The famous "renegade". The amazing fate of the dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov

The great Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov celebrates his birthday on January 27 - he turns 66 years old. On this occasion, we decided to recall the most beautiful thing that surrounds him, that is, his women.

The main thing in a man's life is usually the woman who gave him a child. Mikhail Nikolaevich has two such women actress Jessica Lange and ballerina Lisa Reinhart.

Mikhail's romance with Jessica began after he left the USSR, leaving his civil wife Tatyana Koltsova. Relations developed rapidly. Interestingly, at the time of his acquaintance with Lange, Baryshnikov did not speak very well English language, so the lovers had to explain themselves in other ways. The romance of Jessica and Mikhail has quite tangible "fruits" daughter Alexandra. And although the actress and the great dancer still parted, they are still in a great relationship. Baryshnikov himself once said:

She is one of the very few women I have loved.

Now Mikhail Nikolaevich is married to a former artist of the American ballet troupe Lisa Reinhart. Their relationship is not as discussed as at one time his affair with Lange, which is correct and logical age and status oblige. But Lisa gave her husband three beautiful children - daughters Sophia and Anna and son Peter.

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lisa Reinhart

Mikhail Nikolaevich with his daughter Sofia

The role in the fate of today's birthday man was played, of course, not only by the women with whom he lived, but also by those with whom he worked. After leaving the Soviet Union, while adjusting to a new life in the US, Baryshnikov had a colleague, Natalya Makarova, who danced Giselle together at the Metropolitain Opera. Natalya was also one of the "defectors" the ballerina remained in the West in 1970, while Mikhail fled in 1974.

In addition to Makarova, Baryshnikov was lucky to work with such famous artists as Merle Park and Patricia McBride.

Duo Baryshnikov-Makarov

And, of course, we cannot help but recall another partner of Mikhail Nikolayevich this time, not on stage, but on film set. It's about Sarah Jessica Parker. She had the opportunity to work with Baryshnikov on several episodes. final season"Sex in big city By the way, the scene of the first date between Carrie Bradshaw and Alexander Petrovsky (it was dinner at the Russian Samovar) was filmed for about nine hours.

Carrie and Petrovsky performed by Sarah Jessica Parker and Mikhail Baryshnikov

In the life of the great Baryshnikov, there were many difficult and many beautiful things. We hope that in the future there will be only beauty and that the main women in his life will bring him exceptional joy.

the site tells how the fate of the soloist of the leading parts of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater. Kirov (now - Mariinskii Opera House), who in 1974 chose a new homeland - the United States.

Didn't grow up

Usually about prominent people say: "He made himself." In the case of Mikhail Baryshnikov, this is an absolute axiom. What were the chances for a boy from a simple family to become a world celebrity?

Mom - originally from the village of Kstovo under Nizhny Novgorod. Father is a military man, lieutenant colonel, tough and domineering person. Misha spent his childhood in Riga, in a large communal apartment on Skolas Street.

Thanks to his mother, the boy fell in love with the theater - she often took her son to the Latvian drama. Only now my mother left life too early - when the future ballet star was only 11 years old, the woman committed suicide. Father who quickly formed new family, the presence of Misha was burdened, so the boy began to live with family friends.

From childhood, Mikhail got used to making decisions himself and being responsible for them. He independently chose his path, enrolled in ballet school and entered the choreographic school. He dreamed of the stage.

“The scene instantly corrupts,” the artist recalls his first steps. - Orchestra, Jupiters, smells of makeup, powder, the audience. The feeling that you are completely special person. At some point, you realize the magic of the theater - and you are gone. There is no way back. I was pretty and started getting all the little kids' parts."

Mikhail successfully graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School and was accepted into the troupe of the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre. He was a master of dance, he could perform any of the most difficult pas.

Only now they were in no hurry to make him a soloist - he did not come out tall. His teacher Helena Tangieva said that it would be necessary to get just a few centimeters. And he did it! How did it happen, what helped him - was it special exercises, a crazy power of desire or Providence?

One way or another, Baryshnikov got his way.

Not a drop of politics

Once a week, Baryshnikov went on the stage of the theater. A new production was staged for an average of a year. But the artist wanted more. After all, the life of a dancer, as Baryshnikov himself once put it, burns like a candle. Yes, and the limitation is only classical dance made him sad. Mikhail later emphasized many times that there was not a drop of politics in his flight from the USSR, only personal motives.

“For the first time I saw modern dance in 1970 during a tour of our theater in London,” recalls Baryshnikov. “It was my drama, because this acquaintance changed me myself.”

