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Essay on Mikhail Baryshnikov
Introduction
Mikhail Nikolaevitch Baryshnikov was born in Riga in 1948 and began his ballet studies there in 1960. In 1964, he entered the Vaganova School in what was then called Leningrad, studying with the legendary Aleksander Pushkin and soon winning the top prize in the junior division of the International Varna Competition. Word began spreading of this extraordinary young dancer of precious classical purity and exquisite presence. Clive Barnes gave notice of what was to come after observing the student Baryshnikov in Pushkin's class, describing him as "The most perfect dancer I have ever seen.” After training at the Vaganova ballet school, he commenced his dancing career at the relatively late age of fifteen. (Lee, pp.12-15)
His Career
Because of the extraordinary strength of his leg muscles, Baryshnikov was permitted to join Leningrad's Kirov Ballet in 1967. He made his debut at the Maryinsky Theatre that same year, dancing the “Peasant” pas de deux in Giselle. In just a few years and despite being only 5'7" he had become a soloist, and was a Soviet celebrity by his early twenties.
Choreographers recognized in Baryshnikov a unique instrument for new dance, and soon Oleg Vinogradov, Konstantin Sergeyev, Igor Tchernichov, and Leonid Jakobson created ballets for him. Jakobson's 1969 Vestris, a feast of virtuosity and wit, became Baryshnikov's signature role and, along with his intensely emotional Albrecht in Giselle, his calling card to his new home.
During the Kirov's 1974 Canadian tour, he disappeared for several days, and turned up again petitioning for and gaining political asylum from the Canadian Government. His decision to defect had as much to do with aesthetics as ideology; in Russia, even a ballet star could go only so far socially and financially. Soon after his defection, he began a series of highly successful appearances before North American audiences....
