 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 . 
