The Astana Opera’s soloist Shugyla Adepkhan caused a sensation, cutting a brilliant figure at the Indonesian Ballet Gala at the JIExpo theatre in Jakarta. In addition to the pas de deux from Minkus’ Don Quixote, the Kazakh dancer performed a modern number Monologue, Astana Opera press office reports.
The gala ballet took place on August 13 with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute, Institut Français Indonesia and Australian Embassy Jakarta. At the concert, which is being held for the third year, ballet stars from Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries demonstrated their skills together with our compatriot.
“Certainly, there is always a feeling of excitement before touring abroad. Since this is my first performance in this country, my main goal was to present the art of Kazakh ballet to the audience, unfamiliar with my work. Such trips help the ballet dancers grow, broaden their horizons, gain experience, and most importantly, get inspiration from performing at a new stage venue. As for me, I always return from a tour full of energy, because I get acquainted with the work of world ballet stars, their skill level, get motivated and begin to set new goals for myself,” Shugyla Adepkhan said. “I was invited to Indonesia by the organizers of the Indonesian Ballet Gala project. In addition to ballet numbers from the world repertoire, the program of the third Indonesian Ballet Festival specially included rare neoclassical and modern ballet works. Therefore, in addition to the pas de deux from Minkus’ ballet Don Quixote, I suggested a modern number.
As a reminder, Shugyla Adepkhan graduated from the Seleznev Almaty Choreographic School and the Kazakh National Academy of Choreography in the capital. Since 2017, she has been working as a ballet soloist at the Astana Opera. The dancer’s accomplishment record includes prizes at the Orleu Competition in Almaty and the Tanzolymp International Dance Festival in Berlin. She took part in the Rudolf Nureyev Ballet Festival in Ufa, the Beijing Dance Festival and others.
The soloist also noted that the Astana Opera’s tenth anniversary season was very productive for her. Thus, in the fall, at the beginning of the theatrical season, together with her colleague, principal dancer Yerkin Rakhmatullayev, she performed at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus at a gala concert dedicated to the anniversary of the outstanding ballet master Valentin Elizariev. The Kazakh ballet pair presented to the residents of Minsk the pas de deux from Riccardo Drigo’s ballet Le Talisman and an excerpt from the national ballet The Call of the Steppe choreographed by Patrick de Bana. In December, Shugyla portrayed Marie, the main character in Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet The Nutcracker in Melbourne, and a month later she returned to Australia again. This time, together with the Astana Opera’s principal dancer, Bakhtiyar Adamzhan, she took part in four gala concerts in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. This year, at the invitation of the Zacharia Paliashvili Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, together with principal dancer Arman Urazov, she presented the Kazakh ballet art to the Georgian viewers. And just recently, on July 25 and 26, together with her native ballet company, the talented ballerina performed on tour at the 71st summer Ljubljana Festival in Slovenia.
“My tour list includes Belarus, Russia, Georgia, Australia, Slovenia, where I performed as part of the Astana Opera Ballet Company and on my own, and now Indonesia has been added to this list. I believe that in the future the geography of my touring will only expand, as our opera house always supports artists representing Kazakh classical art abroad. The Astana Opera’s general management and the artistic director of the ballet company Altynai Asylmuratova always support us, for which I am sincerely grateful,” Shugyla Adepkhan concluded.
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