Baryshnikov at Work: Mikhail Baryshnikov Discusses His Roles

by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Martha Swope (Photographer), Charles Engell France (Editor)

The man considered by many to be the world's greatest male dancer discusses all the roles he dances, the technical problems involved, and his stylistic approaches, while action photographs show him in twenty ballets

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography, Biography

252 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1976

About the author

Soviet-born choreographer Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov performed with the Kirov in Leningrad, afterward defected to the United States in 1974, later directed the American ballet theater, and helped to found the white oak dance project, a modern company, in 1990.

People often cite Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov, a Russian actor, alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev, the greatest of the 20th century. From a promising start, he went to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in west. Freelancing, he joined the city of New York as a principal to learn style of movement of George Balanchine. He then moved to art also in New York.

Baryshnikov spearheaded his many own arts, associated, and in particular promoted and premiered his own many dozens of new works. He, probably the most widely recognized contemporary, succeeded as a dramatic actor on stage, cinema, and television.

From 1990 to 2002, Baryshnikov with Mark Morris desired “a driving force in the production of art” and indeed expanded the repertoire and visibility.

In 2005, he opened the Baryshnikov arts center, a creative local and international home to develop and present work.

Reviews

[Katerina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Картинки красивые, а текст - ну что текст? Танцовщик должен танцевать. Даже такой прекрасный, как Барышников.

[Olga Godim · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Baryshnikov was a great dancer, one of the greatest of the second part of the 20th century. Maybe the greatest. I saw several of his films. I saw him perform live on stage. I loved him as a dancer. Not so much as a writer.
In this book, he is talking about his dancing roles, in a language foreign to him, and it shows. I would prefer to see him dance those roles. A film, with fewer words, but the entire range of movements available to him, would've been much better.

[Surreysmum · Rating 5 out of 5]

[These notes were made in 2004]. Comments by Baryshnikov on the extraordinary variety of roles he danced in the first two years after his defection (1974-76), accompanied by often stunning black-and-white studies by Martha Swope. The photos from Vestris stuck particularly in my memory, along with one from La Sylphide where Kirkland appears to be as malleable and limp in his mid-lift grasp as the scarf which has just killed her character.

[Note added in 2026]. This was my first major book purchase (in 1976), and it's still one of my favourites. Swope's photography brilliantly catches Baryshnikov's line, and his commitment to whatever role he was embodying. The dust jacket may have yellowed with age, but the insides are still a true treasure.

[Karly Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Photos. Stories. Mischa. 'Nuff said. Read it, salivate over it, pass it on to a friend~

[Saleena Longmuir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decided to check out some stuff about Mikhail Baryshnikov, famous dancer; this is one of the books I found. It's really just him talking about some famous ballets he's done, but it was quite interesting.

[Mills College Library]

792.8092 B296s 1976