Ballet teacher and former addict Andrew Warth tells Kerry Rogers how dance helped him rebuild his life

All together now... Andrew Warth leads the world’s Dance is the drug biggest ballet class in 2008 Photo: Sally Wellbeloved

t’s often called ‘the bug’ and more people catch it every day. It’s Born in Harlow, Essex, Warth moved to Surrey with his family not H1N1: it’s more pleasant and harder to get rid of. Usually, when he was nine years old. His grandmother, an ex-dancer, began to once the dance bug has bitten, the effects last for life. They’re teach him ballet and, after winning the County of Surrey’s Gifted Icontagious, too. Child Scholarship, he was accepted into the Legat School of Russian ‘You know that guy in the orchestra?’ asks teacher Andrew Warth Ballet in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Warth had been nipped by the bug. during an adult open class containing everyone from ex-professionals At 18, he got a job in Germany with the Essener . to middle-aged men trying ballet for the first time. We’re all red-faced, A few years later, he moved to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in puffing and grinning after the first side of a rather vigorous grand Düsseldorf. ‘Being a dancer was glamorous,’ he recalls. ‘I partied hard allegro enchaînement. ‘You know the guy whose job it is to play the and did plenty of drinking. Still, nothing was as important to me as cymbals? He sits there all night, then during the ballet. Nothing would stop me dancing – not even grand pas de deux in the last act, someone does a I was completely isolated. a hangover. I would sit in the wings watching massive jeté and he crashes them like this…’ He I had hit rock bottom die at the end of Act I for the 50th time and mimes a dramatic cymbal-crash above his head still be reduced to tears.’ and everybody laughs. ‘You can’t let that guy down,’ Warth continues. Warth moved to and was dancing with CAPAB ‘His whole performance depends on how big your jump is.’ Ballet when he received the news that his younger brother David, Tall, thin and blond, Warth signals to the accompanist. When the an alcoholic, had died at 27 after a drinking-related accident. ‘This music starts again, the climactic jeté is highlighted by a loud chord on tragedy turned my life upside down,’ he says. ‘My worst mistake was the piano along with Warth bounding into the air and clapping his giving up on my passion: ballet.’ ‘cymbals’ over his head. Bodies slack from being at computers all day Having left the ballet company, Warth joined the cast of a musical. fly over the studio floor, inspired and energised. I feel as if my lungs While on tour, the gregarious blond extended his partying repertoire are going to explode but I want to do the exercise again. with the discovery of drugs. At first, it was a bit of ecstasy. Then it was Andrew Warth has the bug and he’s passed it on to countless several ecstasy pills a day. Then came cocaine. students. Even when the South African summer temperatures hit In all, Warth estimates he spent almost R1-million (about 35°C and the rest of is on the beach, they gather at the £80,000) on drugs. During this time, he locked himself in his flat studio for a fix of the magic. But what happens when one can’t have and came out only for dangerous drug transactions on the streets one’s fix? For the British former dancer, losing touch with ballet was of Cape Town. almost catastrophic.

