Word: kirklander
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Marriage and even love for anything except ballet was discouraged. No demand on the body was too harsh, no sacrifice to dance too great. It was Balanchine who first dominated Kirkland's world, and it is he who gave her special "vitamins" which allow her to dance while...
...THERE IS more to Kirkland's descent into drugs than the demands imposed on a dancer's body and emotions. Kirkland is cursed with the fatal possession of an active artistic mind and a drive for perfection. Her attempts to assert her individuality and to practice her craft, she tells us, were received almost universally with contempt by Balanchine and his disciples...
...dancer of Kirkland's sensitivity, this was an atmosphere of constant frustration and loneliness. In her autobiography, she addresses with refreshing depth and specificity the artistic dilemmas presented by each role, by her desire to please Balanchine and the critics without being untrue to her own artistic instincts...
...light of the pressures Kirkland faced as a ballerina, complicated by insecurities in her personal life, her path of self-destruction is not surprising. Supported by those who had a financial interest in seeing her perform, Kirkland survived on cocaine for three years, binging for days at a time, yet dancing to rave reviews. Only after six seizures and with the support of a new lover--now her husband and co-writer of the book, Greg Lawrence--was Kirkland able to overcome her addiction and temporarily leave the world of ballet...
...autobiographer, Kirkland tends to blame others for her mistakes, dwelling on the injustices of ballet without fully exploring her own role in her fate. But as a commentator, Kirkland is at her best, exposing the many indignities faced by the dancer in an attempt to be an artist. The book is an insightful look at the vulnerability of the creative temperment, and the exploitation and pain which can result...