Mikhail Baryshnikov

Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov, born in 1948, is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer and actor who was the preeminent male classical ballet dancer of the 1970s and 1980s and who subsequently became a noted dance director. Born into a Russian family in Riga, he had a promising start with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad before defecting to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in Western dance, later dancing with American Ballet Theatre and joining New York City Ballet for a season to learn George Balanchine's neoclassical style before returning to American Ballet Theatre, where he became artistic director. His success as a dramatic actor on stage, in film and on television has helped make him probably the most widely recognized contemporary ballet dancer, and in 1977 he received an Academy Award nomination for his role in the film The Turning Point. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/