ABAY KAZAKH BALLET Comes to The Coliseum

Kazakhstan's oldest theatre, the Abay Kazakh State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, makes its UK debut at the London Coliseum on Sunday, November 17th with performances of the classic one-act ballets Chopiniana (left) and Scheherazade.

The tour is supported by the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Great Britain and the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Chopiniana was created by Michel Fokine, the celebrated 19th century dancer turned choreographer, in his search for new balletic forms of expression; he poured his ideas into the narrative of Frederic Chopin's life and work which he set to the music of the Polish maestro. When the piece premiered in 1893, it was considered revolutionary for its cross-cutting action, unity of music, choreography and linear narrative. The piece was later renamed Les Sylphides.

Fokine went on to transmit his unlimited sense of form to Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (left) which embraces erotic and non-classical balletic movement in the legendary tale of the titular storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights, the ancient Persian book of folk tales.

Scheherazade will be presented to Coliseum audiences with some new choreography by the Italian choreographer Tony Candeloro, former soloist with, among others, Zurich Opera, and the National Ballet of Cuba. Candeloro has also created work for Alvin Ailey, Mats Ek, and many others and became guest choreographer with Theater du Chatelet in Paris in 2012.

Abay Kazakh State Ballet's Artistic Director Gulzhan Tutkibaeva says:
"We recently performed in France for the first time and we are very excited about presenting our ballets to London audiences for the first time in November. 'Chopiniana' and 'Scheherazade' are, of course, iconic ballets that are known internationally and which continue to delight and entertain audiences everywhere. We are very proud to have these wonderful pieces in our repertoire and I hope Coliseum audiences will enjoy our continuing aim to preserve and convey the traditions of classical ballet, which are reflected in these performances.

"The principal roles in 'Chopiniana' and 'Scheherazade' will be performed by our leading ballet soloists: Zhanel Tukeyeva, Malika Elchibaeva, Arisa Hashimoto, Rakhim Dairov, Dinara Yesentaeva and Azamat Askarov. These dancers are mostly graduates of the Almaty Choreographic School although we do have wonderful dancers from other countries such as one of our soloists, Arisa Hashimoto, who is from Japan. We can't wait to come to London and perform on the stage at the Coliseum - and, if we have time, we'll take a stroll in one of the city's many lovely parks!"

Tickets: 020 7845 9300 London Coliseum

Abay Kazakh State Ballet Theatre was built in 1934 - and extensively refurbished in 2000 - in Almaty, Kazakhstan's former capital and the country's biggest city. The theatre was named after Abai Qunanbaiuly (1845-1904), the Kazakh poet, composer and philosopher.

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