Word: misha
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Organized in 1970 by Harvard junior and later U.S. men's skating silver medalist John Misha Petkevitch '71. An Evening With Champions is a benefit for the Jimmy Fund, the fund-raising branch of the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute in Boston...
When Baryshnikov, 33, was named to the post, he spent the year before his appointment took effect studying the troupe he would inherit from Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith, who had guided it for nearly four decades. Misha had danced with the company and knew its strengths-a rich, eclectic repertory, an unbroken record of presenting some of the world's best dancers. He was also aware of some recent flaws. Performance standards had grown erratic, particularly in the corps; management tended to let dancers succeed or drift without much direction. Recalling that year, Baryshnikov says, "I wanted...
...stars whose magnetism sells tickets. Few, if any, expected Baryshnikov to be appointed, and they were vocal in their misgivings about the leadership of a young Russian superstar. But they all stayed on: Natalia Makarova, Cynthia Gregory, Marline van Hamel, Marianna Tcherkassky, Fernando Bujones, Anthony Dowell. To them Misha's great gift is secure performance schedules, which have replaced last-minute fly-ins and broken promises of big evenings...
...newly reshuffled troupe to Washington, D.C., for its first engagement, Kirkland, 28, along with her frequent partner Patrick Bissell, 23, did not show up for mandatory rehearsals. When they finally arrived they were fired for "professional misconduct." A ballerina of unusual imagination, and recklessness, Kirkland is also Misha's most exciting partner. But her temperament, too, is mercurial, and she has suffered from emotional problems in the past. She spent the winter giving concert performances, often with Bissell, and once failed to go on at the last moment. After several long talks, A.B.T. took back the pair three weeks...
Baryshnikov's own actions match his words. He oversees virtually all stage rehearsals, coaching and encouraging. The troops respond. Says Ronald Perry, 26, who joined the company from the Dance Theater of Harlem: "Put it this way. If this were the country, Misha would be President and all the rest of us would be Cabinet members...