Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov (Russian:Михаил Николаевич Барышников,IPA:[mʲɪxɐˈilbɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf];Latvian:Mihails Barišņikovs; born January 27, 1948)[1] is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor.[1] He was the preeminent maleclassical ballet dancer of the 1970s and 1980s. He subsequently became a noted dance director.[2]
Born into a Russian family inRiga, Baryshnikov had a promising start in theKirov Ballet inLeningrad before defecting to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities inWestern dance. After dancing with theAmerican Ballet Theatre, he joined theNew York City Ballet as aprincipal dancer for one season to learn aboutGeorge Balanchine's neoclassical Russian style of movement. He then returned to the American Ballet Theatre, where he later becameartistic director. Baryshnikov has spearheaded many of his own artistic projects and has been associated in particular with promotingmodern dance, premiering dozens of new works, including many of his own.[citation needed] His success as a dramatic actor on stage, cinema, and television, has helped him become probably the most widely recognized contemporary ballet dancer. After his 1974 defection, Baryshnikov never returned to theUSSR. Since 1986, he has been anaturalized citizen of the United States.[3] AfterLatvia declared independence on 4 May 1990, he often returned there. In 2017, theRepublic of Latvia granted Baryshnikovcitizenship for extraordinary merit.
Mikhail Baryshnikov was born inRiga, in theLatvian SSR, Soviet Union, now known as Latvia.[4][5] His parents wereethnic Russians: his mother was Alexandra (a dressmaker;née Kiselyova) and his father was Nikolay Baryshnikov (an engineer). According to Baryshnikov, his father was a strict, nationalist military man, and his mother introduced him to theatre, opera, and ballet.[3] She died by suicide when he was 12 years old.[6]
Baryshnikov began his ballet studies in Riga in 1960, at the age of 12. In 1964, he entered theVaganova School, in what was thenLeningrad (nowSaint Petersburg). Baryshnikov soon won the top prize in the junior division of theVarna International Ballet Competition. He joined theMariinsky Ballet, then called the Kirov Ballet, in 1967, dancing the "Peasant"pas de deux inGiselle. Recognizing Baryshnikov's talent, particularly his stage presence and purity of technique, several Soviet choreographers, including Oleg Vinogradov, Konstantin Sergeyev, Igor Tchernichov, andLeonid Jakobson, choreographed ballets for him. Baryshnikov made signature roles of Jakobson's 1969 virtuosicVestris along with an intensely emotional Albrecht inGiselle.[7] While he was still in the Soviet Union,New York Times criticClive Barnes called him "the most perfect dancer I have ever seen."
Baryshnikov's talent was obvious from his youth, but being 5' 5" (165 cm) or 5' 6" (168 cm) tall—shorter than most male ballet dancers—he could not tower over a ballerinaen pointe and was therefore relegated to secondary parts.[8][9] More frustrating to him, theSoviet dance world hewed closely to 19th-century traditions and deliberately shunned Western choreographers, whose work Baryshnikov glimpsed in occasional tours and films. His main reason for leaving the Soviet Union was to work with these innovators.
On June 29, 1974, inToronto while on tour with theBolshoi, Baryshnikovdefected, requestingpolitical asylum in Canada. As recalled by John Fraser, a ballet critic from Toronto who helped Baryshnikov to escape, Fraser wrote down phone numbers of people on a small piece of paper and hid it under his wedding ring. At a banquet after one show he managed to distract the KGB officer who followed Baryshnikov as an interpreter and gave Baryshnikov the paper.[10] Soon, Baryshnikov joined theNational Ballet of Canada for a brief time in a guest role.[11][12] He also announced that he would not return to the USSR. He later said that Christina Berlin, an American friend, helped engineer his defection during his 1970 tour of London. His first televised performance after coming out of temporary seclusion in Canada was with theNational Ballet of Canada inLa Sylphide. He then went to the United States.[13] In December 1975, he and his dance partnerNatalia Makarova featured prominently in an episode of theBBC television seriesArena.
