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Behind the Red Velvet Curtain
An American Ballerina in Russia
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Brief Description
In 2012, Joy Womack made history when she became the first American ballerina to sign a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Dancing in Moscow was not the Onion Dome fairy tale she’d hoped for. The Bolshoi and its school were filled with...
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Format: Hardback
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Behind the Red Velvet Curtain
This book an unflinching, complex, and compassionate true tale of the first American ballerina to sign a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet Theater in Moscow, Russia. The narrative is drawn from more than a decade of reporting, interviews, and research by an award-winning journalist.
This book an unflinching, complex, and compassionate true tale of the first American ballerina to sign a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet Theater in Moscow, Russia. The narrative is drawn from more than a decade of reporting, interviews, and research by an award-winning journalist.
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Description
In 2012, Joy Womack made history when she became the first American ballerina to sign a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet Theatre in Moscow, Russia.
Dancing in Moscow was not the Onion Dome fairy tale she’d hoped for. The Bolshoi and its school were filled with cutthroat competition, acts of violence, and coaches who encouraged obsessive devotion. They sent her on stage with broken bones, helped her forge immigration paperwork, and encouraged her to toe a dangerous political line—all for the privilege of dancing on one of the world's most storied stages.
As Joy’s career took off and she made a name for herself in the Russian ballet world, she had to face a hard choice. Were the growing dangers of a professional lifestyle descending into corruption worth the realisation of her life's dream?
Behind the Red Velvet Curtain by Joy Womack delves into the depths of this intense and often perilous journey.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781538199374
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 18 May 2025
Country: United States
Imprint: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Illustration: 19 BW Illustrations
Contributors:
- As told by Elizabeth Shockman
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 229.0mm
Weight: 649g
Pages: 274
About the Author
Joy Womack is a ballerina, currently working at the Paris Opera. She has a combined social media following of approximately 75,000 across all platforms, was featured in a 2021 independent documentary,Joy Womack: The White Swan, and is also the subject of a biopic film,Joika, set to premiere in 2023. Her story has been followed by news outlets around the world, includingThe New York Times,The Moscow Times,Reuters,Time Magazine, theL.A. Times,NBC News.
Elizabeth Shockman is a public radio journalist based in Minnesota with nationally and internationally published work atNPR,PRI,MPR,Reuters,The Moscow Times,BBC, andmany other publications. Elizabeth met Joy while working for Reuters in Moscow and has spent more than 12 years interviewing her for this book.
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