Makhmud Ḣelasoltiyn voḣ Esambayev[a] (15 July 1924 – 7 January 2000) was a Soviet and Chechen dancer, ballet master, choreographer and actor.

At the age of fifteen, Makhmud joined the Checheno-Ingush Song and Dance Company, and at nineteen, he joined the operetta theater of Pyatigorsk, where he would give concerts to Red Army troops fighting in World War II.

Years later, Makhmud joined the Kyrgyz Theater of Opera and Ballet [ky] as a soloist, where he played the lead role in productions of Swan Lake (playing the part of Von Rothbart), The Fountain of Bakhchisarai and The Sleeping Beauty.

Makhmud was known for always wearing his papakha hat, calling it "my crown" and not even removing it when meeting with a head of state.

On noticing it, the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev would murmur that "Makhmud is here, it's time to call the session open.