Although many articles on Mikhail Baryshnikov have described the melancholy look in his eyes and attributed it to his exile from Mother Russia, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, the ten years spent in his homeland were the most frustrating of his life, as the artist in him chafed against the rigidness of the Soviet state. Born in Riga, Latvia to Russian parents (his curt, cold father was a soldier of occupation), Baryshnikov ostensibly began his life in exile. His mother, who introduced him to ballet at the age of 9, committed suicide when he was 12, causing him to fall back
