Kunduz Mirkarimova

Kunduz Mirkarimova was born in Tashkent. Most reference works give her birth date as 8 March 1925, while some sources name 1924 or 1928. From 1937 to 1941 she studied at the ballet school in Tashkent (now named after Tamara Khanum), and in 1951 she graduated from the Moscow Choreographic School attached to the Bolshoi Theatre.

She began working in 1943 at the Yangiyul Theatre of Musical Drama and Comedy and from 1946 to 1949 worked at the Muqimiy Theatre. In 1951–1953 she danced at the Navoi Opera and Ballet Theatre, and in 1953–1956 she was a soloist of the Uzbek State Philharmonic.

From 1957 she danced and coached in the Bahor ensemble, and from 1979 to 1988 she was its artistic director. Her repertoire included classical, folk and modern dances such as “Gayratli qiz”, “Katta o’yin”, the Khorezm and Uyghur dances, “Jonon” and “Tanavor”. Among the pieces she staged are the compositions “Xotira” (Memory) and “Ona qalbi”, and the dances “O’rik gullaganda”, “Nasri segoh”, “Savti munojot” and “Dilxiroj”.

Mirkarimova performed Uzbek dances in many cities of the USSR and in more than thirty foreign countries, among them France, Japan, Austria, India, Egypt, Tunisia and Spain.

She taught at the Tashkent choreographic school from 1964 (1964–1979 and again from 1988) and became a professor in 1996. Her pupils include Mamura Ergasheva, Ogiloy Muhamedova, Malika Ahmedova, Ziyoda Madrahimova and the Tajik dancer Ziba Aminzade.

She was named Honoured Artist of the Uzbek SSR in 1956, People’s Artist of the Uzbek SSR in 1966 and People’s Artist of the USSR in 1984. In 1994 she received the Shuhrat Medal and the Mukarrama Turgunboyeva Prize, and in 1997 the Order of Do’stlik. Kunduz Mirkarimova died in Tashkent on 11 June 2019 and was buried at the Minor cemetery.