If it was not enough to be nominated for an Oscar in 1977 — after defecting from the Soviet Union in '74 — Mikhail Baryshnikov has kept up his pace with photography. Now the 66-year-old dancer-cum-actor opens his latest dance-inspired installation Dancing Away, premiering now at Contini Art UK.
Perhaps one of the most celebrated dancers of our time, Baryshnikov kept himself busy everywhere from being artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre and receiving Kennedy Centre Honors and the Chubb Fellowship, to name a few.
And, more popularly, Misha is known for his role on Sex and the City, spearheading the mainstream but, as The Guardian points out, not in any sex symbol kind of way.
His latest visual art piece, however, is a different perspective on his first love: theater. Using a medium he is not as familiar with as the subject proves to be an experiment in the meta-visual.
As Misha notes, his style is achieved through long exposures capturing the fluidity of motion much in the same way as a painter. His subjects on canvas, thus, are represented by long strokes, evoking a more two-dimensional landscape.
The concept of his new show at Contini Art is a collection of his digital prints featuring all types of dancers from Brazilian hip-hop and Hawaiian hula to dancers with the Merce Cunningham company.
Inspired by masters of the genre, like Alexey Brodovitch and Irving Penn, the series is open to the public until the end of January.
But for those who cannot make it across the pond to catch a glimpse, you can catch a glimpse here. For now, though, we have him below:
