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 Honoring
a Dance Legend
World-renowned
dancer and Academy Award®-nominated actor Mikhail Baryshnikov
was honored by San Francisco State University's International Center
for the Arts (ICA) at a gala celebration held March 21.
Baryshnikov received ICA's $25,000 George and Judy Marcus Lifetime Achievement
Award in recognition of his artistic accomplishments.
Alumni George and Judy Marcus, who created the ICA with a $3 million
gift to San Francisco State, presented the award to Baryshnikov at "Bridging
the Baltic: An Evening Honoring Mikhail Baryshnikov." The event,
held at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, included a
performance by the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica.
"I'd like to thank the San Francisco State International Center
for the Arts and George and Judy Marcus, whose generosity and enthusiasm
made all this possible," Baryshnikov told the audience. "I'm
happy to be honored in a city that provided many wonderful performing
experiences and continues to flourish as a haven for the arts."
After defecting to the U.S. in 1974, Baryshnikov served as principal
dancer with the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, and
later as artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre. His newly
established Baryshnikov Arts Center, a New York-based nonprofit, is
a creative haven and laboratory for artists of all disciplines.
The ICA celebrates some of the world's most innovative art and artists,
with a focus on documentary films and visual art. Musician Israel "Cachao"
Lopez and filmmakers Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker were the first
three recipients of the Marcus Award for Lifetime Achievement.
-- Adrianne Bee
 
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