– 1974
He
is one of the greatest ballet dancers of all times.
He
is also an accomplished choreographer and actor, familiar to many for
his roles in movies like The Turning Point (1977) and White
Nights (1985), and for his appearances in the popular TV show Sex
and the City (last season).
And
on this date in 1974, he became a traitor to his country!
Well,
that is how some people may have described what happened. Most
of us would say that he escaped a repressive nation and became free.
You
see, Baryshnikov was born in Russia, which was part of the Soviet
Union (or the USSR). This was a nation that limited and controlled
many things about its citizens' lives, including what sort of work
they did and their movements in and out of the USSR. Baryshnikov's
talent as a dancer was recognized, and he was able to achieve a lot
there in his country—but who knows if he would have been allowed to
choreograph, act, or travel as he wished? Still, the USSR loved to
promote its dancers (and athletes and musicians) as the best in the
world, and part of doing that involved letting those amazing dancers
(and athletes and musicians) travel and perform elsewhere.
On
one of those tours, while in Canada with the Bolshoi Ballet, Mikhail
Baryshnikov requested political asylum and announced to the dance
world that he would not go back to the USSR. This defection was a
blow to the USSR—it was a permanent removal of Baryshnikov's
allegiance to his former country.
Baryshnikov
joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Canada, but he soon went to the
United States and joined the American Ballet Theater. He also worked
with the New York City Ballet and England's Royal Ballet. Eventually
Baryshnikov became a U.S. citizen.
Soviet
Russia and East Germany and other Communist nations lost a steady
trickle of their most elite artists and athletes to the U.S. or other
Western nations. Baryshnikov was part of that trickle-to-freedom.
Also
on this date:
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