Dancing and Drugs

[DancingGiselle]

Moderators -- please move or remove this topic if you feel that it is inappopriate.

I read BalletAlert religiously but almost never post. That said, I do want to raise an issue that has been bothering me for some time now.

We were discussing questions surrounding the legalization of drugs a few weeks ago in my advanced Russian class (here in the US) when my professor casually mentioned that almost every one he knows in the performing arts community uses some sort of illegal (in the US) drugs. He directed this comment specifically at me, as I never hide my passion for ballet and opera in class. I proceded to argue with him, saying that there have been famous and not-so-famous cases, but by and large dancers and singers are drug-free (refering to the illegal kind, of course).

I would not have been bothered by this remark had he not proceded to bring it up in class again and again. He is from St. Petersburg and, due to his academic and literary pursuits, he knows quite a few people from the dance community in that city (he is friends with Chemyakin, for example). He keeps telling me that I cannot close my eyes to the fact that the dancers he knows use a number of drugs, saying they can't get through a performance without them.

I bring this up because I am bothered by these comments -- but perhaps I am being too sensitive? I know there are dancers out there who use drugs -- Gelsey Kirkland is only the most famous case -- but I doubt that many do. Or am I indeed closing my eyes to "the truth"? I have gotten to know a few dancers over the years, but I admit that I really have no details about the personal lives of, for example, ABT's stars -- nor do I wish to. I simply turn to all of you because I would like to know (a) is drug use indeed more common in the dance world than I would like to acknowledge and (b) what should I tell my professor? The latter is indeed just a personal problem, but I do wish he would drop the subject...

[carbro]

Moderator speaking (ahem): I think the only way we can discuss this is in the most general terms. Whether there's anything worthwhile in that, I don't know. Please be careful.

[drb]

There are two aspects to Dancing Giselle's post that I would like to address.

First, as a professor I am very disturbed by the described behavior of your professor, which clearly crosses an ethical line, both by focusing attention on a specific student and by the repeated nature of his attack. I hope your school at least affords you the opportunity to report this behavior, even if you wish to wait until you've finished the course. I also hope you feel comfortable enough to discuss this behavior with some other students in the class.

Second, Gelsey wrote about what happened in a very different time, and named names in her autobiography. Not many years after that an NYCB Principal named names in a national magazine, in a desperate and clearly successful attempt to deal with a fad for cocaine at that time. These specific problems were resolved long ago. Of course dancers are people and some people sometimes do things they shouldn't, but there just aren't the obvious signs of trouble now that were frankly visible on stage to audiences back then.

What does all this have to do with learning a language?

[Helene]

I agree with drb. This professor's behavior is unethical, and it's appalling that on the one hand he name-drops about his "friends," and then claims that they are all admitted drug-users. With a friend like him...

Because personal interactions are off-topic on Ballet Talk, and only published accounts and studies can be discussed, we can be very little help in helping you in formulating a response. My unsolicited advice would be to reply, "how interesting."

[BalletNut]

I agree with Helene, and since this topic has too much potential for getting too gossipy as far as which dancers use drugs and which ones don't, I think it's best to close the thread.