Mikhail Baryshnikov, a world-renowned dancer, has decided to donate his collection of videos to the New York Public Library. This collection of hundreds of videos date as early as 1960, when Baryshnikov was still a boy, until the present. He seeks to provide an inspiring and informative archive of information for aspiring dancers and artists, alike. Because Baryshnikov worked with some of the most important and influential people in the dance world, many of those moments and events are stored in his amazing assemblage of videos, making it a hot commodity.
I’m amazed that Mikhail Baryshnikov would donate something so important to him. Baryshnikov was one of my idols when I was an aspiring dancer and I would love to see the videos that he attained over the course of half a century and I’m sure many others would feel the same way.
Click Here to see what Baryshnikov said in an interview about what he hoped his donation would do for the general public and what his collection meant for him!
What an extraordinary treasure! Baryshnikov is one of the most important figures in all of Dance in the 20th Century. What is so striking about him, I think, is the manner in which he continually seeks to re-invent himself and seek new ideas and techniques. Some would say that this is the only solution for an aging dancer who can no longer perform as he did in his youth. This is, of course, at least partly true, but it is inspiring that he has continued to dance, and to command the stage. I had the privilege of doing some work with him in the 1990’s, and he out-danced dancers half his age.