Shara (Gulshara) Zhiyenkulova is a dancer, teacher, People’s Artist of the Kazakh SSR (1938). She was born in Almaty on August 18, 1912.
In 1929-1930, Shara Zhiyenkulova studied at the historical faculty of the Kazakh Pedagogical Institute (KazPI), and then, she worked at the Kazakh Drama Theater. Her first role was called “Pulish” based on B.Mailin’s play “Maidan” ("Battle"). After that, she played the roles of Yenlik and Karakoz at the stage plays (M. O. Auezov’s “Yenlik-Kebek” and “Karakoz”). Since 1934, Shara Zhiyenkulova had worked at the Musical Drama Theater (currently, it is called Abai Kazakh Opera and Ballet Theater). Here, she performed the folk dances in M. Auezov’s musical drama "Aiman-Sholpan", in E. G. Brusilovsky’s operas "Kyz Zhibek", "Zhalbyr" and "Er Targyn". Besides that, Shara Zhiyenkulova danced the role of “Mamyr” in the first Kazakh national ballet “Kalkaman-Mamyr”.
Shara Zhiyenkulova became the first film actress in her youth, playing the role of Balym, the wife of the hero of 1916 uprising Amangeldy Imanov, in the feature film “Amangeldy”, created by Lenfilm in 1938. An art historian Kabysh Siranov wrote in the book “Kazakh cinema”: The role of Balym, Amangeldy’s wife, is performed with great temperament and simplicity by the People’s Artist of the Kazakh SSR Shara. She was extremely good at the wedding performances, where she masterfully performed a national dance. Shara demonstrated herself as a talented dramatic actress, especially in the episodes of the first arrest and then, the death of Amangeldy, where she was required to exert the greatest creative effort for conveying the whole tragedy of the feelings of the hero’s girlfriend.
In 1940-1962, the actress worked at the Kazakh Philharmonic; in 1962-1966, she was the head of the song and dance ensemble of the Kazakh SSR. In 1966-1975, Shara Zhiyenkulova was the director of the Almaty Choreographic School. Her students are: People’s Artist of the Kazakh SSR, G. Talpakova; Honored Artists of the Kazakh SSR K. Karabalina, B. Baizhumanova and others.
In order to develop the national dance art, Shara Zhiyenkulova traveled a lot around the country, exploring the way of life, traditions and customs of different regions. As a result of these trips, the dances “Tattimbet”, “Aizhan kyz”, “Kara Zhorga”, “Kyryk kyz” had appeared in the stage. Shara Zhiyenkulova managed to express a spiritual beauty of the stage images with the help of plastic movements. Zhiyenkulova had toured in many foreign countries. In 1936 and 1958, she participated in the decades of Kazakh literature and art in Moscow city.
Shara had danced at the stage for 40 years, and gave her last concert in 1966. She said that “Every actress dies twice, the first time is when she leaves the stage”. She was buried at the Kensai cemetery in Almaty.
Other than this, Shara Zhiyenkulova is a laureate of the State Prize of the Kazakh SSR (1968). She was awarded the “Lenin Order”, the “Order of the Red Banner of Labor” twice, the Badge of Honor and other medals as well.
