amica-curiae

All Ballet Dancers Do Cocaine

Joshua Stein · 07/06/07 09:20AM

The Daily News has its dance belt in a bundle upon the arrest of New York City Ballet principle dancer Nilas Martin, son of balletmaster Peter Martins, for possession of cocaine. Though we're more ABT fans than NYCB, a little perspective is needed. Namely, that pretty much every single ballet dancer includes cocaine in their nutritional regimen of Diet Coke and cigarettes. How else could Martins, at age 40, and with a history of excruciating bone spurs, maintain his ballon? How else do these ballerinas—jostling for a place on stage in an extremely cutthroat environment—maintain their weight and self-esteem? Clavicles like that don't define themselves on pure grit alone, people.