Ai-Gul Gaisina —

Ai-Gul Gaisina trained at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg. With the company titled 40 Stars of the Russian Classical Ballet she travelled throughout South America, Cuba, Europe and Australasia.

She joined the Stanislavsky Ballet Theatre in Moscow in 1971, creating principal roles in several ballets, including Khatchaturian's Gayane.

In 1973, Ai-Gul joined The Australian Ballet as a Soloist. Amongst her notable roles were Ronald Petit's Carmen, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Kitri in Rudolf Nureyev's Don Quixote, Michelle in Gillian Lynne's Fool on the Hill and Valencienne in Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow. Retiring from performing in 1978, Ai-Gul embarked on her teaching career at the Victorian College of the Arts. In 1983, she joined The Australian Ballet School, where she taught for ten years before rejoining The Australian Ballet as guest teacher and coach. She has also taught at the Royal Danish Ballet, Houston Ballet and Hong Kong Ballet.

Ai-Gul staged her own production of Don Quixote for The Australian Ballet’s The Dancer’s Company in 2010. Her production of Giselle was first staged for Houston Ballet in 2011.