In what is turning out to be a very bad year for the Bolshoi Ballet, Russia’s famed classical dance company, the New York Times is reporting that Joy Womack, the first American ballerina to join the Bolshoi, is quitting under tumultuous circumstances. According to reports, the dancer is “alleging that she was denied opportunities to perform and ultimately told she would have to pay a bribe of $10,000 to get a solo role.”
Womack moved to Moscow at the age of 15 to attend the Bolshoi school, and her accusations of misconduct and bribery are the latest blow to the famous ballet company, which seems to be crumbling before our eyes.
Pavel V. Dmitrichenko, a former principal dancer at the Bolshoi, is currently on trial for his alleged attack of Sergei Filin, the company’s artistic director, back in January. Dmitrichenko allegedly hired two men to throw acid in Filin’s face as he was entering his home, reportedly because Dmitrichenko’s girlfriend, another Bolshoi dancer, did not receive a prized role in an upcoming production.
Last week, a witness to the attack testified that the police pressured him into giving a false statement, which would corroborate certain rumors that the trial is an elaborate cover up. At the same time, Filin’s assistant denied many of the rumors Dmitrichenko has spread about the victim, including his many affairs with top dancers, at her testimony last week.
Womack refuses to name the Bolshoi employee who bribed her. But according to her, the misconduct was not a surprise. “The way everything went down at this theater was not very professional,” she told the New York Times in an interview. “It was kind of shady.”
