Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes

“I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“Perfection is a theory. You cannot be a perfect human being, perfect artist. You cannot be a perfect husband, you cannot be a perfect father probably and probably I am not. But go through your daily routine with hope you will be a little better in all respects, and do something meaningful”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“The essence of all art is having pleasure giving pleasure.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“Dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

When a body moves, it's the most revealing thing. Dance for a minute, and I'll tell you who you are.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“Dancing is my obsession. My life.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I like to make my own mistakes.

— 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

“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

“Dancers are made, not born.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“I get speeding ticket like everybody else. If the restaurant is full I'm waiting in line like everybody else.”

— 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 arts.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

Your body actually reminds you about your age and your injuries - the body has a stronger memory than your mind.

— 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

“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

“Dancers are stripped enough onstage. You don't have to know more about them than they've given you already.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“I would like to go and dance in Palestine one day, with great pleasure, great pleasure.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

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

“I am not the first straight dancer or the last.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“Dance is one of the most revealing art forms.”

— 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

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

“I think art education, especially in this country, which government pretty much ignores, is so important for young people.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

People dance at any age.

— 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

The Russian people get so insanely close to each other as friends. Their lives are interrelated so much on an everyday basis.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“Now there is in a way a renaissance of modern dance - suddenly, it is more respected and discovered.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“I don't see in myself any perfection.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

Running a company is pretty demanding.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“To walk across the street is a risk.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“Working is living to me.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“I am teaching more. That is what I do best.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“I have been very lucky to work in so many new ballets, but that is what a dancer's work is.”

— 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

“Obviously, the young dancers lack a certain air of maturity.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“I don't go to a gym, I don't do yoga. I don't do personal training.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“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

“I cannot draw to save my life, and I'm not a big art scholar, but I worked with many designers throughout my career - in theater, in dance, costume designers, set designers, and I have a lot of artist friends and I do photography, and I think it's kind of in my life.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“Dance is an ephemeral, a fleeting art. To describe this momentum, every movement on stage, in words is virtually impossible.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“It doesn't matter how high you lift your leg. The technique is about transparency, simplicity, making an earnest attempt.”

— 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

“Just sit and open your eyes and open your heart. It's dance theater.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

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

“You can be totally involved, you could admire just the shape of or you could be totally emotionally mushed up into the dance.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“I don't try to dance better than anybody but myself.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“You cannot dance physically certain things. But look at tango dancers or flamenco or Japanese classical theater. You can, if you're smart enough and you collaborate with the right choreographers, you could really dance your age.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“I gave away a lot of works for benefits and then people would also give me back.”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

“I was never like, "collect, collect," like people who go to auctions. I never spent a serious amount of time because I don't have any time!”

— Mikhail Baryshnikov