Galiia Izmailova
Izmailova, Galiia Baiazitovna
Born Feb. 12, 1923, in Tomsk. Soviet ballerina. People’s Artist of the USSR (1962).
Izmailova studied in the Tashkent ballet school from 1935 to 1941. Upon graduating in 1941, she joined the A. Navoi Theater of Opera and Ballet in Tashkent. Her roles included Maria in The Fountain of Bakhchisarai by Asaf ev, Kitri in Don Quixote by Minkus, Scheherazade in the ballet of the same name to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov, and Carmen in Bolero to music by Ravel. In 1958 she graduated from the directorial department of the Tashkent Institute of Theatrical Arts. She staged Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake and the dances for Ashrafi’s opera Dilia-ram, among other works. Izmailova toured abroad (the Chinese People’s Republic, the Socialist Republic of Rumania, France, Great Britain, India, the United States), performing national Uzbek dances as well as Chinese, Arabic, and Indian dances. A recipient of the State Prize of the USSR (1950), she has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the order of the Badge of Honor, and various medals.