Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes:- Mikhail Baryshnikov (born January 27, 1948) is a Russian, American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He is often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev, and Vladimir Vasiliev as one of the greatest male ballet dancers in history.
Inspirational Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes
“I think art education, especially in this country, which the government pretty much ignores, is so important for young people.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“Creative Artists Agency put together a project of extraordinary mediocrity and colossal stupidity. Otherwise, it was great.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I really reject that kind of comparison that says, Oh, he is the best. This is the second-best. There is no such thing.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I get a speeding ticket like everybody else. If the restaurant is full I’m waiting in line like everybody else.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“Dancers are stripped enough onstage. You don’t have to know more about them than they’ve given you already.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I cannot belong to a nonprofit organization because when you receive grants, you have to make such great compromises with your artistic plans.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I want to do exactly what I want to do. I’d rather gamble on the box office than beg for a grant.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I go a lot to see young people downtown in little theaters. It’s great. If you start somebody’s career, it’s so exciting.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I kind of lost interest in classical dance. I was very much interested in modern choreography.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“The Russian people get so insanely close to each other as friends. Their lives are interrelated so much on an everyday basis.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes About Friends
“I am not the first straight dancer or the last.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“My father was a Party member and he was a pretty high-rank military officer under the colonel, junior colonel, I don’t know the term. He was a total Stalinist. A bit with a streak of anti-Semitism and a very shrewd man, a very kind of nervous man.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I miss horribly those couple of hours before the performance when you get into the theater and you see people.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“Dances have a second and third life. You feel they are never ready. They always have a chance for another life.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I like to go to anybody else’s birthday, and if I’m invited I’m a good guest. But I never celebrate my birthdays. I really don’t care.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“My mother had a son from a previous marriage and her husband died in the Second World War.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I would like to go and dance in Palestine one day, with great pleasure, great pleasure.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I’ve always said, ‘I am a selector, I am not defector’ – the first few phrases in English I learned. I said I hate ‘defector’; something defective about the people. It’s a bad word.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“A country like Belgium or socialist countries in central Europe spend more money on art education than the United States, which is a really puzzling thought.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes About Education
“I never liked dance photography; it’s very flat, and dance photography in the studio looks very contrived.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“When I’m alone, I work sometimes with music, sometimes without and sometimes just listening to NPR.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“Nothing is ever too expensive if it furthers the repertoire and artistic standards of a dance company.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“Nobody else in the world has a form like the Native American musical, and Americans should be very proud.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“Your body actually reminds you about your age and your injuries – the body has a stronger memory than your mind.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I know when I am on stage and I’m kind of on the right track – hopefully most of the time. But a lot of time I’m not.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“Although I don’t gamble in life – I’ve never played poker – I do gamble on stage. I gamble with myself: ‘Can I do this?'”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“Now there is in a way a renaissance of modern dance – suddenly, it is more respected and discovered.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“In opera tradition, when opera die-hard fans, there is a replacement of singer or singer wasn’t at his or her vocal best, doing something, they boo. Especially now that they pay hundreds of dollars for the ticket.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
Best Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes
“You see, dancers are quite mature people because they start performing so early. They become professionals when they start to take everyday classes.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“When I see people on the street, I look at how they walk. It’s like a signature, a fingerprint.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“In the second part of life, you get rid of stuff you’ve accumulated.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I don’t drink milk, and I don’t eat bread, pasta or rice. But I eat a lot of meat, chicken, fish, and salads.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“We lived, until I was 12 or so, in a 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 the colonel. He was teaching in military academy military topography.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I remember vividly seeing ‘Tarzan’ and Fred Astaire, the Chaplin films, Fred Astaire musicals, MGM, because of my mother. She was just interested in everything and she took me to opera and ballet, and then ballet got me hooked.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“No matter what I try to do or explore, my Kirov training, my expertise, and my background call me to return to dancing after all, because that’s my real vocation, and I have to serve it.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
Famous Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes
“I fell in love with New York. It was like every human being, like any relationship. When I was a young New Yorker, it was one city. When I was a grown man, it was another city. I worked with many dance organizations and many wonderful people.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I adored my mother, and I will always have extraordinary memories about her and remember her, and she opened the doors for me to appreciate the arts.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“In any art form, in Hollywood or in music, there is a handful of people who really, you know, move the envelope.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“The body cannot lie. You cannot be somebody else onstage, no matter how good of an actor or dancer or singer you are. When you open your arms, move your finger, the audience knows who you are, you know.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“The film, theater and television always kind of scared me. I don’t ever seriously think of myself as an actor at all, and I don’t plan any film career or television career.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“You open a section of ‘The New York Times,’ and there’s a review or a story on a choreographer or a dancer, and there’s an informative, clear image of a dancer. This is, in my view, not an interesting photograph.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“When a body moves, it’s the most revealing thing. Dance for me a minute, and I’ll tell you who you are.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“Choreographers use me as the old guy who still dances. Not that I put on white tights.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
“I’m an impatient person in many respects. I like to put myself in uncomfortable situations. It forces me to deliver.”-Mikhail Baryshnikov
