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" I've always said, 'I am a selector, I am not defector' - the first few phrases in English I learned. I said I hate 'defector'; something defective about the people. It's a bad word. "

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" We lived, until I was 12 or so, in communal apartment with five different families and the same kitchen, in two little - my brother and me and my parents. It was hell, but it was a common thing. My father was not general or admiral, but he was colonel. He was teaching in military academy military topography. "

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Brother

Kitchen

" I don't drink milk, and I don't eat bread, pasta or rice. But I eat a lot of meat, chicken, fish and salads. "

" A country like Belgium, or socialist countries in central Europe spend more money on art education than the United States, which is a really puzzling thought. "

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

" Soviet regime in a way deprived me from my childhood in my homeland, because my father was in military, and after the Yalta agreement he was sent to teach in military academy in Riga, and I was born then. "

" Running a company is pretty demanding. "

" I cannot draw to save my life, and I'm not a big art scholar, but I worked with many designers throughout my career - in theater, in dance, costume designers, set designers, and I have a lot of artist friends and I do photography, and I think it's kind of in my life. "

" I like to make my own mistakes. "

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

" I am not the first straight dancer or the last. "

" My father was a Party member and he was a pretty high rank military officer under the colonel, junior colonel, I don't know the term. He was a total Stalinist. A bit with a streak of anti-Semitism and very shrewd man, a very kind of nervous man. "

" I like to go to anybody else's birthday, and if I'm invited I'm a good guest. But I never celebrate my birthdays. I really don't care. "

" I'm a news junkie. "

Mikhail Baryshnikov

News

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

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

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Successful

Important

" You see, dancers are quite mature people because they start performing so early. They become professionals when they start to take everyday classes. "

" 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. "

" You open a section of 'The New York Times,' and there's a review or a story on a choreographer or a dancer, and there's an informative, clear image of a dancer. This is, in my view, not an interesting photograph. "

" I cannot stand authority. "

" Film, theater and television always kind of scared me. I don't ever seriously think of myself as an actor at all, and I don't plan any film career or television career. "

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Myself

Think

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

" I think I got disappointed over the years about New York, about the States. You know, sometimes you go and visit Europe and see good old socialism in its good part! You see public concern about art, and young people's participation and young faces in the audience. "

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

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

" I adored my mother, and I will always have extraordinary memories about her and remember her, and she opened the doors for me to appreciate arts. "

" When I'm alone, I work sometimes with music, sometimes without and sometimes just listening to NPR. "

" The body cannot lie. You cannot be somebody else onstage, no matter how good of an actor or dancer or singer you are. When you open your arms, move your finger, the audience knows who you are, you know. "

" I have made mistakes. "

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Mistakes

Made

" I know when I am on stage and I'm kind of on the right track - hopefully most of the time. But a lot of time I'm not. "

" I read Russian literature a lot. "