Mikhail baryshnikov

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...

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,...

I get speeding ticket like everybody else. If the restaurant is full I'm waiting in line like everybody else.

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.

Soviet regime in a way deprived me from my childhood in my homeland, because my father was in military, and after the Yalta agreement he was sent to teach in military academy in Riga, and I was born...

I'm a product of Russian culture, but I never felt it was my country.

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.

I spend at least a couple hours a day in the studio, every day, whether I'm dancing or not.

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.

I don't see in myself any perfection.