One of the most recognizable names in the dance world, Mikhail Baryshnikov was born in Latvia in 1948 and began his career with the Kirov Ballet in 1967. He defected from the Soviet Union in 1974 and became a star of American Ballet Theatre, later directing the company and enlisting Twyla Tharp as a key artistic associate. With Mark Morris, he founded the White Oak Dance Project in 1990. Baryshnikov’s association with Jacob’s Pillow began in 1985 when the Pillow presented him at Springfield’s Symphony Hall. He first brought his White Oak group here for a pre-season residency and a week of performances in 1995, with a return engagement in 2002 (when he performed a solo by Lucinda Childs). On the closing night of White Oak’s 1995 engagement, a power outage necessitated changing the program and substituting this single presentation of Pergolesi, a solo that Twyla Tharp had created especially for Baryshnikov two years earlier.
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