Svetlana Zakharova in The Dying Swan

Svetlana Zakharova (Rus. Светлана Захарова) in The Dying Swan, music by Camille Saint-Saëns, choreography by Mikhail Fokin. Violin by Vadim Repin. Pas de deux for Toes and Fingers, shot on 21th and 22.12.2015 in Auditorium Conciliazione, Rome.

Check out all galleries from PDD for Toes and Fingers

Check out all galleries from PDD for Toes and Fingers

The Dying Swan (originally The Swan) is a solo choreographed by Mikhail Fokine in 1905 to Camille Saint-Saëns’s Le Cygne from Le Carnaval des animaux as a pièce d’occasion for the ballerina Anna Pavlova, who performed it about 4,000 times. The short ballet (4 minutes) follows the last moments in the life of a swan, and was first presented in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1905. The ballet has since influenced modern interpretations of Odette in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and has inspired non-traditional interpretations and various adaptations. This ballet is inspired by swans that she had seen in public parks and Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Dying Swan”, Anna Pavlova asked Michel Fokine to create a solo for her for a 1905 concert being given by artists from the chorus of the Imperial Mariinsky Opera. Fokine suggested Saint-Saëns’s cello solo, Le Cygne and Pavlova agreed. A rehearsal was arranged and the short dance completed very quickly.

Mikhail Fokine (French Michel Fokine; English Mikhail Fokin; Russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Фо́кин) (1880 – 1942) was a groundbreaking Russian choreographer and dancer.

Photos by Jack Devant ballet photography © with kind permission of Daniele Cipriani Entertainment and Auditorium Conciliazione, special thanks to Mrs. Simonetta Allder and Mr. Daniele Cipriani.