Joy Womack First American Woman To Joint The Bolshoi Ballet

Joy Womack, a teenager from Santa Monica, California has had quite a winding journey to the stage.

Womack began her serious training at age 9 with former Balanchine dancer Yvonne Mounsey at Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica, California. She soon added private sessions with Russian ballet master and prominent coach Yuri Grigoriev. Her dream was to join New York City Ballet, “do the ‘American’ thing,” she says.

But her family moved to Austin, Texas, when Womack was 12 and she couldn’t find any strong Balanchine studios in the area. “I thought it was the end of the world,” she says, with a laugh. Intrigued by videos of Russian dancers (“I fell in love with Diana Vishneva”), Womack enrolled at the Vaganova-based Austin School of Classical Ballet.

Further details from original article on PointeMagazine.com.

Though the road was “bumpy,” to say the least; she was told by one teacher that she should give up because she lacked turn-out and flexibility, yet former ABT principal Leslie Browne encouraged her to continue. Shortly thereafter, she was invited to study at Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

Grueling hours in the studio, learning Russian, endless rehearsals, even dancing with a broken foot and subsequent surgery have all paid off. Joy has now been asked to join Russia’s prestigious ballet company as a soloist!

American Ballerina Accepted Into The Bolshoi Ballet

For such a young age (18 years old. She arrived in Russia at the age of 15), she has accomplished so much!

American Ballerina Accepted Into The Bolshoi Ballet

Video from Joy Womack’s Channel.

Video courtesy of NewYorkTimes YouTube Channel.

American Ballerina Accepted Into The Bolshoi Ballet

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