Why would a well-educated, middle class woman leave a teaching career and spend nineteen years in a California cult that imposed authority over decisions about material possessions, privacy, children, marriage, food, personal appearance, and ultimately her identity? Why didn't she and hundreds like her recognize that Chuck Dederich, Synanon's founder and guru, was rapidly descending the slippery slope from visionary to megalomaniac? Why did these people, who included successful lawyers and doctors, acquiesce to Chuck's whims, even when he demanded that all marriages in Synanon be instantly dissolved, the entire community embrace childlessness, any woman less than six months pregnant get an abortion and all men over the age of eighteen undergo a vasectomy? These are some of the difficult questions Alice Rost answers in Designated Dancers. Mostly a personal exploration, it describes the once vibrant organization that helped thousands of alcoholics and drug addicts kick their habits and live useful lives. The book depicts scenes in which she gives up one child and hands her second daughter over to the haphazard educational system of Synanon. She tells about "changing partners" where marriages are dissolved by decree of Chuck Dederich and men and women are told to "make love happen" after being linked up in a caricature of an auction block. Interwoven are scenes depicting the dark side of Synanon, including stories of attempted murder, beatings, harsh and punitive treatment of children, and institutional humiliation. Ultimately, Designated Dancers is a cautionary tale driven by Alice's struggle to redeem herself as a parent, wife and responsible member of society. Her journey oils the gears of the book.
Alice Rost was born and educated in New York. She grew up in a working class neighborhood in Brooklyn, graduated from New York University and taught elementary school. In 1966 she moved to California. Alice became involved with Synanon about six months after she arrived in California and became a resident of Synanon in 1970. She was twenty-eight when she moved in, with her nine-month-old baby daughter, and left nineteen years later. After that she and her husband lived in San Diego where they owned a business. Alice was a spiritual seeker, teacher and devoted disciple. She wrote her first book about her time at Synanon, Designated Dancers, published in 2001. After earning her degree in Spirituality and Holistic Health with a specialty in Transpersonal Psychology at age seventy-five, she wrote and published her second book, Awakening to God: Not a Man in the Sky, published in 2018. Exquisite self-care and her spiritual practice carried her through two cancers, which she claimed were "quiet" while she lived a robust life. Two more books were created from her Yearly Letters to her grandchildren, although she did not live to deliver them personally. This revised edition of Designated Dancers is being published posthumously as well. Alice succumbed to a third and final bout with a rare blood disorder in 2019. She will be deeply missed.
Jan Carpenter Tucker is a business owner, graphic designer, creative director, and digital solutions specialist serving a wide array of clients. Her signatures are bright, bold, colorful design and carefully-crafted strategic communication. She has dedicated her professional life to staying abreast of current trends, and tying together these aspects in meaningful ways to create effective images, messages and content delivery. With her passion for reading and learning, Jan designs, edits and publishes books for authors through her company, Night Star Publisher.
