BioMIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV (b. 1948, Riga, Latvia) is considered one of the greatest dancers of our time. After commencing a spectacular career with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he came to the West in 1974, settling in New York City as principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT). In 1978 he joined New York City Ballet, where he worked with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. From 1979-1989 he was artistic director of ABT where, for the next decade, he introduced a new generation of dancers and choreographers.

From 1990-2002, Mr. Baryshnikov was director and principal dancer of the White Oak Dance Project, co-founded with choreographer Mark Morris. As an actor he has performed widely on- and off-Broadway, as well as in television and film. His current projects are with notable directors Jan Fabre (Belgium), Alvis Hermanis (Latvia) and Igor Golyak (USA).

In 2005, he opened the Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) in New York City, and for 17 years now, BAC has been a creative space designed to support multidisciplinary artists from around the globe. Among Mr. Baryshnikov’s many awards and honours are the Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts, the Officer of the Legion of Honor of France, and in 2017 he received Japan’s prestigious Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award in Theatre/Film.