Malika Sobirova | |
---|---|
![]() Sobirova on a 2020 stamp of Tajikistan | |
Born | |
Died | 27 February 1982
Dushanbe, Tajik SSR, Soviet Union | (aged 39)
Occupation(s) | Ballet dancer, pedagogue |
Malika Abdurakhmonovna Sobirova ( Tajik: Малика Абдураҳмоновна Собирова; 22 May 1942 — 27 February 1982) was a Soviet and Tajik ballet dancer and pedagogue. [1] She is considered the most famous Tajik ballet dancer. In 1969, she won a gold medal in an international ballet dance competition. [2] [3]
Sobirova was born in 1942 in Stalinabad, the capital of Tajikistan. Her father Ibragim Sobirov was a musician and her mother Madina Sobirova was a nurse. As a young girl she was very stubborn and refused to be frightened into an arranged marriage, as per the then prevalent practice; and instead pursued her talent in dance. [4] She took her dancing course from Leningrad Choreography Academy (the Vaganova Ballet School), from where she graduated in 1961. [1] [5] [6] It was a tradition among the students of this ballet school to consider themselves incomplete till they performed the Swan dance. She was also keen to learn the complete music of the ballet. [6]
In 1961, after graduating she returned to Dushanbe and joined Onegin Theatre. [7] She also joined People's Artist of the USSR and regularly performed at Tchaikovsky Hall. [8] She was proficient in all classical forms of ballet and won several international awards. As a solo ballet dancer her repertoire included all the classical forms, and performed in ballets like the Leili i Medzhnun (Leili and Medjnun) for which music score was provided by Balasanian. She was a popular ballet dancer in the Soviet Union. [3] [9] She was the most popular dancer of the Opera and Ballet theater which was established in 1940. [10] She was delighted like a child when people recognized her in the bus or total strangers greeted her as a ballerina. [11]
She received the first prize at the Tchaikovsky International Ballet Contest in Moscow. [12] In 1969, Sobirova won a gold medal in an international ballet dance competition held in Varna, Bulgaria. [9] She was also recipient of Tadzhik Komsomol Central Committee order "The Badge of Honor." [13] The first international ballet dancing contest held in Dushanbe was named after her and Mikhail Gorbachev sent greetings on the occasion. [14]
Malika Sobirova | |
---|---|
![]() Sobirova on a 2020 stamp of Tajikistan | |
Born | |
Died | 27 February 1982
Dushanbe, Tajik SSR, Soviet Union | (aged 39)
Occupation(s) | Ballet dancer, pedagogue |
Malika Abdurakhmonovna Sobirova ( Tajik: Малика Абдураҳмоновна Собирова; 22 May 1942 — 27 February 1982) was a Soviet and Tajik ballet dancer and pedagogue. [1] She is considered the most famous Tajik ballet dancer. In 1969, she won a gold medal in an international ballet dance competition. [2] [3]
Sobirova was born in 1942 in Stalinabad, the capital of Tajikistan. Her father Ibragim Sobirov was a musician and her mother Madina Sobirova was a nurse. As a young girl she was very stubborn and refused to be frightened into an arranged marriage, as per the then prevalent practice; and instead pursued her talent in dance. [4] She took her dancing course from Leningrad Choreography Academy (the Vaganova Ballet School), from where she graduated in 1961. [1] [5] [6] It was a tradition among the students of this ballet school to consider themselves incomplete till they performed the Swan dance. She was also keen to learn the complete music of the ballet. [6]
In 1961, after graduating she returned to Dushanbe and joined Onegin Theatre. [7] She also joined People's Artist of the USSR and regularly performed at Tchaikovsky Hall. [8] She was proficient in all classical forms of ballet and won several international awards. As a solo ballet dancer her repertoire included all the classical forms, and performed in ballets like the Leili i Medzhnun (Leili and Medjnun) for which music score was provided by Balasanian. She was a popular ballet dancer in the Soviet Union. [3] [9] She was the most popular dancer of the Opera and Ballet theater which was established in 1940. [10] She was delighted like a child when people recognized her in the bus or total strangers greeted her as a ballerina. [11]
She received the first prize at the Tchaikovsky International Ballet Contest in Moscow. [12] In 1969, Sobirova won a gold medal in an international ballet dance competition held in Varna, Bulgaria. [9] She was also recipient of Tadzhik Komsomol Central Committee order "The Badge of Honor." [13] The first international ballet dancing contest held in Dushanbe was named after her and Mikhail Gorbachev sent greetings on the occasion. [14]