How good a dancer was Mikhail Baryshnikov? Has anyone seen him dance live?

He was just an attractive guy. The dancing was all done with CGI.

I wish. He was so hot.

He had a squeaky little high voice, though.

He had squeaky little high voice, though.

I saw him live and it was a real thrill to see someone so idolized in my small town. But one and done with ballets.

I saw him live and he is breathtaking to watch. He has a perfectly balanced body with perfect form. He hovers in the air when he jumps.

My friend’s wife Elaine Kudo danced with him and said he was a delight.

He was so sexy.

Not Lately.

I read a biography of Nureyev, and they said that while Nureyev in his prime was a force of nature, Baryshnikov was the most technically perfect dancer the world has ever seen--he was like a walking encyclopedia of classical ballet form. Perhaps that's why he enjoyed greater career longevity than Nureyev.

White Nights

He treated women like shit.

I saw him dance many times in live performances and rehearsals. He has HUGE thighs which explains his jumps. He's short - like most dancers. He was trained in the former Soviet Union which explains his technique. I think he was from Riga and his dad was in the military. Unlike Rudi he has no interest in art and culture. Have you ever seen pictures of Rudi's apartments in Paris and New York? Wow.

Yes, and he was every bit amazing as you've heard. 1979 Nutcracker with Gelsey was the first time.

I knew Natalie Moody - one of the people who helped him defect. I helped them find clothes for him.

I got a lap dance from him and I didn’t get hard.

[quote] Unlike Rudi he has no interest in art and culture

That is simply not true.

Short dancers . Ugh I love long legs.

Yes, he was a good dancer. I saw him dance with ABT in Sinatra Dances, I think. It was definitely Twyla Tharp. It might have been Push Comes to Shove. At any rate, he was not on the program. An announcer said that whoever was scheduled to dance would not be dancing. There were the usual moans, and then the announcer said that Baryshnikov would be dancing in his place. The crowd roared.

R7 I saw him dance that. Twyla Tharp, right? He was breathtaking.

Yes, r20 :)

It's interesting to see the latest Twyla Tharp documentary--she is such a character that she deserves her own DL thread, and then some.

There's footage of her working with him in the 1970s: he's smoking during rehearsals. That shouldn't surprise me, but it did. Regardless, he gives off such rock star, alpha male energy. Coupled with the precision of his moves, there's no wonder he was such a phenomenon.

That said, I find him a pretty bad actor. The less said about his SATC appearances, the better.

Is there any societal stigma in Russia about male ballet dancers - that it's not manly - like there is here?

I love that they see dancers as icons. Or is that just a small cultured subset of the population?

These dance clips from "The Turning Point" offer glimpses of his great artistry and athleticism.

No stigma for male ballet dancers in Russia, R23. Quite the opposite. They are looked up to like Americans do to star football players.

He was a god. I saw him dance many times.

Wasn’t it revealed he did Natalie Portman’s dancing in BLACK SWAN?

They used CGI to blend it in.

Why he’d take a job like that I don’t know.

I saw him dance at a gay bar in SF. With a woman.

He was no Nijinsky.

Talentless hack who slept his way to the top.

He actually has no legs, and pushes himself around on a little cart.