Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov, nicknamed "Misha", is a Latvian-born Russian-American dancer, choreographer, and actor born in the Soviet Union, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers in history. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in western dance. After freelancing with many companies, he joined the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer to learn George Balanchine's style of movement...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDancer
Date of Birth27 January 1948
CityRiga, Latvia
CountryUnited States of America
I - you know, I'm not an actor.
I am not trying to do material which I cannot do full out.
Every ballet, whether or not successful artistically or with the public, has given me something important.
In the second part of life you get rid of stuff you've accumulated.
Acting is not my language at all.
Nothing is ever too expensive if it furthers the repertoire and artistic standards of a dance company.
I would like to go and dance in Palestine one day, with great pleasure, great pleasure.
Nobody else in the world has a form like the Native American musical, and Americans should be very proud.
Nobody is born a dancer.
We lived, until I was 12 or so, in communal apartment with five different families and the same kitchen, in two little - my brother and me and my parents. It was hell, but it was a common thing. My father was not general or admiral, but he was colonel. He was teaching in military academy military topography.
Soviet regime in a way deprived me from my childhood in my homeland, because my father was in military, and after the Yalta agreement he was sent to teach in military academy in Riga, and I was born then.
Obviously, the young dancers lack a certain air of maturity.
In opera tradition, when opera die-hard fans, there is a replacement of singer or singer wasn't at his or hers vocal best, doing something, they boo. Especially now that they pay hundreds of dollars for the ticket.
I like the most provocative and most surprising partnerships on stage. Intensity and surprise.