Soviet Union Siren Songs from Moscow

Exiled artists receive an offer that may be hard to refuse

When Mikhail Baryshnikov fled a touring Soviet dance troupe in Toronto in 1974, he left a homeland he loved and a professional life he could no longer bear. A performer of electrifying excitement, "Misha" saw nothing but stagnation in the rigid Soviet system. In the U.S., however, his dreams have come true: he danced the gamut of Western choreography, now heads a major company, the American Ballet Theatre, and is making his third film, Giselle. His second movie, White Nights, tells the tale of an emigre star whose plane crashes in the Soviet Union, forcing him to outwit the KGB in...

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