A creative, extraordinary personality always expects a thorny, full of drama life path. The fate of the ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov fully fits into the canvas of the biographical plot.
Mikhail Baryshnikov, a great ballet dancer and choreographer, was born in Riga on January 27, 1948. His father, an officer in the Soviet army, was a tough and strict man. Mikhail studied until the age of 12 in an ordinary high school, at the age of 10 he enrolled in a ballet school, then expressed a desire to study at a choreographic school. At the age of 12, Mikhail lost his mother, who committed suicide, his father got married. It was hard for the boy to live with his father's new family. A few years later, Mikhail moved to Leningrad and stopped communicating with his father.
Baryshnikov was small in stature, and the teachers at the school recommended that he grow up in order to solo on stage. The young man was able to grow by 4 cm, performing the most difficult set of exercises. In 1964, having arrived in Leningrad with the troupe of the Latvian National Opera, he entered the Leningrad Choreographic School.
Career and creativity
Since 1967, the graduate of the school was admitted to the Theater of Opera and Ballet named after S. M. Kirov. He quickly began to solo, having a unique talent, virtuoso performance. Mikhail worked at the Mariinsky for 7 years. The title of People's Artist of the RSFSR was received by him in 1973.
Baryshnikov went on tour abroad for the first time with the theater in 1970 to London.
In 1974, while in Toronto, he applied for political asylum and remained in America. In the same year he entered the American ballet troupe, where he immediately became a premiere. In July she made her stage debut in the ballet Giselle. The audience is choking with delight. For the next 4 years, Mikhail performed solo in many ballet productions, performed the main roles and choreographed in The Nutcracker and Don Quixote.
In 1978 the famous artist moved to the New York City Balle Theater. In 1980-1989 he was the director of the American Ballet Theater. Since 1990, together with Mark Morris, he has organized the White Oak project in Florida. Since 2005 he has opened his own art center. In addition to ballet, he is engaged in photography, opens a restaurant "Russian Samovar", has its own production of ballet clothes, its own brand of perfume.
Baryshnikov also starred in films. From 1974 to 2002, he had six paintings on his account. In 1977 he even received an Oscar. Several more films were filmed in 2004 - 2014.
Personal life
The artist met Jessica Lang in 1976, a daughter was born from their marriage, but the marriage was short-lived. The next wife was the ballerina Lisa Reinhart. They had a son and two daughters.
In August 2017 - Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov was included in the Forbes Top 100 Influential Russian of the Century.
