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.

Meaning of the quote

It can be strange to see a dance that was created just for you many years ago now being performed by a different dance company. The dance moves and steps were designed specifically with you in mind, so it feels odd to see someone else doing them instead. It's like seeing your favorite outfit on someone else - it just doesn't feel the same.

About Mikhail Baryshnikov

Mikhail Baryshnikov, born in Riga, Latvia, was a renowned dancer, choreographer, and actor who rose to fame as the preeminent male classical ballet dancer of the 1970s and 1980s. After defecting to the West, he became a naturalized US citizen and continued to excel in various artistic projects, including modern dance and acting roles in film and television.

More about the author

More quotes from Mikhail Baryshnikov

I feel very uneasy with a lot of aspects of the Russian life and the Russian people.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

Working is living to me.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

The Russian people get so insanely close to each other as friends. Their lives are interrelated so much on an everyday basis.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

I really reject that kind of comparison that says, Oh, he is the best. This is the second best. There is no such thing.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

Dancing is my obsession. My life.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

I am not the first straight dancer or the last.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

To walk across the street is a risk.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

I have been very lucky to work in so many new ballets, but that is what a dancer’s work is.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

I have some Russian friends. But probably only 10 percent. I don’t hang out usually in the big Russian communities in Brooklyn and New Jersey.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

Creative Artists Agency put together a project of extraordinary mediocrity and colossal stupidity. Otherwise, it was great.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

It’s what’s left in life, to work with interesting people.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

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.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

Every ballet, whether or not successful artistically or with the public, has given me something important.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor

I cannot belong to a nonprofit organization because when you receive grants, you have to make such great compromises with your artistic plans.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor