Oddly Enough Blog
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Look, the ballerina is spinning and hacking at the same time!
Blog Guy, I saw a photo of a ballerina smoking, which really disturbed me. I think of everything having to do with ballet as being healthy and squeaky-clean.
You couldn’t be more wrong. As an art form, classic ballet makes rap look like gospel singing. At least this ballerina is smoking backstage. Until fairly recently, dancers smoked and took swigs from vodka bottles while dancing onstage.
Are you sure about this, Blog Guy?
Oh, grow up. Have you seen “The Sleeping Beauty,” one of the most popular ballets? The subtext here is that the princess is too hammered to stand up.
No!
And THE most endearing ballet, “The Nutcracker.” Oh please, giant dancing mice battle a walnut-cracking soldier? That’s an absinthe and acid flashback if ever there was one!
Wait a second, Blog Guy. Surely my very favorite, “Swan Lake,” is a wholesome tale?
Oh, you mean “Those Swans are So Beautiful, Hand me my Crossbow?”
Blog Guy, do you really know anything about the ballet?
About as much as any other subject. Why do you ask?
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Above: A Croatian ballet dancer smokes in a theater cafe during a break in rehearsals for a new ballet show, in Zagreb, November 26, 2009. REUTERS/Nikola Solic
Right: A general view during the dress rehearsal for The Nutcracker ballet at the Sadlers Wells Theatre in London, in a 2007 file photo. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh
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Find me a ballerina that _doesn’t_ smoke! Drinking was never really our issue, but Lord help the dancer that tried to smoke OPMs! Just not done!
All dancers do backstage is Drink and Smoke. That’s their diet. Fact.
Social comments and analytics for this post…This post was mentioned on Twitter by RtrsOddlyEnough: Look, the ballerina is spinning and hacking at the same time! http://link.reuters.com/mar73g…
Even the show The Simpsons did an episode on ballet dancers and smoking.