He ran away right after the performance. Eyewitnesses say that a crowd of fans surrounded him at the exit. He joked, signed autographs, and suddenly rushed to run as fast as he could. Fans are said to have rushed after him in delight.

Joseph Brodsky then dedicated a poem to Baryshnikov, in which there are lines: “And what about where it comes out to land - the Earth is solid everywhere; I recommend USA.

As for the artist himself, he recalled his first feelings like this: “I knew that I would regret this step. I left my friends, my audience, the theatre, Leningrad, the most beautiful city in the world.”

"Bravo, Misha!"

Since then, however, his opinion has changed. In a recent interview with The Times, Baryshnikov stressed: “I would say that I am an American at heart. I will never speak English as my own mother tongue and I will always have my accent. But even with all the terrible things that are happening in the US - poverty and racial problems - I admire the tenacity of this country, and I will never live anywhere else.

In the series "Sex and the City" Baryshnikov played the Russian artist Alexander Petrovsky. Photo: Frame from the film

America welcomed the overseas dancer with open arms.

For the first time before the American public, Baryshnikov appeared in the ballet Giselle on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. His partner was another "fugitive" - ​​Natalya Makarova.

US ballet fans accepted the Soviet ballet star the first time. They say that after the end of the performance, the artist was called to the stage 24 times! "Misha! Misha! - the audience chanted, instantly becoming his fans. By the way, it is Misha that the Americans call Baryshnikov now.

Since then, all his performances have been sold out, and the ballerinas have competed with each other, trying to get a Russian artist as a partner.

The famous American choreographer Martha Graham wrote: “Misha entered my life as a gift from God. Our paths crossed after he stayed in the West. He was perfection."

And the American magazine Newsweek even wrote that thanks to such "stars" as Baryshnikov, America, which has already given the world the greatest boxers and basketball players, is becoming a leading power in the field of ballet.

But the thirst for novelty has always possessed the artist. He was the director of the American Ballet Theatre, tried his hand at film and television shows, created his own troupe contemporary dance"White oak" ("White oak").

IN currently he is artistic director Art Center named after Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Romance with Lisa

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Liza Minnelli Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Women in such a whirlpool of creativity and personal achievements occupied by no means the first place in Mikhail's life. He is credited with many novels, one of the most striking - with the inimitable Liza Minnelli, who called him "a sweet, charming genius, a man of stunning beauty."

However, all love stories Baryshnikov were short-lived. As was his first marriage to American film star Jessica Lange, who left the dancer after several years of marriage for actor Sam Shepard.

He is now married to former ballet dancer Lisa Reinhart, granddaughter of famed theater director Max Reinhardt, with whom they have three children. Mikhail is reputed to be a respectable family man, pays more and more attention to his narrow circle, and less and less participates in ambitious projects.

There was a lot of glory in his lifetime. Apogee of gratitude new motherland was an award for contribution to American culture, which Baryshnikov received from the hands of former US President Bill Clinton.

But according to former homeland Michael is not sad. For all these years he never got out to Russia.

“I have never had such attachment to this place as he (Brodsky). I lived in Russia for only 10 years (Mikhail separates the period of life in Latvia - author's note). I am a product of Latvian upbringing, although my parents were Russians with all the ensuing consequences. But I have never felt nostalgic - more precisely, I have nostalgia for the Russian people and Russian culture, but not for this place on the geographical map.

Mikhail Baryshnikov was born in Latvia, became a ballet dancer in Russia, and found his recognition in the USA, where he is known as Misha

He did not return in 1974 from Canada, where he was on tour with Bolshoi Theater. At home, he was made an enemy, his name was “forgotten” for the time being, his property was confiscated. But in America, not tormented by a sense of nostalgia, Baryshnikov revealed his creative potential in full measure: dancer, director, actor, director, photographer, restaurateur, winner of many awards, including an Oscar nominee. On January 27, Mikhail Baryshnikov celebrates his 70th birthday.

Man without a home

The future star of the ballet scene was born in Riga in the family of an officer. His love for art was instilled in him by his mother. But, when the boy was a teenager, the woman once sent her son to her grandmother, and she herself committed suicide. The father remarried, but in this family the boy felt like a stranger. Ballet was his only joy.

Misha graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School. It was said that he did not particularly stand out and was even gloomy, but he was completely transformed during the dance. He didn’t get interesting roles because of his small stature, then Baryshnikov developed his own set of exercises and stretched himself to the “placed” 167 cm.

