As part of the Egypt-Russia Cultural Year 2020, a statue of international ballet legend Anna Pavlova, sculpted by artist Osama Elsarawy, has been unveiled at the Academy of Arts
In a wonderful celebration held at the Academy of Arts, a statue of international ballet legend Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), sculpted by artist Osama Elsarawy, was unveiled 19 February.
The statue was unveiled in the presence of Acting Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Cairo Svetlana Subova, Russian Consul in Cairo Yusup Abakarov, president of the Academy of Arts Ashraf Zaki, director of Russian Cultural Centres in Egypt Alexey Tevanyan, as well as vice president of the Academy of Arts Ghada Jbara, and president of the Arab Federation for Graduates of the Russian and Soviet Universities Sherif Gad, and members of the Russian diplomatic corps.
Ballet expert Alia Abdel-Razek, Russian Centre director Alexey Tevanyan, Acting Ambassador of Russia Svetlana Subova, Academy director Ashraf Zaki, artist Osama Elsarawy
The ceremony was supervised by Atef Awad, acting dean of the Higher Institute of Ballet and Hannan Abul-Magd, dean of the Conservatoire, while Subova expressed her happiness at the statue being displayed on the grounds of the Academy of Arts, pointing to a bright history of joint cooperation between Russia and Egypt reflecting the depth of bilateral relations between the two countries.
For his part, Zaki stressed the importance of the event, which comes within the framework of Egypt-Russia Cultural Year 2020 under the auspices of presidents Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Vladimir Putin, and that the history of cooperation between the academy and Soviet experts is still bearing fruit many generations later.
Zaki also thanked the artist, Osama Elsarawy, for dedicating his statue to the Academy of Arts, who in return expressed pride in placing one of his statues in the Academy, to be an addition to his series of statues in Egypt of the symbols of Russian culture.
Following the unveiling, students of the Cairo Conservatoire performed excerpts of Tchaikovsky's pieces, led by maestro Mohamed Hamdy.
At the end of the ceremony, the president of the Academy of Arts honoured Ambassador Subova and Osama Elsarawy, granting them the shield of the academy. For his part, the Russian Cultural Centres director honoured Zaki and Awad.
Article orginally published on Ahram online.
Tue, Feb. 25, 2020
