Berber's dances – which had names such as "Cocaine" and "Morphium"[2] – broke boundaries with their androgyny and total nudity, but it was her public appearances that really challenged social taboos. Berber's overt drug addiction and bisexuality were matters of public gossip.[3] In addition to her addiction to cocaine, opium and morphine, one of Berber's favourites forms of inebriation was chloroform and ether mixed in a bowl.[4] This would be stirred with a white rose, the petals of which she would then eat.[5]