A talented 29-year-old dancer and painter from Moscow has found her artistic home in Lisbon, where she seamlessly blends Russian artistic traditions with Portugal's vibrant color palette. Alina Mayakovskaya, who believes that creativity is the honest language of the soul, has built a remarkable career spanning dance, painting, and modeling while establishing herself as a prominent figure in both Russian and Portuguese art scenes.
Mayakovskaya's artistic philosophy centers on the idea that whether she is dancing or painting, her art represents a manifestation of freedom and beauty. Her unique approach to creativity demonstrates how two seemingly different disciplines can complement and enhance each other. "Dance is the movement of the body, while painting is the movement of color and line. For me, they are inseparable," she explains. "In dance, I express myself through plasticity and music, and in painting - through brushstrokes and the rhythm of color. When I pick up a palette knife, it feels as if I continue to dance - only now on canvas."
With over 25 years of experience in dance, Mayakovskaya's journey has taken her from student to performer at the prestigious Bolshoi Theatre, and from dancer to teacher, choreographer, and ballet master. Her extensive background in dance has provided her with a deep understanding of movement, rhythm, and artistic expression that directly influences her painting technique. Since 2011, she has also worked with Vyacheslav Zaitsev's modeling agency, participating in Fashion Weeks and photo shoots for various magazines, which has further enriched her perception of beauty, plasticity, and style.
In 2016, Mayakovskaya founded MAYAKDANCE in Moscow, which she describes as more than just a dance school but rather a space of freedom and inspiration where genuine art is born. The studio offers master classes, creates competition numbers, and stages original productions, including her notable one-act ballet "Chekhov and Clipper. Love in Décadance." Under her leadership, the studio has repeatedly won awards at international competitions and has been featured on major federal television channels in Russia.
MAYAKDANCE has attracted film stars, well-known bloggers, and artists, creating a special atmosphere that has inspired new projects. The studio gained significant recognition when it was featured in Vogue magazine, which Mayakovskaya considers a special source of pride. Today, the studio has expanded its reach through online programs, including "Stretching with a Ballerina" and contemporary dance courses, making dance education accessible to a broader audience.
Mayakovskaya's passion for painting began in childhood, sparked by lessons in world cultural history where she discovered masterpieces by impressionists, abstractionists, surrealists, and other movements. "That was when I first realized: paints can speak as honestly and deeply as movement in dance," she recalls. Her desire to express what cannot be conveyed in words or movement led her to develop painting as a new language - one that is intuitive, sincere, and born directly on the canvas in the moment.
The painting process itself brings Mayakovskaya immense joy, as she describes how time seems to stop when she paints. "There is only inspiration, energy, and total immersion. A painting is born like a dance - freely, improvisationally, and sincerely," she explains. Her inspiration comes from nature, music, travel, and particularly Paris, which she calls her special city of inspiration. She is also deeply moved by people - their energy, stories, and emotions.
Technically, most of Mayakovskaya's paintings are created with oil using a palette knife, a tool she feels allows her to convey energy, expression, and the living breath of a stroke. She also enjoys working with acrylics, brushes, and combining different materials, choosing each technique based on the feeling she wants to express. "Sometimes it is impulse and expression, sometimes - tenderness and the breath of color," she notes. "For me, it is important to leave not just an image, but a living testimony of emotions and time."
Her artistic influences include masters such as Malevich, Kandinsky, Monet, and Degas. She feels particularly drawn to abstractionism and impressionism, finding resonance between their expressiveness and poetry and her own artistic world. Mayakovskaya describes her genre as "expressive abstraction" - a language in which lines and colors become emotions, and the canvas becomes a space for inner dialogue. Her style is fundamentally based on emotion and energy, where every stroke carries movement and every color contains breath.
Abstraction appeals to Mayakovskaya because it gives viewers freedom, not imposing but inviting dialogue and allowing each person to discover something personal in the painting. She shares her work through Instagram and Facebook, participates in online auctions where collectors discover and purchase her paintings, and maintains her own website-gallery where each work tells its own story while awaiting its viewer. She dreams of hosting a solo exhibition where viewers could experience her paintings in person and feel how they interact with each other in space.
Comparing the art scenes between her native Russia and her adopted home of Portugal, Mayakovskaya observes that Russia offers strong academic traditions and depth, while Portugal provides brightness, lightness, and freedom. She believes the combination of these two approaches nourishes her creativity and brings it to life. What impressed her most about Portugal is how much art is present on the streets, creating a special atmosphere that constantly inspires her work. This cultural fusion has allowed her to develop a unique artistic voice that honors her Russian heritage while embracing Portuguese vibrancy, creating commissioned paintings that speak to audiences across cultural boundaries.
