B0094700 (bə-rĭsh′nĭ-kôf′), Mikhail Nikolayevich Born 1948. Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer who, after performing with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), defected to the United States (1974), where he danced for and later directed the American Ballet Theater. In 1990 he helped found the White Oak Dance Project, a modern-dance company.