49+ Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes On Dance, Education And Art

Mikhail Baryshnikov was a Russian-born American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was a principal dancer for the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad before defecting to Canada in 1974. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Mikhail Baryshnikov on love, dance, education.

Top 10 Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes

1. I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.
2. No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business.
3. There comes a moment in a young artist's life when he knows he has to bring something to the stage from within himself. He has to put in something in order to be able to take something.
4. The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure
5. Dance is an ephemeral, a fleeting art. To describe this momentum, every movement on stage, in words is virtually impossible.
6. I found that dance, music, and literature is how I made sense of the world... it pushed me to think of things bigger than lifes daily routines... to think beyond what is immediate or convenient.
7. 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.
8. To achieve some depth in your field requires a lot of sacrifices.
9. The problem is not making up the steps but deciding which ones to keep.
10. Just sit and open your eyes and open your heart. It's dance theater.

Mikhail Baryshnikov Short Quotes

• Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun.
• When I'm alone, I work sometimes with music, sometimes without and sometimes just listening to NPR.
• I am not trying to do material which I cannot do full out.
• I - you know, I'm not an actor.
• It's what's left in life, to work with interesting people.
• To walk across the street is a risk.
• I am not the first straight dancer or the last.
• We're trying to stretch our muscles creatively. It gives us so much more freedom.
• I like the most provocative and most surprising partnerships on stage. Intensity and surprise.
• I am teaching more. That is what I do best.

Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes About Dance

I want to see people dance, and I would like to guess what kind of people they are. I don't want to know the recipe for their pasta. — 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

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

It's weird when you see pieces of choreography that were done for you 15 or 20 years ago and now they are being done by another dance company. — 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

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

If your only dance experience is the Nutcracker, it will be a shock; hopefully shocking in a good way. — Mikhail Baryshnikov

Nothing is ever too expensive if it furthers the repertoire and artistic standards of a dance company. — 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

Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes About Art

Divinity of art, it's such a mystery. How to convince people that no matter how much money you can spend on education and art education especially, that it implants, it directs a young person for the rest of their lives, and always in the most humane and positive and dignified manner. — 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

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

Dance is one of the most revealing art forms. — Mikhail Baryshnikov

Mikhail Baryshnikov Famous Quotes And Sayings

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

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

You don't measure life by receiving awards. — Mikhail Baryshnikov

I gave away a lot of works for benefits and then people would also give me back. — Mikhail Baryshnikov

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. In the '90s, it became kind of a hard and unwelcoming city in many ways. It became conservative, like the whole country. — Mikhail Baryshnikov

You invest into the future, and that's how young people become human in best sense of it - through the great experience of listening a Müller symphony or to see a great play by Tennessee Williams, experience something in a ballet, in a film. — Mikhail Baryshnikov

I always had a kind of strange relationship with New York City, with total love affair in the beginning then retreat during the kind of conservatives of politics and real estate and business came, and then I am again kind of fighting for the justice to the city, to open the city for the artists. — Mikhail Baryshnikov

He is a male butterfly without the wings - the same kind of grace of a very young horse, so angular. — Mikhail Baryshnikov

No one is born a dancer. You have to want it more than anything. — 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

People dance at any age. — Mikhail Baryshnikov

What people will do to get away from boredom! — Mikhail Baryshnikov

Acting is not my language at all. — Mikhail Baryshnikov

Working is living to me. — 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

Life Lessons by Mikhail Baryshnikov

1. Mikhail Baryshnikov teaches us the importance of hard work and dedication; he worked tirelessly to perfect his craft and become one of the world's most renowned dancers.
2. He also demonstrates the power of resilience and perseverance; despite suffering a serious injury, he was able to come back and continue to dance at a world-class level.
3. Finally, Baryshnikov's story is a testament to the importance of taking risks; he left his home country of Russia and moved to the United States to pursue his dreams.