On a recent broadcast of “Jeopardy!”—the immensely popular game show responsible for Dan Rather’s new time slot—the category was dancing, and the answer was: “He is responsible for more than half of the repertory of New York City Ballet.” The first contestant to reach his buzzer guessed, “Who is Mikhail Baryshnikov?”
Millions of Americans know the name of Mikhail Baryshnikov and that he has something to do with ballet, even if they’re a bit hazy on the exact connection. Their knowledge of him is as a celebrity: an actor in movies and television specials; a former boyfriend of Jessica Lange; a major player in Gelsey Kirkland’s Dancing on My Grave. Next summer, millions more will know Misha the perfume ($175 an ounce), which the premier danseur will personally tout as part of its $4 million promotional campaign.
The publishers of John Fraser’s Private View: Inside Baryshnikov’s American Ballet Theatre1 are probably hoping that the book will have an appeal that goes beyond its built-in audience of ballet enthusiasts to the more vaguely informed—those not quite sure about the difference between Balanchine and Baryshnikov—who were responsible for turning Kirkland’s book into a best-seller. But if these readers are looking for personal revelations from Baryshnikov comparable to Kirkland’s, they will be disappointed. The title is a bit of a teaser, but the subtitle promises only to give us a look into the workings of the company that Baryshnikov has headed since 1980, not into the workings of
