The October 1974 difficulty marked Mikhail Baryshnikov’s first of over a dozen Dance Journal cowl appearances.
“No different younger male dancer has been so praised, inside and out of doors Russia, as Mikhail Baryshnikov over the previous 5 years,” wrote Olga Maynard within the cowl story, which was accompanied by an in depth report of American Ballet Theatre’s summer time season in New York Metropolis, throughout which Baryshnikov had guested for 4 performances reverse Natalia Makarova mere weeks after he had been granted political asylum in Canada. The then–26-year-old was the topic of a maelstrom of public and press consideration for each his causes for defecting—to bop new-to-him ballets by new choreographers with new companions—and his immediately legendary performances with ABT.
Whereas he grew to become—and stays—a family title, his professed targets in 1974 had been easier: “I have to dance roles with coronary heart, with feeling, whether or not they’re in massive or small ballets,” he advised us. “I’ll hope that choreographers within the West might be keen on me as a dancer, sufficient to need to make ballets for me.”