38 dance gazette issue 1 / 2010 ‘Eventually,’ he recalls, ‘I was completely isolated. I had run out of extends into a clinical-level addiction. Warth uses the word ‘passion’. money, friends and the strength to live. I had hit rock bottom.’ This is He also describes the familiar comfort of ‘settling in for pliés in the hard to believe of a man who always has a joke to share and whose morning, giving your body and mind something that makes them feel flirtatious manner seldom fails to arouse smiles. good. Dance has always given me a sense of freedom that nothing else He booked himself into a rehabilitation centre just outside Cape can give me, and a feeling of belonging.’ Town. After four weeks, the first step he took towards repairing his life In the Philippines, Byron Garcia has found a way to harness these was rediscovering ballet. ‘I knew my life would continue to feel empty feel-good factors for the purpose of rehabilitation in a broader sense. without ballet, and that would keep open a gap for drugs’, he says. ‘I When he took over as head of the Cebu Provincial Detention and enrolled at the School of Dance and did my Rehabilitation Center in 2004, the prison was plagued by riots. One RAD Professional Dancer’s Teaching Diploma under international measure Garcia took to improve discipline was the introduction of RAD examiner Dianne Cheesman.’ daily exercise time. What started out as marching evolved into dance Elizabeth Triegaardt, then head of the Cape Town City Ballet routines choreographed to pop music. The 1500 inmates’ drill-style (formerly CAPAB Ballet), supported Warth’s recovery when he routine to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ became a worldwide sensation returned to the company, as its publicist. ‘I desperately needed the on YouTube, and other numbers – and other prisons – followed. familiar surroundings,’ he recalls. He thrived in this role, being an Garcia reported improved health, lower recidivism rates and extrovert and a natural networker. He’d phone us journalists up with reduced prison violence. Although reports began to surface about perfect angles for our publications and was happy to do a photo inmates being intimidated and forced into dancing, the majority of shoot at 4am if that was what it took to get a story out. But he knew the jail’s accused murderers, rapists and drug dealers seem he needed to be more directly involved with enthusiastic. At least 20 are reported to have dance again. ‘I stayed at CTCB for a while, until My worst mistake was giving up tattoos of Garcia’s name, and the New York I was ready to embrace the dedication needed on my passion: ballet Times quoted Aldren Tolo, in prison for drug to work as a full-time teacher.’ dealing, as saying, ‘I like dancing. It is a way Now, as a teacher at the Zama Dance School we get to show the world that even if we in , a poor township in Cape Town, ended up in prison, we are not totally Warth plays an instrumental role in helping his damaged people.’ young students to avoid making the mistakes In the UK, Dance United has a he did. ‘When it comes to substance abuse, all rehabilitation programme called The children, no matter what their backgrounds are, Academy, which it claims has proved to be are at risk,’ he says. more successful at reducing recidivism than Poverty can be associated with a forced life the majority of community-based of crime, which is inevitably linked to drugs; programmes for young offenders. Its drug use can also provide a tempting escape dance-based programme is designed to from tough living conditions. On the other end encourage discipline and provide an of the scale, says Warth, ‘wealthy parents who environment in which students are themselves are high achievers can set unrealistic challenged on physical and mental levels. goals for their children. Drugs can be alluring ‘While the programme is designed to stop to people trying to escape feeling inadequate. young people offending,’ it says, ‘it also aims The strongest preventative is to ensure that to help them discover their real potential and each child feels loved, respected and valued. I their innate capacity to succeed… dance can believe that we as ballet teachers play a role in engage everyone, even those who have been ensuring young people are supported marginalised or written off by society.’ emotionally and guided morally.’ Far from allowing himself to be written ‘In the township of Gugulethu, where we off after a decade of misery, Warth – clean teach,’ says Arlene Westergaard, founder and almost nine years – has used his commitment artistic director of the Zama Dance School, Proud to teach... Andrew Warth today to dance to achieve dreams. In 2008, he ‘there are many gangsters hanging around the Photo: Terence Warwick rounded up dancers from the Cape Town streets who could pose a threat to the safety of young children, by City Ballet and studios around the city and taught the world’s biggest either tempting them with drugs or luring them into risky situations.’ ballet class, with 989 participants. It was around then that Westergaard Dance plays a significant role in giving youngsters the opportunity approached Warth to work for Zama. She was looking for a full-time to grow into happy, balanced individuals. ‘Children are empowered ballet teacher who was registered with the RAD. by being part of a dance school. They are exposed to creative ‘To be honest, the thought of it terrified me,’ Warth says. ‘I didn’t opportunities, exciting physical challenges and a sense of team have much experience with children, and these youngsters didn’t even spirit,’ says Warth. speak English as a first language. Arlene assured me she'd be there to This is not to say that once a young person is dancing, drugs are no guide me, and 2009 has to have been the most inspirational and longer a risk. From early teens to professional level, pressures to be rewarding year of my life. I’ve watched pupils struggle with steps, thin or boost energy can cause dancers to try pharmaceutical conquer them, and present them with confidence in exams and on metabolic boosters or even harder drugs such as cocaine. As a stage. I experience the same intensity of emotion watching this as I recovering addict himself, Warth feels he is equipped to notice signs if did years ago watching Giselle’s death scene.’ a child has a problem, but insists he will not take it on by himself. He continues, ‘I am now responsible for guiding future dancers ‘Someone with a drug problem needs specialised medical care,’ he towards the same joy I have found. I am proud to call myself a says. ‘Be a mentor, not a doctor. Be supportive. Make sure students teacher.’ He stands up and stretches his long limbs, glancing in the know there are more intelligent ways to enhance their performance, mirror at a body still in dancing shape into its forties. ‘Right,’ he says, but don’t think you can treat them.’ his smile mischievous. ‘Are you warm? I’ve got a nice little grand Providing a healthy high as an alternative helps, too. Physical allegro tonight…’ exertion causes the body to produce endorphins. These help block pain and can induce a feeling of euphoria. Pursuing this high seldom Read more about Andrew Warth at www.balletboy.co.za and more about the Zama Dance School at www.zamadance.co.za

issue 1 / 2010 dance gazette 39