People

By Guy D. Garcia

Whatever Misha wants Misha gets, and in everything from performing to generating projects, he makes it look so spectacularly easy. Mikhail Baryshnikov's latest undertaking is a movie called A Time to Dance, which is currently filming in Bari, Italy. The idea started when Baryshnikov went to Director Herbert Ross (The Turning Point) and proposed that they film the 19th century ballet Giselle together. Ross suggested expanding the concept to include a film-within-a-film plot about the world's greatest male dancer and the love affairs he has while filming a performance of Giselle. Baryshnikov did not find that hard to play. And when they brought the proposal to Producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, it took about five minutes to get a yes. The cast is filled with dancers from the American Ballet Theatre, of which Baryshnikov is artistic director. The lovely Italian-born ballerina Alessandra Ferri will dance the lead. Says Baryshnikov: "This picture gives me what may be my last chance to film a big classical ballet within a dramatic movie. And with a lovely cast and director too!" But he also talks of hanging up his slippers in the next year or two. Maybe it is not all so easy as he makes it look.