In Baryshnikov on Broadway – with Liza Minnelli Mikhail Baryshnikov sings and dances Honeysuckle Rose with Nell Carter. The 1980 TV show directed by Dwight Hemion starred ballet phenom Mikhail Baryshnikov and entertainer Liza Minnelli. Continue reading
Mikhail Baryshnikov pays tribute to one of his idols, Maya Plisketskaya at the American-Soviet Cultural Exchange Festival: Hommage A Plisetskaya (1988). He performs Twyla Tharp’s One For My Baby sung by Frank Sinatra written by Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen. Continue reading
Maya Plisetskaya, Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Bolshoi Ballet, danced Maurice Bejart’s Bolero set to the famous Ravel score in 1975. Plisetskaya created a stunning theatrical experience. What makes the piece so compelling is that although Plisetskaya may be accompanied by dozens of other dancers mirroring her movement, the first and only focus is on the prima ballerina herself. Continue reading
Theme and Variations received its world premiere at New York’s City Center on November 26, 1947, danced by Alicia Alonso and Igor Youskevitch. George Balanchine’s plotless ballet with its glorious choreography and glittering costumes is a vision of the Imperial Ballet in its heyday at the Maryinksy Theatre. A second production with costumes by Desmond Heeley, premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, on April 17, 1978, with Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov in the leading roles.
Misty Copeland, principal dancer American Ballet Theatre, appears in the March issue of Harper’s Bazaar to recreate iconic ballet inspired paintings and sculpture from impressionist painter Edgar Degas. Congratulations to Copeland for once again disrupting the historical whiteness of ballet.
Copeland as Swaying Dancer (Dancer in Green); Oscar de la Renta dress, $5,490
Photographers Ken Browar and Deborah Ory captured the world-renowned dancer for the eye-catching editorial spread. The resemblance to Degas’ original works of dancers at the Paris Opéra Ballet is uncanny. Copeland nails the graceful poses while dressed in high fashion designs by Valentino, Alexander McQueen, Carolina Herrera, and Oscar de la Renta that look like they were literally plucked from each painting and sculpture.
Copeland as Degas’s Dancer; Carolina Herrera top, $1,490, skirt, $4,990
In the article, she explains why she love to dance. “I was drawn to ballet and performing for a reason that I think a lot of people can’t really understand or relate to,” she says. “People think it’s like, ‘You’re out there,’ or ‘You’re exposed.’ But I felt safe when I was on the stage, like no one could get to me. It was the first time in my life that I felt protected.”
Copeland as Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen; Alexander McQueen dress, $4,655, and corset, $4,525
At 33, she’s in the midst of the most illuminating pas de deux with pop culture for a classical dancer since Mikhail Baryshnikov went toe-to-toe with Gregory Hines in White Nights.
Copeland as Swaying Dancer (Dancer in Green); Oscar de la Renta dress, $5,490
Degas’s ballet works, which the artist began creating in the 1860s and continued making until the years before his death, in 1917, were infused with a very modern sensibility. He offered images of young girls congregating, practicing, laboring, dancing, training, and hanging around studios and the backstage areas of the theater.
Alberta Ferretti dress, $28,090
Copeland is engaged to Olu Evans, an attorney, who she’s been with for more than a decade. They live together in an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She admits to an “intensifying” designer-footwear addiction, and while she’s still working out the details of her nuptials, she confesses giddily that Christian Louboutin is making her shoes for the occasion.
Roberto Cavalli skirt, price upon request
Misty Copeland- The Art Of Dance
Video shot by Sandy Chase
Photography by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory of the NYC Dance Project
During the 1977 Christmas season, CBS brought Mikhail Baryshnikov’s highly acclaimed American Ballet Theatre production of Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet The Nutcracker to television. The production has remains the most popular and most often shown television production of the work in the U.S. Mikhail Baryshnikov performed the title role, with Gelsey Kirkland as Clara.
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Le Jeune Homme et la Mort (1946) choreography by Roland Petit, set to Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582, with a one-act libretto by Jean Cocteau. The story of a young man driven to suicide by his faithless lover. Two of the most memorable interrupters of the male role (both stage and film) have been Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Continue reading
Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux with Patricia McBride and Mikhail Baryshnikov was recorded in 1979. George Balanchine acquired the rights to the music in 1953 and he used it to devise a party piece for a principal couple, amending the choreography each time to suit each pair of dancers. You have to admire Patricia McBride’s diamond-edged footwork including entrechats skimmed millimetres from the floor, or wonder how Baryshnikov’s twelfth consecutive double cabriole can look as easy and elegant as the first. Continue reading
In celebration of the FW15 menswear collection, rag & bone debuts a short film as a study of movement featuring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lil Buck. Continue reading
Maya Plisetskaya, Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Bolshoi Ballet, danced Maurice Bejart’s Bolero set to the famous Ravel score in 1975. Plisetskaya created a stunning theatrical experience. What makes the piece so compelling is that although Plisetskaya may be accompanied by dozens of other dancers mirroring her movement, the first and only focus is on the prima ballerina herself. Continue reading
Ghanaian artist Paa Joe has brought some of New York City’s most iconic motifs to life. As part of Superhouse NYC’s inaugural “Celestial City” exhibition, the multidisciplinary artist served up a handful of lifesize sculptures of the city’s signature signage, including pizza boxes, taxi cabs, bagels and of course, rats. 120 Walker Street, 6RGhanaian artist Paa Joe has brought some of New York City’s most iconic motifs to life. As part of Superhouse NYC’s inaugural “Celestial City” exhibition, the multidisciplinary artist served up a handful of lifesize sculptures of the city’s signature signage, including pizza boxes, taxi cabs, bagels and of course, rats. 120 Walker Street, 6R
The Dance of the Village Elders are back ! This time we exercise, dance and just have fun through the zoom platform or in-person at R.A.I.N. Nereid 
The Dance of the Village Elders are back ! This time we exercise, dance and just have fun through the zoom platform or in-person at R.A.I.N. Nereid 