Astaire was not a sexual animal, but he made his partners look so extraordinarily related to him.
Mikhail Baryshnikov

Creative Artists Agency put together a project of extraordinary mediocrity and colossal stupidity. Otherwise, it was great.
Mikhail Baryshnikov

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

Dancing is my obsession. My life.
Mikhail Baryshnikov

Every ballet, whether or not successful artistically or with the public, has given me something important.
Mikhail Baryshnikov

I am not the first straight dancer or the last.
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 do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.
Mikhail Baryshnikov

I feel very uneasy with a lot of aspects of the Russian life and the Russian people.
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 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 have been very lucky to work in so many new ballets, but that is what a dancer's work is.
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 kind of lost interest in the classical dance. I was very much interested in the modern choreography.
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 think art education, especially in this country, which government pretty much ignores, is so important for young people.
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 was not extremely patriotic about Mother Russia. I played their game, pretending. You have to deal with, you know, party people, KGB. Horrifying.
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

It's what's left in life, to work with interesting people.
Mikhail Baryshnikov