Kazakh ballet star and Astana Opera leading soloist Bakhtiyar Adamzhan won the 13th Seoul International Dance Competition, reported the Astana Opera press service.
Photo: Astana Opera
The artist earned the top rating in the classical dance category in the senior male dancers group, after astonishing the jury and audience with his virtuoso technique and highly professional dance performance.
The competition took place Aug. 6–10 at the National Theatre of Korea. Great and talented dancers from the ages of 11–35 came to the South Korean capital to compete in three categories: classical, modern and folk dances. The awards ceremony was held Aug. 11, followed by gala concerts Aug. 12 and 13 with the participation of competition winners.
One of the jury members was a representative of Kazakhstan: Director of the Astana Opera ballet company and Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan Tursynbek Nurkaliyev. He noted that participation in the project, which attracts the entire global ballet elite, is a great honour and responsibility.
“The creativity of our artists is sufficiently high to allow us to stage complicated performances and successfully perform at leading venues and receive awards from prestigious competitions. Every time one of our students reaches success and finds recognition abroad, I feel truly touched. The high scores given by international experts to Kazakh artists make me feel proud for our beautiful homeland,” said Nurkaliyev.
Shortly before the performance in Seoul, Adamzhan won another dance competition in Istanbul. The artist’s programme included variations from the “La Bayadere” ballet by L. Minkus, “Flames of Paris” by B. Asafiev, “Esmeralda” by C. Pugni and “In the Wake,” a modern performance created by renowned Chinese choreographer Zhang Jigang for the Kazakh dancer.
According to Adamzhan, the main ingredients for a successful performance are good health, fitness and a positive attitude.
“This time I got a chance to learn more about Korean ballet. It is distinguished from others by the highest technical level of their performers. Participating in this competition is motivating me to improve to achieve new heights. At the same time, our athletes at the Olympics are winning gold, silver and bronze medals. Despite the fact that they are in Brazil and we are in Seoul, we all are united by the same aim – to win and bring glory to Kazakhstan. It creates a special, victorious atmosphere all over the country, which is very pleasing to me,” he said.
