SYNOPSIS
As the first American to graduate from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy’s prestigious main training program, and the first American woman to sign a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet, Joy Womack made history. And though she’s only 27, her remarkable rise to an international stardom has been chronicled in JOY WOMACK: THE WHITE SWAN, a feature-length documentary from filmmakers Dina Burlis and Sergey Gavrilov.
JOY WOMACK: THE WHITE SWAN offers a years-long perspective of the dancer’s time in Russia. Though Joy grew up in a typical American family, from a young age, she yearned to be a ballet dancer, and moved to Russia when she was 15 to follow her dream. Without a word of Russian, not completely fit for the physical requirements of Russian ballet dancers, Womack showed her strength and dedication to ballet and accomplished her dreams. The film follows Joy’s personal and professional life: from her daily challenges, injuries, and performances to becoming a ballet dancer with Bolshoi Theatre group and then prima ballerina of Kremlin Ballet, where she has the performance of her lifetime — Swan Lake, before closing this chapter of her life and returning to her home country to join the Boston Ballet.
JOY WOMACK: THE WHITE SWAN (2020)
Directed by: Dina Burlis, Sergey Gavrilov
Written by: Dina Burlis, Daria Kiseleva
Produced by: Dina Burlis, Sergey Gavrilov
Co-Produced by: Daria Kiseleva
Executive Produced by: Denis Krupnov, Anna Krupnova
Director of Photography: Sergey Gavrilov
Editing by: Dina Burlis, Danila Kuznetsov
Genre: World Cinema/Documentary
RT: 90 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78: 1
Sound: 2.0 Stereo
Language: Russian with English Subtitles, English