I found that dance, music, and literature is how I made sense of the world... it pushed me to think of things bigger than life's daily routines... to think beyond what is immediate or convenient.
Mikhail BaryshnikovRead
The body cannot lie. You cannot be somebody else onstage, no matter how good of an actor or dancer or singer you are. When you open your arms, move your finger, the audience knows who you are, you know.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Authenticity in performance reveals one's true self, regardless of the role played.
This quote emphasizes the idea that true identity cannot be hidden or fabricated, even in the context of performing arts. When artists showcase their talents, their genuine essence shines through, allowing the audience to perceive the real person behind the performance, irrespective of the character they embody.
Themes
AuthenticityPerformanceIdentitySelf-ExpressionArt
In practice
Example use cases
During a theater workshop, a director could use this quote to encourage actors to embrace their true selves on stage.
More from Mikhail Baryshnikov
All quotes →It's weird when you see pieces of choreography that were done for you 15 or 20 years ago and now they are being done by another dance company.
Mikhail BaryshnikovRead
I miss horribly those couple of hours before the performance when you get into the theater and you see people.
Mikhail BaryshnikovRead
No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business.
Mikhail BaryshnikovRead
There comes a moment in a young artist's life when he knows he has to bring something to the stage from within himself. He has to put in something in order to be able to take something.
Mikhail BaryshnikovRead
Dancing is my obsession. My life.
Mikhail BaryshnikovRead
Similar quotes
Every form of theatre has something in common with a visit to the doctor. On the way out, one should always feel better than on the way in.
Peter BrookRead
What should I do?" "Throw up in your typewriter every morning." "Yeah." "Clean up every noon.
Ray BradburyRead
I believe so deeply in the primacy of language, in lifting your prose to the highest level you're capable of and making your words symphonic.
Dennis LehaneRead
The work of a correct and regular writer is a garden accurately formed and diligently planted, varied with shades, and scented with flowers.
Samuel JohnsonRead
This is a gift that I have, simple, simple; a foolish extravagant spirit full of forms, figures, shapes, objects, ideas, apprehensions, motions, revolutions; these are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater, and delivered upon the mellowing of occasion.
William ShakespeareRead
Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.
Frank Lloyd WrightRead