinhold Glière's opera ShakhSenem.

In 1937, she founded the Azerbaijan State Folk Song and Dance Ensemble affiliated with the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Society. Guided by composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli, she organized research expeditions to various parts of Azerbaijan to film and document folk dance performances and to enrich the repertoire of her ensemble.

Gamar Almaszade also taught her first choreography class. During her career, she toured France, India, and Nepal.

In 1970, she was invited to Baghdad by Iraq's Ministry of Culture to promote Iraqi folk dance culture and founded the Iraq Folk Dance Ensemble. She retired from ballet in the 1950s, but remained an instructor at the School of Choreography until the late 1990s.

The ballet star left the stage at 35 with the hope that the viewer must remember her young.

Unfortunately, Azerbaijani ballet star died on April 7, 2006. She made a great contribution to the development of ballet art in Azerbaijan.