Dance Quotes by Mikhail Baryshnikov

Dance is one of the most revealing art forms.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

Dancing is my obsession. My life.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

People dance at any age.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I am not the first straight dancer or the last.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

The more injuries you get, the smarter you get.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

Dancers are made, not born.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

Nobody is born a dancer.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

The problem is not making up the steps but deciding which ones to keep.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I don't try to dance better than anybody but myself.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

Obviously, the young dancers lack a certain air of maturity.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

Choreographers use me as the old guy who still dances. Not that I put on white tights.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

To achieve some depth in your field requires a lot of sacrifices.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I like the most provocative and most surprising partnerships on stage. Intensity and surprise.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

We're trying to stretch our muscles creatively. It gives us so much more freedom.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

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

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

If your only dance experience is the Nutcracker, it will be a shock; hopefully shocking in a good way.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

What do dancers think of Fred Astaire? It's no secret. We hate him. He gives us a complex because he's too perfect.…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

It's weird when you see pieces of choreography that were done for you 15 or 20 years ago and now they are…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I never liked dance photography; it's very flat, and dance photography in the studio looks very contrived.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

When a body moves, it's the most revealing thing. Dance for me a minute, and I'll tell you who you are.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I want to see people dance, and I would like to guess what kind of people they are. I don't want to…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

Dances have a second and third life. You feel they are never ready. They always have a chance for another life.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

You cannot dance physically certain things. But look at tango dancers or flamenco or Japanese classical theater. You can, if you're smart…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

You open a section of 'The New York Times,' and there's a review or a story on a choreographer or a dancer,…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I found that dance, music, and literature is how I made sense of the world... it pushed me to think of things…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I cannot draw to save my life, and I'm not a big art scholar, but I worked with many designers throughout my…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

The body cannot lie. You cannot be somebody else onstage, no matter how good of an actor or dancer or singer you…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

You invest into the future, and that's how young people become human in best sense of it - through the great experience…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I fell in love with New York. It was like every human being, like any relationship. When I was a young New…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

When a dancer comes onstage, he is not just a blank slate that the choreographer has written on. Behind him he has…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I would like to go and dance in Palestine one day, with great pleasure, great pleasure.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

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

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

I spend at least a couple hours a day in the studio, every day, whether I'm dancing or not.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

No one is born a dancer. You have to want it more than anything.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

Just sit and open your eyes and open your heart. It's dance theater.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

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

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

To achieve some depth in your field requires a lot of sacrifices. Want to or not, you're thinking about what you're doing…

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

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

— Mikhail Baryshnikov

It doesn't matter how high you lift your leg. The technique is about transparency, simplicity, making an earnest attempt.

— Mikhail Baryshnikov