The Russian Museum pays tribute to Anna Pavlova, the borderless dancer

She was one of the first global divas. With a classical ballet passport, she traveled from Europe to America, Australia, and even Japan, returning home. Her fame was further amplified by Hollywood, which cast her in the film credits for the adaptation of the opera 'La muda de Portici' (1916). This continuous tour that was Anna Pavlova's life has now arrived in Málaga to be showcased for a year in the temporary halls of the Museo Ruso with a collection of photos, press clippings, and theater programs from around the world that, as the title of the exhibition inaugurated this Tuesday states, displays 'A Life Without Borders'.

"In the 1910s and 1920s, she was one of the most well-known people in the world and could have chosen to perform just once a year in Paris and New York, but she chose another life, a life without borders for many reasons, as she visited nearly 50 countries, bringing ballet to places where it had never been seen before," explained collector and curator Dmitry Yusov, who has gathered about 90 documentary pieces for this exhibition, which for him is a "dream" and is sponsored by the 'la Caixa' Foundation and Caixabank.

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The exhibition includes photos and press chronicles of the great work that immortalized Anna Pavlova, 'The Dying Swan', whose performance by the artist from St. Petersburg was considered poetry in motion. Additionally, it also displays the Spanish influence on the Russian dancer who performed both at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Liceu in Barcelona, as well as portraying the eternal 'Carmen' and Dulcinea in the ballet 'Don Quixote'. "She met King Alfonso XIII in 1910, who invited her to Madrid and she performed in Spain in 1919, being the first European country she visited after World War I," Yusov recounted, highlighting Pavlova's interest in learning about local dances and culture, hence she "took flamenco classes" during her stay in our country.

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Meanwhile, the mayor of Málaga, Francisco de la Torre, explained that this display of press clippings and photos "completes" the exhibition of the Castañé collection, which, for now, forms the only offering of the museum in Tabacalera until the "humidity issues" of the building are resolved, which keep more than half of the rooms closed indefinitely. A scant offering for a gallery that, indefinitely, only offers 32 Russian oil paintings from the Castañé funds and a purely documentary exhibition, without artistic pieces.