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To walk across the street is a risk.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
A theater is such a revealing form of art, such a transparent and good actors, they're such powerful individuals. I always kind of dreamt that one day I will open my mouth on stage.
Mikhail Baryshnikov
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Just sit and open your eyes and open your heart. It's dance theater.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
I don't go to a gym, I don't do yoga. I don't do personal training.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
I have some Russian friends. But probably only 10 percent. I don't hang out usually in the big Russian communities in Brooklyn and New Jersey.
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'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 -
Nobody is born a dancer.
Mikhail Baryshnikov
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Obviously, the young dancers lack a certain air of maturity.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
We're trying to stretch our muscles creatively. It gives us so much more freedom.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
What do dancers think of Fred Astaire? It's no secret. We hate him. He gives us a complex because he's too perfect. His perfection is an absurdity. It's too hard to face.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
I think I got disappointed over the years about New York, about the States. You know, sometimes you go and visit Europe and see good old socialism in its good part! You see public concern about art, and young people's participation and young faces in the audience.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
To achieve some depth in your field requires a lot of sacrifices. Want to or not, you're thinking about what you're doing in life-in my case, dancing.
Mikhail Baryshnikov
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What brought me to the theater, no matter you're a Jew or a Russian or Armenian or Latvian, are suddenly illuminated by stage light and one beautiful image of dance.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
I read Russian literature a lot.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
Be. Good. To yourself, to other people, to everything you do. It's a norm of life by which people should try to live. Don't waste time. Be interesting and interested.
Mikhail Baryshnikov -
When I'm alone, I work sometimes with music, sometimes without and sometimes just listening to NPR.
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 -
People of art should never get married and have children, because it's a selfish experience.
Mikhail Baryshnikov