29 March 2024

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FORBIDDEN FRUIT TASTES THE SWEETEST

How legendary Qamar Almaszada created a ballet school in Azerbaijan

Author:

21.04.2015

When we talk about the first Azerbaijani playwright, director, opera composer, actor and editor of the first newspaper in Azerbaijan, we know in advance that the path of a pioneer is difficult. But at the same time, it is much more difficult when this person is a woman. One can only imagine what public resistance one may encounter on this difficult path. One hundred years ago, the creator of the Azerbaijani ballet school Qamar Almaszada was born.

 

Lies for common benefit

Now we can say: "It is all mum's fault!" The ballerina herself says the same: "From early childhood, I began to dance on hearing music, and over the years, I did so well that my mum, unbeknown to dad, sent me to study in a private dance studio. For example, for several years, we declared to dad that 'we were going for a walk', but headed for the dance school instead."

Mum was a midwife and mixed with the intellectual environment of doctors. Dad Haci Aga was an ordinary cobbler, whose social circle was quite different. Moreover, he was a fanatical believer. Mum was afraid of him, but like every independent woman with a tough husband, she calmly "caused intrigues" to keep the kids happy.

So this is how the ballerina herself recalled that time: "When the ballet school opened after the revolution, I started to learn from very experienced teachers who prepared me well to go on stage. So I became the first Azerbaijani ballerina. All this happened without the knowledge of my beloved father. A devout Muslim, Haci Aga couldn't even imagine his daughter on the stage, dressed in a light and sometimes frank ballet suit."

 

Theatrical infection

They say that a bad example is contagious. Perhaps, dad also thought so. Secretly from him, Qamar enticed her younger sister Adila to take up ballet as well. And then her brother Anvar, seeing the success of his sisters, entered the Art School (now named after Azimzada). The most interesting thing is that they managed to conceal Qamar's education in Baku and then in Leningrad from her father for many years.

This is what Qamar said: "I worked hard, studied in Leningrad with such a wonderful teacher as Maria Romanova, mother of Galina Ulanova. When I visited Baku, I told dad that I was studying to be an engineer and then went on stage again. Soon I became an honoured artist of the republic, a people's artist of the Azerbaijan SSR, and then a people's artist of the USSR. My mother was delighted with my work as a ballerina, college teacher and mentor of future theatre ballerinas."

The family requested that all friends and acquaintances hide what his children were doing from her father, and it lasted long enough. But over time, even strangers, acquaintances and neighbours - those whom they forgot to warn or someone who just could not keep it secret - approached her father with congratulations. "He pretended that he gladly accepted congratulations, and was very angry, raging and made stormy scenes for mum."

At that time, Qamar was already 30, had nationwide fame and even taught in Baku, and in the theatre, she received only the main roles.

 

Gulyanaq's jump

From time to time dad marshalled the family, lined them up and asked why they were all so obsessed with their theatre. But little strokes fell great oaks, and under pressure from home (and public) opinion, shoemaker Haci Aga himself decided to go to the theatre, where he had never been before. He was very shy to be in the company of cultured people and really did not want to be seen, and therefore, he bought a ticket for a seat in the farthest row. On that day, they staged the ballet "Maiden Tower", which, by the way, was written especially for Qamar by her husband Afrasiyab Badalbayli (God knows what profession Qamar's family invented for him when she married him).

"When our ticket collector told me about it, I was afraid that he would invade the stage and make a big scandal. But no, he watched the entire show, and when the heroine - Gulyanaq, that's to say I jumped into the sea from the top of the tower, he burst into tears so that unsuspecting neighbours in the same row began to comfort him, trying to assure him that this is a stage performance," the ballerina later recalled. "Learning of this, I was afraid to go home after the performance, and when I crossed the threshold, dad rushed to hug me: What a great actress you are!"

From that moment, they stopped lying to Haci Aga. He was a humble and simple man (which, of course, was noticeable), and therefore, he did not boast about the high titles of his daughter and genuinely began to enjoy her success and her hard work and always spoke about it with pride.

 

Teachers and students

Together with Qamar, the Leningrad theatre school was attended by such legendary ballerinas as Galina Ulanova and Tatyana Vecheslova. And her teacher was Ulanova's mother, a legendary ballerina, soloist of the famous Mariinskiy Theatre and brilliant educator Maria Romanova.

Qamar herself left the stage on time. She was only 35, and for a ballerina, unlike a dramatic actress, this is a serious age. "Let the audience remember me young," she said about it. "While I was in shape and everyone liked me, I danced, and as soon as I felt that it's hard for me, they could no longer persuade me to stay, and I was convinced that I was doing the right thing."

We must credit her with training worthy successors such as Leyla Vakilova, Rafiqa Axundova and Tamilla Siraliyeva. She gave lessons in other countries, and in 1970, the Iraqi Folk Dance Ensemble was established under her leadership.

On the stage, Qamar Almaszada performed the lead roles, probably, in all known productions: "Swan Lake", "Don Quixote", "The Nutcracker", "Seven Beauties" and "Giselle". But, of course, her main role is that of Gulyanaq. And, perhaps this is why the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre stages precisely "Maiden Tower" these days to mark the centenary of the great ballerina. According to the press service of the theatre, the play will feature great actors such as Gulagasi Mirzayev and Anar Mikayilov while the role of Gulyanaq will be performed by beautiful ballerina Tamilla Mammadzada, who brilliantly debuted in the ballet "Carmen Suite" eight years ago. The director of the production is Professor Cavansir Cafarov. Here it is - the Azerbaijani ballet school, a successor to Almaszada.



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