Altynai Asylmuratova

Altynai Asylmuratova was born in 1961 in Kazakhstani. She joined the Kirov Ballet in 1978 after studying under Inna Zubkovskaya at the Leningrad Ballet School. She made principal dancer in 1982.

During her time with the Kirov Ballet she toured all over the world and was a guest artist with the American Ballet Theatre, the Royal Ballet and Petit’s Marseilles Ballet.

Altynai Asylmuratova is regarded as one of the greatest ballerina’s of her time and has been called “The Divine”. She is known for her looks as well as her beautiful dancing and musicality.

She has performed in ballets such as, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Don Quixote, La Bayadère, Firebird, Les Sylphides and Romeo and Juliet.

On video she can be seen dancing in Le Corsaire, La Bayadère, Les Sylphides, and The Sleeping Beauty.

Currently Altynai Asylmuratova is the artistic director of the Vaganova Choreographic Institute which she was appointed to in 2000. She has since retired from performing to concentrate on her position.