The Dying Swan was first performed by Pavlova at a gala in the Noblemen's Hall, St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, 22 December 1905, and first performed in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, on 18 March 1910.
Fokine's granddaughter, Isabelle, notes that the ballet does not make "enormous technical demands" on the dancer but it does make "enormous artistic ones because every movement and every gesture should signify a different experience," which is "emerging from someone who is attempting to escape death."