Organization of the First Kyrgyz Theater Studio

ON THE PATHS OF CREATING A NATIONAL BALLET

After October, the peoples of the former tsarist outskirts made a swift leap in creating their national culture and, in a short time, managed to master the achievements of advanced professional art. What had been forcibly suppressed for centuries burst forth in a powerful stream, contributing to an unprecedented rapid flourishing of artistic culture.

Every nation has concepts of duty, humanity, nobility, and inner beauty. It is human nature to strive for the beautiful, which is why this aspiration could not be suppressed even by centuries of subjugated existence of the Kyrgyz people. People perceive beauty as the highest joy and strive to embody it in the artistic images of songs, fairy tales, legendary tales, to decorate their homes with bright colors, and to diversify their everyday lives with holidays, various entertainments, and, of course, first and foremost, theatrical performances that replaced dances for the Kyrgyz.

It is entirely natural that the first Kyrgyz directors, before embarking on the formation of the ballet genre, turned to studying and researching the rich artistic experience of the past and drew material for professional art from it.

However, the Kyrgyz ballet was not born immediately. It was preceded by the creation of a national musical and dramatic theater. This became the foundation upon which new forms of art, particularly ballet, were later established.

The emergence of a national professional theater in Kyrgyzstan dates back to 1926 when the first Kyrgyz theater studio was opened. People came here who had cherished and felt close to the spirit of folk creativity, the art of improvisation, melody, and song since childhood. There were also those who had already "tried" themselves in artistic amateur performances. Some had never seen a real theater in their lives. Not everyone, of course, managed to cross the threshold of the studio. But those who were accepted brought with them such perseverance, love for the craft, youth, and joy of life that the difficulties encountered at every step in the early days receded.

The enthusiast behind the organization of the first Kyrgyz theater studio was Nikolai Nikolaevich Yelenin, who already had considerable experience as an actor and director in the opera theater. A person of great culture, N. N. Yelenin headed the studio. In a short time, the students under his guidance acquired stage skills and mastered the art of makeup. It was also essential for the students to know how to dance, which N. Yelenin paid special attention to. Notably, in a detailed report to the Main Political Department of the Republic, among other measures aimed at improving the studio's work, he pointed out the necessity of introducing professional dance training.

N. Yelenin's efforts were crowned with success. By the second year of the studio's existence, classes in plasticity and dance began, and a special ballet class emerged from the students, which prepared several choreographic numbers.

The successes of the theater studio allowed it to be transformed in 1930 into a musical and dramatic theater. For the first time in the entire centuries-long history of the Kyrgyz people, a professional theater was established with its national cadre of actors, directors, and playwrights.

However, the professional level of this theater was still clearly insufficient. To become a theater of high culture, prolonged and diligent study was required. In 1930, the People's Commissariat of Education of the republic appealed to the Main Arts Administration of the RSFSR and the Central Committee of the Union of Rabfaks with a statement that, in order to further develop and improve the national theater, the People's Commissariat "sets itself the task of raising the qualifications of Kyrgyz national artists through studies in specialized theater institutes in Moscow or Leningrad."

However, the implementation of this important initiative was delayed for several years due to the activities of bourgeois nationalists who sought to spread their influence in Kyrgyzstan over all areas of ideology—literature, theater, school—and asserted that it was impossible to prepare real actors from the Kyrgyz poor. The theater, in their opinion, should promote confinement within national frameworks, without any external influence. This posed a serious danger as it was directed against the influence of Russian culture, particularly Russian theater, its repertoire, and against mastering the method of socialist realism.

The bet on national limitation was defeated: at the dawn of its formation, the Kyrgyz theater chose the most vital, only correct, and fruitful path of realism, and the nationalists failed to divert the young collective from these positions.

As for ballet, referring to the lack of tradition in the past, nationalists propagated a reactionary theory about the incapacity of the Kyrgyz people for dance. By speculating on customs and playing on backward notions and remnants, our ideological enemies sought to prove that dance was generally alien to the Kyrgyz.

But even these attempts by the nationalists were unsuccessful. In 1934, by the decision of the government of the Kyrgyz Republic, training began for gifted Kyrgyz youth in the art of dance. The oldest choreographic school in the country, the Leningrad Choreographic School, responded to the appeal of the Kyrgyz government. Thanks to the selection of the most talented children, in the same 1934, Jumakaly Arsygulova, Saparbek Baibatyrov, Gulbara Daniyarova, Kanysh Ibraimova, Kaly Niyazaliev, Sagynaly Senkubaev, Keney Sooronbaeva, Sakyi Shergazieva, and others went to study in Leningrad.

They came from various places in the mountainous republic to Leningrad to grasp the heights of theatrical culture.

Many of them had never seen a big city before. Everything was new to them. But after some time, the school became their home. Here they studied professional skills, showing enthusiasm for the art of dance from the very beginning. An official report from the Leningrad school noted that "the students demonstrated maximum energy and effort, so they were singled out into a special group in relation to the work."

How the Innate Inclination of the People to Rhythm and Plasticity Helped Kyrgyz Artists Create National Dances and Ballet