Gulzhan
Tutkibayeva

Jury member of Benois de la Danse

Artistic Director of the ballet of the Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theater named after Abai, Professor of the Kazakh National Academy of Arts named after T. Zhurgenov. People's Artist of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Laureate of the State Prize Daryn.

In 1982 she graduated with honors from the Moscow State Choreographic School, in 2000 – the State Institute of Theater and Cinema named after T. Zhurgenov, majoring in Choreography Director, workshop of Professor Z. Raibaev.

In 1982–2003 she was a soloist and prima ballerina of the Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theater named after Abai. Performed the parts: Odette-Odile (Swan Lake), Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Masha (The Nutcracker), Kitri (Don Quixote), Raymonda, Giselle and the Sylphide in the ballets of the same name by A. Glazunov, A. Adana and H. Løvenskiold, Medora (Le Corsaire), Aegina (Spartakus), Zarema (The Fountain of Bakhchisarai), Conchita (Juno and Maybe), Carmen (Carmen Suite), etc.

Diploma winner of international ballet competitions in Moscow (1989), Varna, Bulgaria (1990), Jackson, USA (1990), has toured in CIS and abroad. Participant of international festivals in Yekaterinburg, Kazan (R. Nureyev Festival), St. Petersburg (1990). Laureate of the international festival Prize of Traditions (1998).

As a choreographer, she created a number of original productions: Suite in the style of Antico to the music of A. Schnittke, Charlie to the music of D. Shostakovich, Carmina Burana by K. Orff, Legends of the Great Steppe to the music of Kazakh composers, as well as new editions of the ballets The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Coppelia, Le Corsaire, etc.

For 20 years she headed the Department of Choreography Directing at the Kazakh National Academy of Arts named after T. Zhurgenov.

Among her pupils are original performers, choreographers, heads of creative teams, leading soloists of the country's theaters.