Word: baryshnikov
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...Baryshnikov entered the company at the end of his third year of study-and not as a humble member of the corps. He started as a soloist, and in his first week danced the peasant pas de deux in Giselle. Visiting dancers and critics from abroad noticed him at once, and word began spreading in the West that the Kirov had a new discovery. By 1970, when he was 22, Baryshnikov was enjoying his first Western triumph in London. A little later he was suffering the first signs of official disapproval back home. His preference for clothes-and chicks-from...
...political defection: "If only the Kirov had permitted me to perform with other companies in the West. If only they had asked foreign choreographers to compose works for us in which the Western contemporary approach to ballet is being explored." The actual escape in Toronto was typically daring. Baryshnikov could have walked out of his hotel room. Instead, he waited until after his last performance, then dashed through a crowd of well-wishers. He was nearly run over but made it safely to a waiting car a couple of blocks away...
...much, too fast. But the selection of A.B.T. as his first home in the West, a choice made easier by Makarova's powerful desire to have him as a partner, is basically sound. The company, probably the best in the U.S., had repertory roles like Albrecht that Baryshnikov already knew, and could offer him new parts when he was ready. He has insisted on teaming not only with Makarova but also with Gelsey Kirkland, 22, who is both a precocious star and a defector of sorts, from George Balanchine's New York City Ballet. Baryshnikov was surprised...
This clout helps Baryshnikov realize his other thwarted aim from Kirov days-to dance roles drawn from outside the classical repertory. Les Patineurs is one of these, as is Le Jeune Homme et la Mort, which he flew to Paris to learn from Choreographer Petit. In the summer he will add Shadowplay, which Antony Tudor is reworking especially for him. Such innovators as Twyla Tharp and Alvin Ailey are also working on new ballets for him. John Neumeier, director of the Hamburg Opera Ballet, will stage Hamlet for him-probably next winter...
...Even Baryshnikov admits that he is running on "nervous energy. I am entering my new life, but I am not there yet. Until schedules and organization come, it's all nervous energy." Remi Saunder, a Russian émigré who devotes herself to helping Russian artists resettle in the West, believes that some of this nearly manic activity is inevitable right now. Major performing artists in Russia are treated very well materially but have little training in the use of initiative. Says she: "There you are given food, but not the choice of food." As a man who came...