From 1967 to 1974 he danced at the Mariinsky Theater of Opera and Ballet (formerly the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after Kirov), where he was recognized as the best dancer, received the main parts in productions. Already at the age of 24, Baryshnikov was favored by the authorities: he lived in his own apartment in the city center, drove the prestigious Volga at that time. But the material never kept him where it was stuffy and where he wanted to escape. Mikhail later said that he once realized how much he did not want to live in Russia, to see people with eternally dissatisfied faces and assure others of his love for the Communist Party. Baryshnikov wanted to expand the boundaries and fly to the other side of the world in a dance jump.

Run, Misha, run!

This was done in 1974 in Canada. Having brilliantly performed at the gala concert of the Soviet ballet troupe of the Bolshoi Theater, Mikhail went out into the street, where he was immediately surrounded by fans. The dancer signed autographs and was a little nervous, his friends were already waiting for him, who helped him say goodbye to the Soviets forever. Baryshnikov told the fans that he would be back in just a minute, and ran, and they followed him. The man stopped, laughed, signed a few more photos, notebooks and disappeared.

He was hidden on a farm, where he got drunk, mentally saying goodbye to his Leningrad friends, his beloved dog ... A month later, Baryshnikov was already dancing in Giselle on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. Once he said that Riga is just geographic point on the map, but he does not have a homeland in the philistine sense. Although the dancer repeatedly exploited the image of a Russian person in the USA: he played it in the film "White Nights" and in the TV series "Sex and the City".

Together with poet Iosif Brodsky and literary critic Roman Kaplan, Baryshnikov opened the Russian Samovar restaurant in Manhattan in the 1980s. Interestingly, his character from the series, the artist Alexander Petrovsky, brings Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) to this establishment and treats him to Russian tea with cherries.

Man of the century

After emigrating, Mikhail Baryshnikov has been working eagerly, discovering more and more new horizons for himself: classical ballet, modern dance, Broadway step, staging performances, making films and acting in films himself, taking photographs, organizing exhibitions, having affairs with Liza Minnelli, Jessica Lange, whom he married and with whom he has a daughter, Alexandra. Today he is married to ballerina Lisa Rinehart. The couple has a son, Peter, and two daughters, Anna and Sofia. The real embodiment of self-made man - the American dream.

27.01.2011 09:56

Mikhail Barynikov is the greatest dancer of our time who has achieved worldwide recognition.

January 27, 1948 in Riga, in the family of the military Nikolai Baryshnikov, son Mikhail was born. The boy's life was not easy - he grew up in a large communal apartment. His relationship with his father was not very good. And when the guy was 12 years old, a tragedy struck the family: the mother of Alexandra Vasilievna committed suicide. However, despite the fact that she passed away so early, she managed to do a lot for her son: it was her mother who taught little Misha to the theater and supported his decision to go to the Riga Choreographic School.

Baryshnikov spent several years with his father, but then he got new family, and Misha began entirely independent life. He moved to Leningrad. It happened like this: in 1964 the Latvian national opera toured in Leningrad, and Mikhail was also busy in performances. Drawing attention to a talented young man, one of the artists of the Kirov Theater (now the Mariinsky Theater) took him to the Leningrad Choreographic School to the teacher Alexander Pushkin (Rudolf Nureyev studied with him). Pushkin took an exam from Baryshnikov and invited him to the school. So, in fact, the fate of the future soloist of the theater. Kirov.

In 1967, Baryshnikov graduated from his studies and began performing on the stage of the Kirov Theater. He instantly became a favorite of the audience - and not only because of his dancing skills. Baryshnikov is not only a great dancer, but also an excellent actor. And this is what captivated those who sat in the hall.

He danced in "Giselle", "Vestris", "Creation of the World" ... In 1973, Mikhail Nikolayevich was awarded the right to arrange his own creative evening, for which a whole series of one-act ballets was specially created for him.

In the same year, Baryshnikov was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. However, despite the recognition, such a freedom-loving young man like him had a hard time with the country with its regime. Mikhail did not develop relationships not only with the leadership, but also with other artists. Joseph Brodsky, close friend Baryshnikov, once mentioned that if Mikhail Nikolaevich had stayed in the USSR, he would have drunk himself. But famous artist a completely different fate was prepared.

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Alla Sizova

In the summer of 1974, Mikhail Nikolaevich, as part of a Soviet troupe, was on tour in Canada. On June 29, 1974, Baryshnikov ran away from the rest of the artists and management. He decided not to return to Russia. Mikhail's friend, dancer Alexander Mints, helped him organize the escape (then he already lived in the USA). He admitted that this decision was not easy for Baryshnikov - after all, it completely severed all ties with past life with loved ones. But the artist was ready to sacrifice this in favor of creative freedom. Just at one time, 13 years ago, another dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, did the same. He escaped directly from the Paris airport.

