B Plus: Dancing for Mikhail Baryshnikov at American Ballet Theatre: A Memoir

by Michael Langlois

Michael Langlois began studying ballet at the age of ten, convinced it would catapult him from Pop Warner directly into the NFL. Eventually forced to choose between football and ballet, he looked at his less-than-five-foot frame and decided ballet might be a more practical option. He went on to train at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the School of American Ballet in New York before being offered a job at American Ballet Theatre by the foremost dancer of the 20th Mikhail Baryshnikov. ABT Plus: Dancing for Mikhail Baryshnikov at American Ballet Theatre is an intimate look at the upper echelons of the dance world as it appeared to a young man who made it to the top of his profession only to discover a vast plateau filled with dancers whose talents and ambitions were often superior to his own.

While he struggles to move beyond playing toy soldiers and happy, clueless peasants in ABT’s corps de ballet, he wonders what to do about his best friend who is in love with him, how to please his world-famous boss, and just how little you have to eat in a ballet company before anyone notices you. After sixteen years as a professional, he comes to some important realizations about himself and ballet in general. “What makes ballet so intensely satisfying and beautiful to me,” he writes, “is that it is so spare. There are no props. There are no instruments that have to be manipulated. It is just the dancer at that moment, and whoever they are and whatever they are capable of doing exists then and only then.”

Genres: Biography

357 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 13, 2018

Reviews

[Cara Hinton · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a pleasure it was to read this book. Ballet is an art form I have watched many times in my life, but never really gave it much thought. Reading this book created a window into the life of the artists that perform ballet and what that means physically and mentally. Obviously it means devotion and talent, but the number of things the artist is expected to handle on their own is eye-opening.

The dedication and devotion Michael had toward his craft despite the hazing of his classmates and his father's disinterest is shocking. And then to be out there prepared to give his fullest to this craft at such an early age and then to be told he had to figure it out, it's amazing he stuck with it!

I'm still shocked he began his career at such a young age and his parents were OK with him being on his own so much. It certainly allows for a child to mature faster, and helps with the reality of ballet and having to figure things out.

I read a review that claimed the author complained about Mikhail Baryshnikov and felt that he was negatively portrayed, I completely disagree. I felt that the assessment of "Misha" was a personal opinion based on the author's experiences as well as a fair assessment of someone who had become a big celebrity. I did not feel negatively toward Misha after reading this book, just that he was human.

I completely enjoyed this book and it reinforces my belief that everyone has an entertaining story to tell, Michael, I'm so glad you put yours down in writing so we all can see this side of ballet. Thank you for sharing your story and for making it something even someone with little knowledge of ballet can read and enjoy!

[Surreysmum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a massive Baryshnikov fan back in the 70s and 80s, and therefore this memoir by corps de ballet dancer Michael Langlois was instantly of interest. As it turns out, he's also a reasonably interesting man himself. He's particularly frank about two subjects: the perils of eating disorders, and the way he had to negotiate being a straight ballet dancer (like his hero/employer Baryshnikov, incidentally), given both the outside world's stereotyping and the actuality of maintaining friendships and boundaries within the ballet world itself. He appears to have managed a very close friendship and, for a time, roommate relationship, with gay dancer Peter Fonseca, for instance (alas, Fonseca was part of the dreadful losses to AIDS in the ballet world in the 80s and 90s). And although I was, of course, in it for the celebrity cameos, his anecdotes about the regular company members, musicians and coaching staff are quite engaging: he doesn't hesitate to re-create conversations and describe physical surroundings in a fair bit of detail. Finally, he is just about forthcoming enough (i.e. not too much) about the progress and eventual deterioration of the relationship with his girlfriend Julie, another dancer in the company.

Living up to the promise of the subtitle, Baryshnikov makes his appearance throughout a large part of the book, although it is clear there was never any more of a relationship between the two men than employer/employee, or coach/dancer. Langlois is actually quite funny about Baryshnikov's inability to articulate exactly what he wanted from a less talented dancer; like many with brilliant gifts, he seems, by this author's account, to have been a bit stymied by the fact that they didn't just *know* how to do it, as he did himself. Baryshnikov also called Langlois "Mikey" for many years, and Langlois generously (and probably correctly) surmises that he didn't realize the diminutive was derogatory, unlike his own "Misha", by which everyone seems to have known him.

Langlois is also likeably frank about the impact of realizing that his talent, though good, was not first-class (hence the book title), and how he eventually resolved that by moving first to smaller companies where he could do better roles, and then eventually out of the ballet world altogether. He now has an online presence as a massage therapist.

[Ki · Rating 3 out of 5]

By and about a mediocre dancer who's well aware that he was never a great dancer. Too few books written about mediocre artists. Always the great ones getting the attention. Interesting book about the period and some of the characters defining it. My main issue is the language. It's just reads stilted and old and strangely (dare-I-say-it) effeminate. But that may very well be the general tone and feel of language in the ballet world.

[Kate Jump · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this even though it wasn't very complimentary about Mikhail Baryshnikov...or for that matter nearly anyone involved in the world of ballet. It did feel like I was in the 80's with them, visiting grimy rehearsal areas and meeting crazy dance tutors. Very atmospheric.