Almaszade, Gamer Gadzhi Aga Kyzy

Almaszade, Gamer Gadzhi Aga Kyzy 

Born Mar. 10, 1915, in Baku. Soviet Azerbaijani ballerina and choreographer. People’s Artist of the USSR (1959). Member of the CPSU since 1945.

The creative work of Almaszade began in 1930; she was the first Azerbaijani ballerina. She graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1936 and became a soloist of the Akhundov Theater of Opera and Ballet. Her best roles have been in national ballets: Giul’anak in Badalbeili’s The Maiden’s Tower (1940), Giul’shen in S. Gadzhibekov’s ballet of the same name (State Prize of the USSR, 1952), and Aisha in Karaev’s The Seven Beauties (1952).

In 1953, Almaszade became principal choreographer at the Akhundov Theater of Opera and Ballet, where she staged Giul’shen (1950), Gliére’s The Red Flower (1954), Krein’s Laurencia (1956), Abbasov’s Chernushka (1965), Amirov’s Shur (1968), and other works. Almaszade has been teaching at the Baku Choreographic School since 1963.