At only 18, Joy Annabelle Womack has already made ballet history multiple times. This past summer, she became the first American female to be invited into the renowned Bolshoi Ballet.
Prior to joining the Bolshoi, she was the first American female to be invited into the Bolshoi Academy’s 3-year Russian program. Leading her class with the highest grades, she soon became the first American ballerina to perform a principal role with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy on the Bolshoi Stage, as Lise in “La Fille Mal Gardee.â€
In 2011, Joy was recipient of the Grand Prix award at the Youth America Grand Prix in Paris, France.
Joy began her training at the Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica, under the direction of the late Yvonne Mounsey. At the age of 12, her family relocated to Texas where she enrolled in the Austin School of Classic
al Ballet.
After completing her studies in Austin, Joy enrolled in the two year program at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. Shortly after, she auditioned for a Bolshoi Academy Summer Intensive in New York City. Not only was she accepted, she was invited to study at the Bolshoi Academy full time.
Currently in her first season with the Bolshoi Company, Miss Womack was honored to return to her native Southern California, to dance the Sugar Plum Fairy with Westside Ballet of Santa Monica.
Womack danced in memory of her beloved mentor, Westside’s former Director, Yvonne Mounsey. In the 1950s, Mounsey was a principal dancer for New York City Ballet and became a legend as the bewitching Siren in choreographer George Balanchine’s Prodigal Son.
Last summer, shortly after Womack learned she’d been accepted into the Bolshoi, Womack received the tragic news that Mounsey was terminally ill. Womack returned to Santa Monica to pay a final visit to her beloved teacher. It was then that Mounsey asked Womack if she would perform as Sugar Plum in Westside’s 2012 Nutcracker.
According to a recent Los Angeles Times interview, Womack responded with, “I had to do it.â€
