Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes

I don't go to a gym, I don't do yoga. I don't do personal training.

When a body moves, it's the most revealing thing. Dance for me a minute, and I'll tell you who you are.

I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.

Be. Good. To yourself, to other people, to everything you do. It's a norm of life by which people should try to live. Don't waste time. Be interesting and interested.

The more injuries you get, the smarter you get.

I was not extremely patriotic about Mother Russia. I played their game, pretending. You have to deal with, you know, party people, KGB. Horrifying.

No one is born a dancer. You have to want it more than anything.

No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business.

When I see people on the street, I look at how they walk. It's like a signature, a fingerprint.

There comes a moment in a young artist's life when he knows he has to bring something to the stage from within himself. He has to put in something in order to be able to take something.

It doesn't matter how high you lift your leg. The technique is about transparency, simplicity, making an earnest attempt.

Dance is an ephemeral, a fleeting art. To describe this momentum, every movement on stage, in words is virtually impossible.

I 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.

I am not the first straight dancer or the last.

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.

To achieve some depth in your field requires a lot of sacrifices. Want to or not, you're thinking about what you're doing in life-in my case, dancing.

Dance is one of the most revealing art forms.

What do dancers think of Fred Astaire? It's no secret. We hate him. He gives us a complex because he's too perfect. His perfection is an absurdity. It's too hard to face.

Working is living to me.

To achieve some depth in your field requires a lot of sacrifices.

We're trying to stretch our muscles creatively. It gives us so much more freedom.

I go a lot to see young people downtown in little theaters. It's great. If you start somebody's career, it's so exciting.

Your body actually reminds you about your age and your injuries - the body has a stronger memory than your mind.

Just sit and open your eyes and open your heart. It's dance theater.

You see, dancers are quite mature people because they start performing so early. They become professionals when they start to take everyday classes.

The problem is not making up the steps but deciding which ones to keep.

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.

I want to see people dance, and I would like to guess what kind of people they are. I don't want to know the recipe for their pasta.

If your only dance experience is the Nutcracker, it will be a shock; hopefully shocking in a good way.

My mother had a son from previous marriage and her husband died in Second World War.

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.

People dance at any age.

Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun.

You don't measure life by receiving awards.

I don't try to dance better than anybody but myself.

Nobody is born a dancer.

I read Russian literature a lot.

Dancing is my obsession. My life.

I kind of lost interest in the classical dance. I was very much interested in the modern choreography.

When I'm alone, I work sometimes with music, sometimes without and sometimes just listening to NPR.

People of art should never get married and have children, because it's a selfish experience.

I like to go to anybody else's birthday, and if I'm invited I'm a good guest. But I never celebrate my birthdays. I really don't care.

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

Dancers are stripped enough onstage. You don't have to know more about them than they've given you already.

He [Astaire] was not a sexual animal, but he made his partners look so extraordinarily related to him.

I would like to go and dance in Palestine one day, with great pleasure, great pleasure.

I think art education, especially in this country, which government pretty much ignores, is so important for young people.

You cannot be happy with your family while being personally unhappy with your work. It's a Catch-22 kind of thing.

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 want to do exactly what I want to do. I'd rather gamble on the box office than beg for a grant.