Mikhail Baryshnikov

“People dance at any age.”

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

“I think art education, especially in this country, which government pretty much ignores, is so important for young people.”

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

“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.”

“No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business.”

“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.”

“You cannot be happy with your family while being personally unhappy with your work. It's a Catch-22 kind of thing.”

“My mother had a son from previous marriage and her husband died in Second World War.”

“I was very restless. I really wanted to be a part of a kind of a progressive society. I was fed up with these Communist doctrines and you were hassled all the time with members of the Party committee who were KGB, what you have to do, where in the West you can go or not to go.”