To mark the Egypt Russia Culture Year 2020, a statue of Russian ballet legend Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), has been unveiled at the Egyptian Higher Institute of Ballet in Cairo’s Academy of Arts.
The unveiling ceremony was held to celebrate the great Russian dancer’s birthday in February, and was attended by President of the Academy of Arts Ashraf Zaki; Acting Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Cairo Svetlana Subova; Russian Consul in Cairo Yusup Abakarov; director of Russian Cultural Centres in Egypt, Alexey Tevanyan; Ghada Jbara, vice president of the Academy of Arts; and Sherif Gad, president of the Arab Federation for Graduates of the Russian and Soviet Universities, as well as members of the Russian diplomatic corps. The event was supervised by Atef Awad, Acting Dean of Cairo’s Higher Institute of Ballet, and Hanan Abul-Magd, Dean of the Cairo Conservatoire.
The statue was carved by Egyptian artist Osama as-Serui, who served as the cultural advisor at the Egyptian embassy in Moscow, and who ha sculpted and plans to sculpt statues of other luminary Russian figures.
To honour the event, sudents of the Cairo Conservatoire, led by conductor Muhammad Hamdy, played Tchaikovsky pieces; and the ballet dancers Ahmad Yehia and Anya performed scenes of Swan Lake.
In conclusion, Dr Zaki, President of the Academy of Arts honoured Ambassador Subova and the sculptor Serui presenting them the shield of the academy, and Mr Tevanyan of the Russian Cultural Centre honoured Dr Zaki and Dr Awad.
Russian primal ballerina Anna Pavlova performed in Egypt in 1910, 1923 and 1928.
Watani International
3 March 2020