Mikhail Baryshnikov on “Leaving Everything Behind”

Fifty years ago, Baryshnikov left the Soviet Union. He talks about that day, the war in Ukraine and the challenges facing Russian artists today.

On the night of June 29, 1974, after a performance with a touring troupe of the Bolshoi Ballet in downtown Toronto, Mikhail Baryshnikov burst through a stage door, past a crowd of fans and started running.

Baryshnikov, then 26 years old and already one of ballet's brightest stars. , had made the momentous decision to leave the Soviet Union and pursue a career in the West. That rainy night, he had to escape the K.G.B. agents - and members of the public seeking autographs - as he rushed to meet a group of Canadian and American friends waiting in a car a few blocks away.

"This car took me to the free world,” recalled 76-year-old Baryshnikov in a recent interview. “It was the beginning of a new life.”

His clandestine escape helped make him a cultural celebrity "Soviet Dancer in Canada Shows Flaws on Bolshoi Tour," declared the New York Times on its front page.

But the emphasis on his decision to leave the Soviet Union sometimes made Baryshnikov worried. He said he didn't like the sound of the term "defector" in English. English, evoking the image of a traitor having committed high treason.

“I am not a defector — I am a selector,” he said. It was my choice. I chose this life. study with the famous teacher Alexander Pushkin. At the age of 19, he joined the Kirov Ballet, now known as the Mariinsky, and quickly became a star on the Russian ballet scene.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content. .

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode, please exit and log in to your Times account, or subscribe to the entire Times.