My life has been immensely enriched by gay mentors, colleagues and friends, and any discrimination and persecution of gay people is unacceptable.
— Mikhail Baryshnikov
Choreographers use me as the old guy who still dances. Not that I put on white tights.
Dance is one of the most revealing art forms.
Everything I do, it's a bit painterly. I like being surrounded by objects, mostly on paper. I like the images. I like the painting. I like good photography. It's something that makes me an emotional connection, and I feel comfortable around it.
The body cannot lie. You cannot be somebody else onstage, no matter how good of an actor or dancer or singer you are. When you open your arms, move your finger, the audience knows who you are, you know.
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.
The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.
I think I got disappointed over the years about New York, about the States. You know, sometimes you go and visit Europe and see good old socialism in its good part! You see public concern about art, and young people's participation and young faces in the audience.
I fell in love with New York.
In the second part of life you get rid of stuff you've accumulated.
In opera tradition, when opera die-hard fans, there is a replacement of singer or singer wasn't at his or hers vocal best, doing something, they boo. Especially now that they pay hundreds of dollars for the ticket.
I know when I am on stage and I'm kind of on the right track - hopefully most of the time. But a lot of time I'm not.
Nobody else in the world has a form like the Native American musical, and Americans should be very proud.
I don't go to a gym, I don't do yoga. I don't do personal training.
I never liked dance photography; it's very flat, and dance photography in the studio looks very contrived.
I would like to go and dance in Palestine one day, with great pleasure, great pleasure.
The more injuries you get, the smarter you get.
I found that dance, music, and literature is how I made sense of the world... it pushed me to think of things bigger than life's daily routines... to think beyond what is immediate or convenient.
I'm a product of Russian culture, but I never felt it was my country.
You open a section of 'The New York Times,' and there's a review or a story on a choreographer or a dancer, and there's an informative, clear image of a dancer. This is, in my view, not an interesting photograph.
I cannot draw to save my life, and I'm not a big art scholar, but I worked with many designers throughout my career - in theater, in dance, costume designers, set designers, and I have a lot of artist friends and I do photography, and I think it's kind of in my life.
In any art form, in Hollywood or in music, there is a handful of people who really, you know, move the envelope.
Dancers are made, not born.
I remember vividly seeing 'Tarzan' and Fred Astaire, the Chaplin films, Fred Astaire musicals, MGM, because of my mother. She was just interested in everything and she took me to opera and ballet, and then ballet got me hooked.
I like to make my own mistakes.
I'm a news junkie.
When I see people on the street, I look at how they walk. It's like a signature, a fingerprint.
Now there is in a way a renaissance of modern dance - suddenly, it is more respected and discovered.
I don't see in myself any perfection.
Nothing is ever too expensive if it furthers the repertoire and artistic standards of a dance company.
I spend at least a couple hours a day in the studio, every day, whether I'm dancing or not.
A country like Belgium, or socialist countries in central Europe spend more money on art education than the United States, which is a really puzzling thought.
People dance at any age.
I've been hurt quite a few times.
I'm an impatient person in many respects. I like to put myself in uncomfortable situations. It forces me to deliver.
When a body moves, it's the most revealing thing. Dance for me a minute, and I'll tell you who you are.
Film, theater and television always kind of scared me. I don't ever seriously think of myself as an actor at all, and I don't plan any film career or television career.
I am a performer. I go on stage and make a fool of myself.
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.
No matter what I try to do or explore, my Kirov training, my expertise, and my background call me to return to dancing after all, because that's my real vocation, and I have to serve it.
We lived, until I was 12 or so, in communal apartment with five different families and the same kitchen, in two little - my brother and me and my parents. It was hell, but it was a common thing. My father was not general or admiral, but he was colonel. He was teaching in military academy military topography.
I cannot stand authority.
I don't drink milk, and I don't eat bread, pasta or rice. But I eat a lot of meat, chicken, fish and salads.
You see, dancers are quite mature people because they start performing so early. They become professionals when they start to take everyday classes.
Although I don't gamble in life - I've never played poker - I do gamble on stage. I gamble with myself: 'Can I do this?'
Your body actually reminds you about your age and your injuries - the body has a stronger memory than your mind.
When I'm alone, I work sometimes with music, sometimes without and sometimes just listening to NPR.
I was always interested in photography and other forms of art.
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.
I am not trying to do material which I cannot do full out.
