Bubusara Beyshenalieva

Who was Bubusara Beyshenalieva?

Bübüsara Beyşenalieva, known simply as Bübüsara in her native Kyrgyzstan, was the first great Kyrgyz ballerina. She was born in village of Vorontsovka, Kyrgyzstan ASSR in 15 September 1926. She studied at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Leningrad under the legendary Russian ballerina Agrippina Vaganova and made her debut at the famed Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

In 1944, after performing the part of Cholpon in the Kyrgyz ballet of the same name, Bübüsara became the prima ballerina of the Kyrgyz ballet. Later in life she became a ballet teacher and professor of the Kyrgyz National Ballet School. She died in 11 May 1973 in Frunze.

Bübüsara appears on the Kyrgyz 5 som note, and a statue of her can be found in Bishkek in the grounds of the Hyatt Regency hotel.