Solomon Volkov:
"I've met many people here who fled Russia at one time or another, and in my conversations with them I have seen that their defection was a terrible psychological trauma, a wound that won't heal, even if sixty years have passed since that day." p168
Joseph Brodsky:
"On the other hand, Godunov had been a star from early on and consequently corrupted to a certain extent by success and admiration. At the moment of his defection he was absolutely alone--no mama, no wife, no friends, no one. He had absolutely no one to turn to, and he could expect nothing but dirty tricks on all sides." p171
"This was a leap into the absolute unknown on Godunov's part." p171
From:
Volkov, Solomon. Conversations with Joseph Brodsky: a poet's journey through the twentieth century. The Free Press, New York, 1998. pp306
Individuals who have defected lose so much more than the possibility of return. Writers must face the loss of unity of place and language, the cultural basis of their creativity. Some have continued in isolation to write in their birth language while others make the difficult transition to the language of their new world. There are comedians who have found their humor is no longer understood because its cultural basis has been removed by their leaving of their homeland. Reading the quoted passages above made me want to ask if there are hardships unique to ballet that dancers who have defected would have had to face.