In the first two years after his defection, he danced for no fewer than 13 different choreographers, includingJerome Robbins,Glen Tetley,Alvin Ailey, andTwyla Tharp. "It doesn't matter if every ballet is a success or not", he toldNew York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff in 1976. "The new experience gives me a lot." He cited his fascination with the ways Ailey mixed classical and modern technique and his initial discomfort when Tharp insisted he incorporate eccentric personal gestures in dance.
1974–1978: Principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre
Baryshnikov andPatricia McBride at an event in Buenos Aires, 1979.
In 1978, Baryshnikov abandoned his freelance career to spend 18 months as a principal of theNew York City Ballet, run byGeorge Balanchine. "Mr. B", as Balanchine was known, rarely welcomed guest artists and had refused to work with bothRudolf Nureyev andNatalia Makarova. Baryshnikov's decision to devote his full attentions to the New York company stunned the dance world. Balanchine never created a new work for Baryshnikov, but he did coach him in his distinctive style, and Baryshnikov triumphed in such signature roles asApollo,The Prodigal Son, andRubies.Jerome Robbins createdOpus 19/The Dreamer for Baryshnikov and NYCB favorite Patricia McBride.[15][16]
Baryshnikov performed with theNew York City Ballet as a principal dancer for 15 months from 1978 to 1979.[17] On July 8, 1978, he made his debut withGeorge Balanchine's and Lincoln Kirstein's company at Saratoga Springs, appearing as Franz inCoppélia.
On October 12, 1979, Baryshnikov danced the role of the Poet in Balanchine's balletLa Sonnambula with the City Ballet at theKennedy Center. This was his last performance with New York City Ballet due to tendinitis and other injuries. His tenure there coincided with a period of ill health for Balanchine that followed an earlier heart attack and culminated in successful heart surgery in June 1979. Baryshnikov left the company to become ABT's artistic director in September 1980, and take time off for his injuries.[17]
1980–2002: Artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre and White Oak Dance Project
Baryshnikov returned to the American Ballet Theatre in September 1980 as an artistic director, a position he held until 1989. He also performed as a dancer with ABT.[17] Baryshnikov has remained fascinated with the new. As he observed, "It doesn't matter how high you lift your leg. The technique is about transparency, simplicity and making an earnest attempt."[18] Baryshnikov also toured with ballet andmodern dance companies around the world for 15 months. Several roles were created for him, including in Robbins'sOpus 19: The Dreamer (1979),Frederick Ashton'sRhapsody (1980), and Robbins'sOther Dances, withNatalia Makarova.
From 1990 to 2002, Baryshnikov was artistic director of theWhite Oak Dance Project, a touring company he co-founded withMark Morris. The White Oak Project was formed to create original work for older dancers. In a run ending just short of his 60th birthday in 2007, he appeared in a production of four short plays bySamuel Beckett directed byJoAnne Akalaitis.
