"Dancing appears glamorous, easy, delightful. But the path to paradise of the achievement is not easier than any other." - Martha Graham
Dancers –
they accomplish supernatural feats with their bodies, they have an extremely
strong work ethic, and audiences applaud their efforts. However, those supernatural feats take their
toll on the body, the strong work ethic leads to hours and hours of class and
rehearsals, and when the applause dies down, the performance high fades along
with it.
Dance is a
difficult pursuit, and the stress of it can lead to eating disorders, which I
have written about at length here, or substance abuse. Cocaine abuse has been a problem within the
dance community since the 1980’s.
Ballerina Gelsey Kirkland wrote candidly about it in her autobiography, Dancing On My Grave, and American Ballet
Theater dancer, Patrick Bissell died of a cocaine overdose in 1987.
Originally
used as a painkiller, cocaine is made from coca leaves and usually mixed with
cornstarch, talcum powder, sugar, or other drugs. It is normally either snorted in through the
nose or smoked.
Cocaine
creates a hyper vigilant state that increases alertness, creates high energy
levels, decreases appetite, and creates a euphoric state. All of these effects would seem to be
advantageous for dancers. Being alert
means learning combinations quickly, lots of energy means the ability to dance
at peak levels for a longer time, appetite suppression means that the dancers
can control their weight without thinking so much about it, and the euphoric
state replicates the high created during a performance and prevents feelings of
post-performance letdown.
Unfortunately,
like most substances, cocaine also has a downside. All of these “benefits” occur because cocaine
blocks neurotransmitters from being absorbed.
Neurotransmitters are substances that line the pathways between
different nerves so that impulses, or messages, can travel from the body to the
brain and back again. When absorption is
blocked, a chemical build-up occurs in the body, and the neurotransmitters
norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine accumulate.
Norepinephrine
and serotonin increase heart rate and constrict blood vessels. The increased heart rate causes breathing to
increase and puts a strain on both the heart muscle and the lungs. The constricted blood vessels increase blood
pressure and limit the amount of blood that can flow to the heart, brain and
digestive system. The lack of blood flow
to the heart can lead to heart attacks or irregular heartbeats, the lack of
blood flow to the brain can cause a stroke, and low blood flow to the digestive
system can cause ulcers.
Additionally,
cocaine use causes a breakdown in muscle tissue that is released into the
bloodstream and breaks down into a substance that causes kidney damage. If cocaine is snorted, there will be sinus
tissue damage, and it if is smoked, it can result in lung tissue irritation
and/or damage.
Cocaine is
a highly addictive drug and is a definite problem in the dance community. Dance educators, directors, and dancers need
to acknowledge this issue and help dancers find help if they are using it and
raise awareness to prevent other dancers from following this path.
A new short
film, Ballon, seeks to do just
that. It follows a ballerina through a
cocaine addiction and her journey to become healthy once again. More information on this film can be found
here.
Any effort
to keep dancers healthy needs to start with awareness and education. By arming dancers with the knowledge of what
cocaine does physiologically, we can hopefully help decrease the problem and
keep them dancing longer, stronger and healthier.
