Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov is a renowned dancer and choreographer, celebrated for his significant contributions to the world of ballet and modern dance. Born in Riga, Latvia, he began his ballet training at age twelve and quickly showcased his exceptional talent, becoming a solo artist with the Kirov Ballet at just fifteen. Baryshnikov's career flourished as he defected to the West in 1974, joining the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where he redefined the standards for male dancers and collaborated with notable choreographers, transitioning towards a more expressive dance style. His work extended beyond ballet, as he ventured into film and television, earning an Academy Award nomination for his role in "The Turning Point."
Throughout his career, Baryshnikov actively sought to innovate within the arts, creating new works, staging classic ballets with modern interpretations, and establishing the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City to support artists across disciplines. He has also engaged in humanitarian efforts, notably founding the True Russia Foundation to aid victims of the war in Ukraine. Recognized as one of the greatest ballet dancers in history, Baryshnikov's charisma and versatility have made him an enduring cultural icon, inspiring audiences and dancers worldwide. His legacy encompasses a broad range of dance forms, showcasing his passion and commitment to the art.
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Mikhail Baryshnikov
Latvian-born American dancer and choreographer
- Born: January 28, 1948
- Place of Birth: Riga, Latvia, Soviet Union (now in Latvia)
The range and drive of dancer and choreographer Baryshnikov led him to develop new forms of expression in all kinds of dance. His art has been documented in film and television, leaving a lasting legacy to dance and the arts.
Early Life
Mikhail Baryshnikov (mee-KIL bah-RIHSH-nih-kohf), born in Riga, Latvia, was encouraged by his mother to explore athletics, but because his small stature precluded aggressive team sports, she encouraged him to pursue art. He studied the art of dance, beginning his ballet studies at age twelve. Theater became an escape after he lost his mother.
At age fifteen, Baryshnikov joined a Riga dance troupe, which gave him the opportunity to travel. During a tour of Leningrad he was invited to join the Vaganova Ballet Academy, the finest ballet school in the city. Baryshnikov demonstrated early that he had unique abilities, and was taken under the wing of Alexander Pushkin, the Vaganova’s best-known teacher. Like his predecessor, ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev, Baryshnikov became Pushkin’s prodigy. Pushkin became a surrogate father to the teenager, instilling in him a love of theater and literature.
In the stratified world of Soviet ballet there were two types of male dancers: the danseur noble, or romantic lead, and the demi charactère, or character dancer. Pushkin identified and encouraged Baryshnikov’s versatility, range, and his eagerness to play all roles. In 1966 the Vaganova staged a student production of Le Corsair at the Kirov Ballet’s Maryinsky Theatre. Baryshnikov’s performance, his gravity defying leaps, and his grand jeté, made him the talk of the ballet world.
Life’s Work
After three years of study at the Vaganova school, Baryshnikov was invited to join the Kirov Ballet at the unprecedented level of solo artist. In 1967 he debuted in the Peasant pas de deux (a dance suite) in Giselle and partnered with prima ballerina Natalia Makarova in the Soviet-approved classics The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Giselle. The best choreographers of the day collaborated with the rising star of the Kirov. These choreographers included Leonid Yakobson, who choreographed Vestris for Baryshnikov.
Baryshnikov’s virtuosity in the lead role for Vestris won him the gold medal in the Moscow International Ballet Competition in 1969. Acclaim afforded the Kirov dancers opportunities, and Baryshnikov, Makarova, and other members of the company toured London in 1970. For the first time, Baryshnikov was exposed to Western culture. He met secretly with Nureyev, who had defected in 1961. During the London tour Makarova defected to the West as well.
Baryshnikov returned to Leningrad and the Kirov. In 1970, Pushkin died of a heart attack. The ballet company suffered from bureaucratic pressures, and Baryshnikov grew frustrated with the company’s artistic limitations. In 1974, Baryshnikov and members of the Kirov toured in Toronto, Canada. On June 29, after a matinee performance, Baryshnikov walked across a busy street to a waiting car and to freedom.
About one month later, Baryshnikov made his debut with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), with Makarova, in Giselle. During the next four years with the ABT he added twenty-six roles to his repertoire, establishing a new standard for male dancers. His dance style changed as he pursued a more expressive and psychological approach to roles. Baryshnikov pushed the company to adapt new works and ballets they had never performed. He collaborated with modern dance choreographer Twyla Tharp, dancing to music by Frank Sinatra and the Beach Boys.
