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 BaryshnikovI do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.
Mikhail BaryshnikovI was very restless. I really wanted to be a part of a kind of a progressive society. I was fed up with these Communist doctrines and you were hassled all the time with members of the Party committee who were KGB, what you have to do, where in the West you can go or not to go.
Mikhail BaryshnikovPerfection 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 BaryshnikovYou invest into the future, and that's how young people become human in best sense of it - through the great experience of listening a Mรผller symphony or to see a great play by Tennessee Williams, experience something in a ballet, in a film.
Mikhail BaryshnikovI 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.
Mikhail BaryshnikovI 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