“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.”

Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor

Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was born in 1948 and became the preeminent male classical ballet dancer of the 1970s and 1980s. He later worked as a dance director and is also known for his work as a choreographer and actor. His public reputation rests on a long career in classical ballet and on the broader range of performance work that followed.