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev - legendary dancers through the eyes of Annie Leibovitz

Of course, in addition to Nureyev, there were many other "refugees" from art. So, already at the end of July 1974, Barshnikov entered the American stage together with the ballerina Natalya Makarova, who remained in the West in 1970. By the way, they danced Giselle on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.

Mikhail Baryshnikov with Natalia Makarova

And with the British ballerina Merle Park

Soon Mikhail Nikolayevich was already the premiere of the American Ballet Company, he performed in many performances - both in classical productions and in productions contemporary choreographers. In 1978, Baryshnikov moved to the New York City Ballet, the troupe of the legendary George Balanchine, who simply adored Baryshnikov.

Michael and Patricia McBride

In 1988 Baryshnikov became director of the American Ballet Company. During his work as artistic director, he managed a lot - he created a permanent troupe (previously, guest stars often soloed at ABT), staged the ballet "Cinderella", and also "corrected" a little " Swan Lake". However, he soon decided to leave the troupe - he did not like to constantly coordinate work plans with the board of directors. And in 1990, Baryshnikov created his own troupe (together with Mark Morris) White Oak Dance Project.

By the way, having left the American Ballet Company, Mikhail also left classical ballet - the fact is that Baryshnikov faced a problem familiar to every artist - with age. He realized that physical forces they begin to leave him, and he was not going to lower the bar in performances in classical productions. But, of course, he did not leave the stage. Since the early 1990s, Baryshnikov has become a modern dancer.

Among the modernist productions in which Mikhail Nikolayevich took part, a special place is occupied by solo ballets, in which, it seems, he finally managed to gain complete creative freedom, which he always aspired to.

Baryshnikov and his performances in the White Oak Dance Project have greatly influenced the Western dance culture- since the beginning of the existence of the troupe, both spectators and professionals began to perceive modern dance differently, Mikhail Nikolayevich was able to clearly demonstrate that even in ballet there is a place for eclecticism. And this is a very big achievement.

Today's birthday man has done a lot in his professional field. At the same time, he also managed to conquer movie lovers. He has several screen works on his account, for one of which - the 1977 film "Turning Point" - Baryshnikov received a nomination for the Golden Globe and Oscar awards as best actor second plan. Well, many modern ladies remember Mikhail as the last boyfriend of Carrie Bradshaw before she decided to get married. Artist Alexander Petrovsky performed by Baryshnikov charmed all lovers of "Sex and the City".

Baryshnikov and Sarah Jessica Parker on the set

Another legendary achievement of Mikhail Nikolayevich is connected with restaurant business. It's about about the New York institution "Russian Samovar", which he opened with Joseph Brodsky. They say that Mikhail invested in him the savings accumulated from performances, and Brodsky - the Nobel Prize.

Mikhail's personal life has also always been more than eventful. leaving Soviet Union, he also left his common-law wife, ballerina Tatyana Koltsova. Later, he began a stormy romance with actress Jessica Lange. Moreover, then Mikhail did not yet know English properly, so he had to communicate with Jessica in French. In 1981, the couple had a daughter, Alexandra, but this did not save Baryshnikov and Lange from breaking up.

Now Mikhail Nikolayevich lives with the ballerina Lisa Rinehart, they have three children.

Michael and his main women - Jessica Lange, ...

Lisa Rinehart...

AND eldest daughter Alexandra

On January 27, the great dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov celebrates his 69th birthday. It's hard to believe: Baryshnikov looks at least 20 years younger and full of energy. ELLE has collected facts about the biography of a man who is called the only one hundred percent recognizable Russian emigrant in the United States.

Baryshnikov Born in Riga in the family of an officer. The father was indifferent to art - unlike the mother: it was she who instilled in her son an interest in music and gave it to ballet studio. When the boy was 12, his mother took him to her mother for the summer, returned home and committed suicide. The reasons that pushed her to this are unknown. Soon Misha's father married again, but relations with him and his adoptive mother future star did not add up. Soon, at the age of fifteen, he moved to Leningrad, entered Vaganovka and stopped communicating with his father.

The artist stayed in the West in 1974, when the Bolshoi troupe was on tour in Canada. His old friend Alexander Mintz invited him to join the famous American Ballet Theater (Baryshnikov would head it six years later). It was impossible to refuse, and it was clear that officially no one would let him work there. I had to run. After the final performance, Baryshnikov went out into the street, and was immediately surrounded by a crowd of people who wanted to get autographs. Meanwhile, Mintz was waiting for him in a car parked a few blocks from the theater building. “There were quite a lot of people who wanted an autograph, and I said: “Sorry, I have to leave for a minute, but I'll be back.” And ran. But they ran after me. I started laughing, stopped, signed a few more times, ”he later recalled. A month later, Baryshnikov made his debut on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in Giselle.

