While still a student, Ramazan Bapov was awarded prizes of USSR-wide Ballet Artist Competition in Moscow and 2 international competitions in Varna.[4]
Upon his return to Alma-Ata in 1967, Bapov became a soloist at The Kazakh Opera and Ballet Theater after Abay.[5] He was invited to Moscow to train undr Alexander Rudenko, Aleksey Varlamov and Asaf Messerer. Bapov performed around the world as a member of a Moscow-founded ballet company composed of international competition winners. Thus he worked for 2 institutions, polishing his skills at the Bolshoi and practicing at Abay Opera House.[6] He toured a lot in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, Syria and Jordan, India and Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore, among other countries.[7]
Ramazan Bapov was awarded the distinction of the People's Artist of the USSR in 1979, the only Kazakhstani dancer to receive such a lofty title.[8] As he finished to perform on stage, Bapov obtained a degree in Ballet Staging from Rimsky-Korsakov Leningrad Conservatory in 1986 and two years later joined State Opera and Ballet in Istanbul (Turkey),[9] where he taught a male ballet class.[10]
In 1994, when Bapov took his Turkish students to an international competition in Varna, Bulgaria, he met his old friend Pavel Rotaru, a Romanian ballet dancer, who invited him to the USA. Ramazan spent 13 years in AtlantaState of Georgia, running his own ballet school for 140 students,[11] some of whom took first prizes in US national competitions.
Following President Nazarbayev’s invitation in 2007, Bapov returned to Kazakhstan and headed the ballet division of Abay Opera House.[12]
In his twilight years Ramazan Bapov worked as a choreography advisor and professor at Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts.[13] Anna Tsoi, Damir Urazymbetov, Oryngul Nurzhankyzy and others were among his students. Ramazan spoke Russian, Turkish, English and French.[14]
He died on March 11, 2014, and was buried in the Kensai Cemetery in Almaty.[15]
Ramazan Bapov’s wife Lyudmila Rudakova (1937), formerly a prima ballerina of Abay Opera House, now teaches at Almaty Choreographic School named after Alexander Seleznev and Abay Opera House . Honored Artist of the Kazakh SSR.[16]
His daughter Yulia Bapova (1969), is a pianist and correpetitor at Istanbul Opera Bale (Turkey).[17][18]
Legacy
A monument to Ramazan Bapov by sculptors Eduard Kazaryan and Kairzhan Tokishev was unveiled in Kensai on August 5, 2015.[19]
A street in Almaty was named after Ramazan Bapov in 2022.[20]
On July 8, 2022, a plaque was put up on the wall of the house at Nazarbayev Avenue (formerly Furmanov Av.), 116 where Bapov lived between 1977 and 2014 to commemorate his 75th anniversary.[21][12] Altai Beysenov’s plaque shows Bapov in his roles in Spartacus and Giselle.[22]\
Awards and honours
1966 — 2nd diploma winner in the Varna International Ballet Competition[23]
1968 — Awardee of the USSR-wide Ballet Artist Competition in Moscow[24]