Word: baryshnikov
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Starting with Push Comes to Shove, you could call Twyla Tharp Baryshnikov's inspired biographer. Push saw him as an immigrant dancer in a new and daunting company (A.B.T.) and country, determined to assert himself, join the fun, court the girls and still deal with the fact that he is irremediably different, set apart by culture and genius. By the time The Little Ballet came along in 1983, Misha was A.B.T.'s director, and that dance was a hilarious, poignant picture of a harried boss trying to cope with a fractious company. It was the dance equivalent...
Pergolesi began two years ago as a duet Tharp danced with Baryshnikov. Back then, it commented on the relationship between choreographer and dancer, who in this case are an exceptional match in both musicality and wit. Tharp's funny bone is never predictable; Baryshnikov can make any move look spontaneous, as if he were out there amusing himself. The piece is now recast as a solo, though for a few phrases Misha dances ardently with an invisible partner -- Twyla's way of reminding people that this is still her show. For the rest, Baryshnikov seems to be musing...
This season's emotional center, however, was the latest alliance of Baryshnikov and Jerome Robbins. Set to Bach cello music, A Suite of Dances is $ also a solo, a moody exploration of man and movement, much of it autumnal in tone. Though less frequent than the partnership with Tharp, Baryshnikov's relationship with Robbins is deepening. A Suite is the choreographer's first new dance in five years. "For a while, I didn't feel in condition; I couldn't feel my body," says Robbins, 75, who looked spry and acute in rehearsal. "But Misha wanted to try something...
...friendship was cemented in 1979, when President Carter asked Baryshnikov to put on a performance at the White House. A prestigious offer, but it meant working on a tiny stage with a ceiling so low that Misha-size leaps were impossible. Nor did the White House provide a stage crew. "I felt sorry for him -- he had no one," says Robbins. "So I became a kind of stage manager and kept my eye on everything -- sound, costumes and all." He also threw in a new short ballet, set to Chopin...
...Baryshnikov was grateful for this quiet boost from a master whose work always looks like a million, whether on Broadway or Pennsylvania Avenue. As for dancing Suite, he says, "I think it's all about Jerry -- a man leaning on one leg and listening, wondering, 'O.K., what's next?' There's irony and urgency and also a bittersweet quality. This is a man of intelligence, a man of the world, a thinking man." But lest that serious thought prevail, he adds with a twinkle, "Sometimes I think Jerry's inspiration comes out of his beard...