Maia Makhateli and Bakhtiyar Adamzhan in pas de deux from the ballet Don Quixote

Maia Makhateli and Bakhtiyar Adamzhan in pas de deux (pdd music by Riccardo Drigo) from the ballet Don Quixote, choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus. Eurasian Dance Festival 2018, shot in Astana Ballet Theatre on 30.6.2018.

Maia Makhateli (Tbilisi, Georgia) is a Principal the Dutch National Ballet. Maia is trained at the Choreographic Institute of Vakhtang Chabukiani in her hometown. At the age of sixteen she left to United States, where she trained at the San Valley Ballet School in Idaho. After that she danced four years at the Colorado Ballet. In 2006, she switched to the Birmingham Royal Ballet, but she found England ‘too cold and grey’ and auditioned for the Dutch National Ballet, where she started as a grand sujet in 2007. In 2009, she was promoted to soloist and a year later to principal.

Bakhtiyar Adamzhan is currently a Principal with Astana Opera Ballet . He was born in Saryozek, Almaty Region, Kazakhstan. He graduated from the A.V. Seleznev College of Choreography (2003- 2011). From 2011 to 2013, he was a soloist of the Abai State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. From 2013 to 2015, he was a soloist and since 2015, he has been a principal dancer of the State Opera and Ballet Theatre “Astana Opera”.

Photos by Jack Devant Ballet Photography with kind permission of the Eurasian Dance Festival and Astana Ballet Theatre, special thanks to Janibek Kaiyr.