In 2003, Baryshnikov won thePrix Benois de la Danse for lifetime achievement. In 2005, he launched theBaryshnikov Arts Center in New York. For the duration of the 2006 summer, Baryshnikov went on tour with Hell's Kitchen Dance, which was sponsored by the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Featuring works by Baryshnikov Arts Center residents Azsure Barton andBenjamin Millepied, the company toured the United States and Brazil. He has received three honorary degrees: on May 11, 2006, from New York University; on September 28, 2007, from Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University; and on May 23, 2008, from Montclair State University. In late August 2007, Baryshnikov performedMats Ek'sPlace (Ställe) withAna Laguna at Dansens Hus inStockholm. In 2012, he received theVilcek Prize in Dance.[21]
Baryshnikov has performed in Israel three times: in 1996, with the White Oak Dance Project at the Roman theater inCaesarea; in 2010, with Ana Laguna; and in 2011, starring in nine performances ofIn Paris, a show after a short story byIvan Bunin, at theSuzanne Dellal Center inTel Aviv. In a 2011Haaretz interview, he expressed opposition to artistic boycotts of Israel and called the enthusiasm forcontemporary dance in Israel astounding.[3]
Baryshnikov made his American television dancing debut in 1976, on thePBS programIn Performance Live fromWolf Trap. The program is distributed on DVD byKultur Video.[22]
During theChristmas season of 1977,CBS brought Baryshnikov's ABT production of Tchaikovsky'sThe Nutcracker to television, with Baryshnikov in the title role, accompanied by ABT performers includingGelsey Kirkland and Alexander Minz.[23]The Nutcracker has been presented on TV many times in many different versions, but Baryshnikov's version is one of only two to be nominated for anEmmy Award.[22]
Baryshnikov also performed in two Emmy-winning television specials, one onABC and one on CBS, in which he danced to music fromBroadway andHollywood, respectively. During the 1970s and 1980s, he appeared many times with the ABT onLive from Lincoln Center andGreat Performances. He has also appeared on several telecasts of theKennedy Center Honors.[22]
An animated TV series,Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood, appeared on AmericanPBS networks from 1996 to 1998. The cartoons were produced by the Russian animation houseSoyuzmultfilm, and redubbed by American actors, includingJim Belushi,Laura San Giacomo,Harvey Fierstein andKirsten Dunst. Baryshnikov hosted the show, presenting his favorite folktales, includingBeauty and the Beast: A Tale of the Crimson Flower,The Snow Queen,The Last Petal andThe Golden Rooster. The episodes were also released on home video.[24]
On November 2, 2006, Baryshnikov and chefAlice Waters were featured on an episode of theSundance Channel's original seriesIconoclasts. The two have a long friendship. They discussed their lifestyles, sources of inspiration, and social projects. During the program, Waters visited Baryshnikov's Arts Center in New York City. The Hell's Kitchen Dance tour brought him toBerkeley to visit her restaurantChez Panisse. On July 17, 2007, the PBSNews Hour with Jim Lehrer featured a profile of Baryshnikov and his Arts Center. He appears, uncredited, in the 2014 filmJack Ryan: Shadow Recruit as Interior Minister Sorokin.[25]
In a continuation of his interest inmodern dance, Baryshnikov appeared in a 2015 commercial for the clothing designerRag & Bone with street dance artistLil Buck.[26]
Baryshnikov is a performer inavant-garde theater. His breakthrough performance in Broadway was in 1989, when he played Gregor Samsa inMetamorphosis, an adaption ofFranz Kafka's novel. It earned him a Tony nomination.[27]
In 2004, Baryshnikov appeared inForbidden Christmas or The Doctor And The Patient at New York City's Lincoln Center, and in 2007 inBeckett Shorts at New York Theatre Workshop.[28] On April 11 to 21, 2012, he starred inIn Paris, a new play directed byDmitry Krymov. It was presented on the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center's Broad Stage and co-starred Anna Sinyakina. Baryshnikov then appeared in the stage adaptation ofAnton Chekhov'sMan in a Case.[29] Of the production, he said:
I grew up reading Chekhov's stories and plays. I have wanted to explore a Chekhov story for the stage for some time and I'm delighted to bringMan in a Case to Berkeley Rep. Both tales are about solitary men and their self-imposed restrictions. We know very little about the character in the first story, "Man in a Case," except that he teaches classical Greek and he's kind of eccentric and conservative. But then something happens to him that is unexpected. The second story, "About Love," provides an arresting contrast to the first work. At their core both stories are about love. And I think it's a romantic show in many respects that is perfect for Berkeley Rep's audience.
