Maliavine exhibited several times outside Russia. He also visited Copenhagen, where he painted several portraits of Danish citizenry. In September 1934 he had an exhibition with 150 works at “Den Frie Udstilling” (The Free Exhibition) under the auspices of “Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga”. In the catalogue the following works are mentioned: “Dancing peasant women” (no. 29 and 31), “Village dance” (no. 44) and “Dance in the village” (no. 84). The present painting could be one of these, but without reproductions or measurements in the catalogue, it is impossible to verify if this painting was part of this exhibition.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna was the daughter of Tsar Alexander III and Tsaritsa Maria Feodorovna, and after the Russian revolution she lived in exile in Denmark 1920–1948. It is credible that Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, who herself was a recognized and talented artist, knew Maliavine from the artists' circles in St. Petersburg. Thus, both Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna and Maliavine were students of Vladimir Egorovich Makovski. She was also under the artistic influence of Ilya Repin, who was Maliavine's teacher at the academy.

Provenance: Johan Havemann was born in Rudkøbing and educated in a draper's shop in Fredericia. He was an industrious businessman and 20 years old he came to Copenhagen, where he was employed in Magasin du Nord's main department. In 1898 he became director of the Magasin du Nord's Vesterbro department, which he bought in 1919. During one of Maliavine's visits to Copenhagen in the 1930s, he was introduced to the Danish businessman Johan Havemann (1870–1944), who in this connection acquired this painting directly from the artist. The family had further contact with Maliavine, when Johan Havemann's son, Johan Gunnar Havemann (1910–1998), in 1939 married Else Prior Havenmann. In this connection, the newly married couple also ordered a portrait from Maliavine depicting his bride. This is dated 1940 and was sold at Bruun Rasmussen Auction 879 as no. 1820. Until now, the present painting has been passed down within the family in Copenhagen in a direct line from Johan Havemann, and the work has not been on the market since he acquired it in the 1930s.