In 1977 he acted in the film The Turning Point , in a part written for him by the film’s director, Herbert Ross. Ross’s wife, Nora Kaye, was a former ballerina in the ABT and knew the dance world intimately. Baryshnikov was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a seductive and brilliant dancer.
The ABT gave Baryshnikov the opportunity to stage and choreograph his own versions of classics. He re-envisioned The Nutcracker with Russian themes and a more complex role for the Nutcracker prince. He won praise for his performance in Don Quixote but mixed reviews for his unorthodox staging. In 1978, Baryshnikov left the ABT to join the New York City Ballet under George Balanchine. Balanchine’s origins were in Russian ballet, but his dance style and choreography were completely different from those of Baryshnikov. In eighteen months, Baryshnikov performed twenty-two new roles, working with both Balanchine and, as Balanchine weakened from a terminal illness, with Jerome Robbins. Baryshnikov left the New York City Ballet in 1979.
In 1980, Baryshnikov filmed a television special Baryshnikov on Broadway , for which he won an Emmy Award. The ABT offered Baryshnikov the position of artistic director and principal dancer. He accepted with the understanding that he could bring in new choreographers, premiere new productions, and do away with the old ABT star system.
Baryshnikov sought out other forms of expression during the 1980s. He filmed a second television special, Baryshnikov in Hollywood, as a tribute to Hollywood films. He starred in White Nights with actor-tap dancer Gregory Hines for director Taylor Hackford. In 1986 he worked with Ross on their second film, Dancers. He brought ballet performances of Balanchine’s Apollo and Who Cares? and the fantasy ballet Murder to the American television audience through Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) productions of Great Performances and Dance in America.
At the ABT, Baryshnikov’s personal projects were met with mixed success. His Cinderella received lukewarm reviews, while a staging of Kenneth McMillan’s Romeo and Juliet was a financial and critical success. In 1988 he staged a production of Swan Lake , a project he had dreamed about doing since coming to the ABT. A few critics appreciated his dark, psychological approach, but many did not. In 1989, Baryshnikov announced his resignation from ABT. During the same period the dancer rehearsed the lead role in a Broadway production of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis by avant-garde theater director Steven Berkoff.
In the 1990s, Baryshnikov partnered with friend and dancer Mark Morris in the White Oak Dance Project to showcase innovative contemporary dance in lean and mobile productions which could tour easily. He created a licensing and marketing company for clothing and perfume. Also, he spent more time with his longtime companion, former ballerina Lisa Rinehart, and their three children. In 1997 at the age of forty-nine, Baryshnikov visited Riga for the first time since his defection and danced at the Riga Opera House, dedicating his performance to the memory of his mother. In the same year he toured with the White Oak Dance Project, making new demands of his art and introducing new choreography to dance lovers. In 2000, he was awarded the American National Medal of Art at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2004, he opened the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City as a place for artists of multiple disciplines to converge. Outside the realm of ballet, in 2003 and 2004, he made guest appearances as the love interest of Sarah Jessica Parker on Sex and the City. In 2011 and 2012, he acted in the play In Paris, and 2013, he starred in the play Man in a Case, a conflation of two Anton Chekhov short stories.
In March 2022, with writer Boris Akunin and economist Sergey Guriyev, Baryshnikov formed the True Russia Foundation to support the victims of the war in Ukraine. Baryshnikov wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, condemning the action. By the end of its first month, the foundation had raised more than $1.3 million.
Significance
Baryshnikov is considered one of the finest ballet dancers in history and achieved recognition as an international cultural icon. While his early success came from his many talents, it was his charisma and masculinity not always associated with male dancers that most likely contributed to his celebrity status and won him legions of fans.
His dance style, athletic abilities, artistry, and personality awakened public interest in classical dance in the 1970s and 1980s and sustained that interest as he made the transition from ballet to modern dance and from dancer to choreographer and artistic director. He is unique in the dance world for his wide-ranging repertoire. He embraced all forms of dance from the classics to jazz to modern to Broadway and shared his passion for dance with audiences around the world.
Bibliography
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Baryshnikov, Mikhail. Baryshnikov at Work: Mikhail Baryshnikov Discusses His Roles. New York: Knopf, 1978. Print.
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Regensdorf, Laura. "Mikhail Baryshnikov on a New Group Effort to Support Ukrainian Relief: 'Putin's Actions Cannot Stand.'" Vanity Fair, 24 Mar. 2022, www.vanityfair.com/culture/2022/03/true-russia-aid-for-ukraine-mikhail-baryshnikov. Accessed 21 Aug. 2024.
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