In 1978, Mikhail headed the legendary New York City Ballet, then for nine years, from 1980 to 1989, he directed the equally famous American Ballet Theatre. For the past ten years, Baryshnikov has been managing the art center that bears his name. The purpose of this organization is to give artists the opportunity to try something new. The Center has three floors and six halls, and rental prices are minimal so that aspiring troupes and stage directors can afford it. Russian artists often perform there, for example, the Fomenko Theater. For the sake of launching the Center, Baryshnikov sold one of the paintings from his extensive collection - "View of St. Petersburg" by Pyotr Vereshchagin. The painting went under the hammer for $740,000.

A few years ago, Baryshnikov arranged an exhibition of his collection in New York - paintings and drawings by Benoit, Cocteau, Bakst. It could also be seen in Moscow in autumn 2013 at the Museum of Fine Arts.

He is fond of photography and has been doing it for the last thirty years. Baryshnikov the photographer regularly has exhibitions. He was inspired to do this by Leonid Lubyanitsky, who shot for famous glossy publications.

Baryshnikov, as well as Lubyanitsky, Mints and other characters of the Russian bohemian New York of the 70s, are bred in Eduard Limonov's novel It's Me, Edichka. Baryshnikov appears there under the name Ladyzhnikov.

Was a friend of Baryshnikov and Joseph Brodsky. Several poems by Brodsky are dedicated to him, such as “We used to water the lawn from a watering can…” and “Classical ballet is a castle of beauty…”. The latter contains the following lines:

How glorious in the evening, far away from All Rus',

Baryshnikov to mature. His talent hasn't faded!

Leg effort and torso cramp

with rotation around its own axis

give birth to that flight, which the soul

as the girls were waiting, ready to get angry!

It is said that their relationship was not a traditional working relationship of two creative people but based on human mutual interest.

Here is what Brodsky said about Baryshnikov: “We see each other quite often - simply because he is an absolutely amazing person. A man of amazing mind and intuition... He made - and still makes - a colossal impression on me. And not at all with my qualities as a dancer, especially since I am by no means an expert in this area. And above all, with his absolutely incredible natural intelligence. I generally relate to people who are younger than me, with some - how should I say this? Well, how do high school students feel about cooking? Such a look through your fingers, right? And Baryshnikov is almost ten years younger than me. But Baryshnikov is an absolutely unique being. He was born to the same day with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. And I think they have a lot in common."

Sergey Dovlatov leads to " notebooks quatrain, with which Brodsky signed his book, presented to Baryshnikov: “Let me be Hades, and he is just a goy, and his profile is completely different, and yet I will not do with my hand what he can do with my foot!”

Like Joseph Brodsky in his time, Mikhail Baryshnikov does not aspire to Russia - he has never been here for all the time spent in exile. He also rejects incoming offers to come on tour: “I have never had such attachment to this place as he [Brodsky]. I lived in Russia for only 10 years. I am a product of Latvian upbringing, although my parents were Russians with all the ensuing consequences. But I never felt nostalgic - more precisely, I have nostalgia for the Russian people and Russian culture, but not for this place on the geographical map.

Baryshnikov's filmography is very diverse. Several films with his participation were released back in the Soviet Union, but these were either documentaries dedicated to ballet, or productions in which Baryshnikov practically played himself. The foreign debut took place in 1977 - it was the film "Turning Point", also dedicated to the world of ballet. The picture, which was also filmed Shirley MacLaine, enjoyed great success and received a lot of Oscar nominations. Nominated - as the best supporting actor - was Baryshnikov. True, he did not win.

After three film versions classical ballets- "The Nutcracker", "Carmen" and "Don Quixote" Baryshnikov appeared in the thriller "White Nights", where he played a runaway Soviet dancer who accidentally ended up in his homeland. Released in full swing cold war"White Nights" was a typical product of this time, and quite successful at the same time. Baryshnikov's number to Vysotsky's song "Fussy Horses" is a real masterpiece: it's worth seeing.

Then there was the film "Dancers" (named by the famous film critic Roger Ebert one of the worst films of the year), the extremely strange tape "The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez" and of course, the series "Sex and the City", thanks to which many first heard and learned that there is such a person - Baryshnikov. Some, however, still react to the great dancer in this way: “Ah, this one, from “Sex”.

Sarah Jessica Parker speaks of Baryshnikov as the only one in the world of ballet whose name makes her tremble. “It was a great honor for us that he agreed to star in our project,” the actress later said, who considers the Russian tough boy dancer to be a “tough guy.”