On June 29, 1974, while on tour in Canada with the Bolshoi, Baryshnikov defected, requesting political asylum in Toronto, and joined the National Ballet of Canada for a brief time in a guest role. He also announced that he would not return to the USSR. He later said that Christina Berlin, an American friend, helped engineer his defection during his 1970 tour of London. His first televised performance after coming out of temporary seclusion in Canada was with the National Ballet of Canada in "La Sylphide". He then went to the United States. In December 1975, he and his dance partner Natalia Makarova featured prominently in an episode of the BBC television series "Arena".