The incomparable Baryshnikov
He had it all – perfect technique combined with utter ease and freedom of movement, musicality, “attack,” charm, sex appeal, and acting ability:
I was fortunate enough to see him dance many many times in person.
I also once stood next to him for about ten seconds. We were both in flat ballet slippers, and I have to say that although his height has been variously reported as 5’5″ or 5’6″, I suspect he might actually be more like 5’4″ because he seemed to be exactly my height.
No matter. The man is a giant.
Was that a “mike drop” at the end?
It’s fascinating how we (most people) respond to being around someone famous. It takes your breath away.
I taught couples dancing for 15 years and have competed at the international level.
My strong impression is that at the tippy top of performers in virtually all dance disciplines there is something magical about the best dancers.
I saw him many times, too. (As a stroke of luck, I had a ticket to the Makarova Giselle in July 1974 at the NYState Theater where he made his US début.) It was hard to credit the perfect execution we were seeing–but there it was, just as in this marvelous clip. I loved Nureyev, too. His greatness was always a little bit on the edge–teetering, so to speak. (Baryshnikov, on the contrary, seemed incapable of ‘messing up’ in the slightest.) Baryshnikov was Apollo and Nureyev was Dionysus, perhaps.
Liz,
A flagon drop?
An amazing performance, even when soused? 🙂
No flag – on -ing on that routine.
A dance super bowl? A flag – on the play?
Perhaps Baryshnikov’s leaps inspired Musk to aim for Mars. Just jump hard enough and high enough and we will get there!
Struck me as sort of like Fred Astaire. Neither “jumped”. It just seemed as if gravity was, for a couple of seconds, not operating. They were just…up.
His lateral movements hid whatever preparation for the vertical he had to make. So he was just…up.
Richard Aubrey,
That was Julius Irving’s (Dr. J.) jumpshot to me. Somehow, at the peak of his leap he was able to cancel the effects of gravity for about a half second, and hover.
Barishnikov is ordinarily thought of as Russian, but he was born in Latvia.
I am of male persuasion, so I cannot see him as Neo does, sexy. But he fathered 4 kids, and “partnered” with the beautiful Jessica Lang for 6 years, inter alia.
Thank you, Wiki.
I was curious if Baryshnikov ever danced with Maya Plisetskaya, another neo favorite, and now one of mine. They were of different generations, but Baryshnikov certainly respected her.
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The dance world, led by ballet superstar Mikhail Baryshnikov, honored legendary Soviet ballerina Maya Plisetskaya Sunday night with a gala series of performances, a tribute to her five decades of dancing…
Baryshnikov chose the George Balanchine ballet ‘Apollo’ for his personal tribute to Plisetskaya.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/03/27/The-dance-world-led-by-ballet-superstar-Mikhail-Baryshnikov/7683575442000/
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I can’t find video of that performance, but here is a version from the same time period:
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–“Great Performances: Dance in America: Baryshnikov Dances Ballanchine with American Ballet Theatre”
https://archive.org/details/Baryshnikov.Balanchine
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Maya Plisetskaya died in 2015. Baryshnikov:
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As tributes poured in from around the world, Mikhail Baryshnikov mourned the loss of “one of the greatest dancers of our time” and called her a “divine inspiration.”
https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/03/living/feat-russian-ballerina-maya-plisetskaya-dies/index.html
huxley:
One barrier to their dancing together, besides age, was that Plisetskaya was reportedly 5’6″. That would mean that on pointe he would be considerably taller than he. Gelsey Kirkland was one of his most frequent partners (for a while, anyway); she was 5’1″. Makarova was another; she is reported to be 5’3″.
Up close, his eyes might have been off-putting. But at stage distance, they were dramatic.
neo:
Height would have been a problem. I hadn’t thought of that. Also politics would have made it impossible after Baryshnikov defected.
Still it’s pleasant to imagine a Baryshnikov-Plisetskaya pairing with custom modern dance choreography, matching their different presences.
Plisetskaya moved into more free-form dance, e.g. Boléro, in the latter part of her career. As did Baryshnikov when he came to US. Here’s an interesting show on his work with Twyla Tharp:
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There was pressure…. He’s arguably the greatest dancer in the world. What are you going to do with this guy?
–Twyla Tharp, “How Twyla trained the Russian master dancer Baryshnikov”
https://youtu.be/utk6lA-caqM?t=54
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BTW the piano music they are working with is the Philip Glass piece I mentioned a week ago in the Glass topic.
huxley:
I had the pleasure of seeing Baryshnikov dance Tharp’s work in person.
One of the reasons Baryshnikov defected was to have the freedom to broaden his repertoire. He was unsurpassed in the classics, but he wanted more. After his defection, he also had a stint with New York City Ballet – Balanchine’s company. Unfortunately, by that time, Balanchine was getting sick, and the collaboration wasn’t what Baryshnikov had hoped. Baryshnikov then become the director of American Ballet Theater, the company in the US he’d danced with most since defecting to this country. But he kept doing less classical roles for many years after he stopped performing in the classics, and of course starred in several movies along the way. However, he is best known for his perfection in those traditional classical roles. The Twarp ballet that was most famous and popular of his moves into less-classical choreography, “Push Comes to Shove,” very much showed his sense of humor. I saw him do it many times, and yet I think it’s in the classics that his real artistry was best displayed.
Re: Baryshnikov / Tharp / “Push Comes to Shove”
Wow! Anyone curious about Baryshnikov going off the ballet reservation must watch:
–“Baryshnikov in America – Push comes to shove Part1”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_aEbEqpLdc
If you ever wondered what a top ballet star could do with Bob Fosse modern dance in ragtime, here you go. The hat throws are a delight.
Not just humorous, but hilarious, powerful and precise. A whole ‘nother thing when Baryshnikov does it.
I confess I don’t understand most of what is going on with ballet, but here, any American with a pulse can get the swaggering Broadway-style Baryshnikov displays.
In the credits I notice a “Robert La Fosse”. Weirdly, that’s not Bob Fosse, but a dancer/choreographer, whose original name was Robert LaFosse, who was also influenced by Fosse.