On April 21, 2015,The New York Times reported that Baryshnikov was scheduled to perform a reading of poetJoseph Brodsky's work in Riga in 2015.[31] The performance was called "Brodsky/Baryshnikov," was in the original Russian, and premiered on October 15, 2015. Its international tour began in Tel Aviv in January 2016 and it was staged in New York City in March 2016. (Baryshnikov met Brodsky in 1974, soon after Soviet authorities had forced Brodsky to leave his home country and he moved to the United States. They remained friends until Brodsky's death in 1996.)[31]
Baryshnikov receiving his Latvian citizenship passport on April 27, 2017.
Baryshnikov has a daughter,Aleksandra "Shura" Baryshnikova (born 1981),[32] from his relationship with actressJessica Lange. When Baryshnikov and Lange met, he spoke very little English; they communicated in French instead.[33] He eventually learned English by watching television.[34] From 1982 to 1983 he datedTuesday Weld,[35] Lange's best friend.[36]
Baryshnikov has had a long-term relationship with former ballerinaLisa Rinehart. They have three children together. He toldLarry King in 2002 that he did not "believe in marriage in the conventional way",[34] but he and Rinehart married in 2006.[37]
On July 3, 1986, Baryshnikov became anaturalized citizen of the United States.[39] Asked whether he felt like an American, he said, "I like to think like I'm a man of the world. I feel totally Parisian in Paris. Totally Parisian. I have my place here, a lot of close friends and collaborators here, whom I can really feel like I can talk serious business with them. Human business, not 'business' business. Paris was always the dream of my childhood. We grew up on French art, like all Russians. America, United States, North America—it's a new country. Of course, if somebody would ask me to choose either Paris or New York, I would choose New York. But spiritually, somehow, I love Europe."[3]
On April 27, 2017, theRepublic of Latvia granted Baryshnikov citizenship for extraordinary merits.[40] The application to the Latvian parliament, along with a letter from Baryshnikov in which he expressed his wish to become a Latvian citizen, was submitted on December 21, 2016. He wrote that the decision was based on memories of his first 16 years living in Latvia, which provided the basis for the rest of his life. "It was there that my exposure to the arts led me to discover my future destiny as a performer. Riga still serves as a place where I find artistic inspiration", Baryshnikov wrote in the letter to theLatvian parliament.[41]
In March 2022, together with economistSergey Guriyev and writerBoris Akunin, Baryshnikov announced the formation of the True Russia foundation to support victims of thewar in Ukraine. Baryshnikov condemned the Russian invasion and wrote an open letter toVladimir Putin slamming his "world of fear". In his letter, Baryshnikov wrote that people of culture who promoted Russian art made more for Russia than Putin's "not-so-precise weapons".[42][43][44] True Russia also aims to become a trilingual art platform.[43] By the end of March, the initiative had raised more than 1.2 million euros.[45]
"Martha Graham: The Dancer Revealed",American Masters, PBS, 1994
Interviewee, "Danny Kaye: A Legacy of Laughter",American Masters, PBS, 1996
53rd Presidential Inaugural Gala, CBS, 1997
Honoree,The Kennedy Center Honors, CBS, 2000
Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance (documentary), PBS, 2001
(In archive footage)Bourne to Dance (documentary), Channel 4, 2001
Also appeared in "Prodigal Son", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux", and "Other Dances", allDance in America, PBS;Baryshnikov: The Dancer and the Dance, PBS; andCarmen, on French television."Sex and the City: Aleksandr Petrovsky ", HBOSeries
The Magic of Dance, 1982
Host,Stories from My Childhood (also known asMikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood), 1997
Television work
Series
Producer,Stories from My Childhood (also known asMikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood), 1997
Television artistic director
Specials
"Baryshnikov by Tharp with the American Ballet Theatre",Dance in America, PBS, 1984
Johnson, Lizzie (June 6, 2019). "Defecting to the Land of Sweets: Baryshnikov's Nutcracker as Anti-Soviet Statement".Penn History Review.26 (5):102–119.hdl:20.500.14332/42741.
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