Tchernichova told me in 1991 that when she’d asked Baryshnikov to appear at a gala she was convening in Vienna, he told her, “Gala Schmala [sp.?] I’m not playing those games anymore!”
I think he was ABSOLUTELY right. He had recently resigned as ABT director and didn’t have to go through the gala ringer any more.
Although I also think it’s nice that these days, he does sometimes either attend or lend his participatory presence to the fund-raising rumble.