Gamar Hajiaga qizi Almaszadeh (10 March 1915, Baku

Baku

Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

 – 7 April 2006, Baku

Baku

Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

) was an Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

i ballerina and ballet instructor. She's considered the first ballerina of the Muslim world.

Early life

Gamar Almaszadeh (nicknamed Tamara) was born in Baku

Baku

Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

 to a family of a shoemaker and a midwife, Hajiaga and Maryam Almaszadeh. She became interested in ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

 at a very young age, when she saw her friend perform ballet moves. Persuaded by her friend she signed up for ballet lessons at a private studio (later reorganized into the Baku School of Choreography). Gamar's mother approved of her daughter's new interest but her father Hajiaga Almaszadeh, a conservative Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

, had to be misled into believing that Gamar was attending gym in order to have him pay for her lessons. The secret was soon revealed and, as expected, Gamar's father did not come around to her choice. However he was reported to have secretly assisted at his daughter's performances later, when she became a renowned ballerina.

Career

After graduating from the choreographic school in 1930, Gamar Almaszadeh began working at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre. To meet her father's expectations, she also enroled in a teachers' college. In 1932, she left for Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 to continue her ballet education but soon returned to Baku after being chosen to perform a secondary role in Reinhold Glière

Reinhold Glière

Reinhold Moritzevich Glière was a Russian and Soviet composer of German–Polish descent.- Biography :Glière was born in Kiev, Ukraine...

's opera Shakh-Senem. In 1933, she was admitted to a professional ballet school in St. Petersburg, where she had Maria Romanova-Ulanova (mother of the world-famous ballerina Galina Ulanova

Galina Ulanova

Galina Sergeyevna Ulánova is frequently cited as being one of the greatest 20th Century ballerinas. Her flat in Moscow is designated a national museum, and there are monuments to her in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm....

) as an instructor. In 1936, she finished her studies and once again returned to Baku. In 1937, she founded the Azerbaijan State Folk Song and Dance Ensemble affiliated with the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Society. Guided by composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov

Uzeyir Hajibeyov

Uzeyir bey Abdul Hussein oglu Hajibeyov was an Azerbaijani and Soviet composer, conductor, publicist, playwright, teacher, translator, and social figure from Azerbaijan. He is recognized as the father of Azerbaijani classical music and opera...

, she organized research expeditions to various parts of Azerbaijan to film and document folk dance performances and to enrich the repertoire of her ensemble as well as to propagate them on the big scene. In 1939, she taught her first choreography class and in 1940, made her first biggest performance in the lead role of Afrasiyab Badalbeyli

Afrasiyab Badalbeyli

Afrasiyab Badal oglu Badalbeyli was a Soviet Azerbaijani composer, conductor and music critic. The author of music and the libretto of the first Azerbaijani Ballet and the first ballet in the Muslim East Giz Galasi .-Life:Afrasiyab Badalbeyli was born to Shusha natives Badal and Rahima Badalbeyli...

's Giz Galasi ("The Maiden Tower"). She later became head of the School of Choreography (one of her students was prominent Azerbaijani ballerina Leyla Vakilova

Leyla Vakilova

Leyla Mahad qizi Vakilova was an Azerbaijani ballerina and ballet instructor.-Career:Leyla Vakilova was born in Baku and took ballet lessons at the Baku School of Choreography from prominent Azerbaijani ballerina Gamar Almaszadeh...

). During her career, she toured France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, and Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

. In 1970, she was invited to Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

 by Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

's Ministry of Culture to promote Iraqi folk dance culture and founded the Iraq Folk Dance Ensemble. She retired from ballet in the 1950s, but remained an instructor at the School of Choreography until the late 1990s.

She married Afrasiyab Badalbeyli in 1931, however the marriage did not last very long.

Trivia

• Gamar Almaszadeh's younger sister Adila Almaszadeh also took ballet lessons and went off to St. Petersburg to study professional ballet. However the asperity of the northern climate affected Adila's health (as she was extremely sensitive to climate change) leading to her death of tuberculosis
  Tuberculosis
  Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
  
  .
• In the 1930s, a religious fanatic attempted to assassinate Gamar Almaszadeh on her way out of the theatre, but the bullet hit the spike heel of her shoe leaving Gamar unharmed.