Mehmet Balkan is a Turkish choreographer and general director of the State Opera and Ballet Theater. In 1989 he was the chief choreographer of the German State Ballet in Hanover. The winner of the International Choreographic Competition (Japan, 1994). In 1999 he was the chief choreographer of the State Opera and Ballet Theatre in Antalya. In 2001 he was chosen by Dance EUROPE as one of the best among the five ballet directors of the year. He has choreographed various productions in many theaters around Europe. In 2002, he was the director of the Portuguese State Ballet, and then returned to Turkey at the State Opera and Ballet Theatre.

This season at the Alisher Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theater is unspeakably rich in premieres. One of the highlights promises to be the ballet The Lady with the Camellias. This is another project with the participation of SOTHIS AEGIS, which helped to involve Mehmet Balkan, a well-known ballet master from Turkey and general director of the Ankara State Theater of Opera and Ballet, in the staging. "The Lady of the Camellias," made famous by its author Alexander Dumasyn, has always aroused great interest and desire for its staging and adaptation. It is a beautiful, touching but sad autobiographical love story of two people who meet by chance and dream of spending the rest of their lives together. "The Lady of the Camellias" or "La Traviata", "The Lady of the Camellias" is firmly entrenched in dramatic theater, enriching its history with great acting and directing accomplishments (just name such legendary names as Sarah Bernhardt, Eleanor Duse, Gabriel Rejean, Maria Savina, Vsevolod Meyerhold). The operatic story of The Lady of the Camellias is just as long and even more vivid. Verdi's opera La Traviata came on stage in 1853, only a year after the first production of the work, and, after experiencing a crushing failure, was soon world-famous (Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi). There are also several adaptations of this novel. One of the best is the film of the same name, The Lady of the Camellias, shot in 1936 by American director George Cukora. In the role of Marguerite Gautier is the inimitable Greta Garbo, who won an Oscar for the role. Armand Duval was played by Robert Taylor and Baron de Vrville by Lionel Barrymore. Later, Dumas' idea was realized about France, Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Poland, Vietnam. Ballet was no exception. Choreographers staged eagerly and extensively on this story. But the most famous was The Lady with the Camellias directed by John Neumeier (1978) to music by Chopin. Since then the Dame has been transported to the world's most famous stages and everywhere it has delighted critics and audiences alike. The production is still recognized today as a ballet classic of the 20th century. There is also a version of The Lady of the Camellias to music by Giuseppe Verdi (arranged by P. Salnikov), staged and choreographed by Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasilyev. Its passionate choreography combined with inexpressibly beautiful melodies delighted Italian audiences. This production has enjoyed great success in Europe for many years. In recent years alone The production has received standing ovations in Greece, Portugal, and Spain. And now the premiere of ballet "The Lady with the Camellias" to music by Guiseppe Verdi is expected in Tashkent.Here will be presented the staged version that will be performed by Mehmet Balkan, a choreographer from Turkey.