By Holly Heinrich

Contributing Writer

“The theme of this year was throwing myself off the cliff – and hoping God would catch me,” said Joy Womack.

For the 16-year-old, who began training at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow last fall, it has been a year of dreams realized and nearly lost. And now she is waiting to see if she will return to Russia, the country that has come to feel like home.

For Joy, dancing has always been integral to who she is.

“My parents said I was always dancing,” Womack said. “When I was born, they said, ‘She looks like a ballerina.’ As soon as I started ballet, it was love.”

By age 12, Joy was living apart from her close-knit family of nine children in order to attend the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. While there, she discovered the Bolshoi Ballet on YouTube. She was immediately drawn to the Russian dancers’ fire and energy and knew that was the kind of ballerina she wanted to become.

Her parents were hesitant to send their daughter, then 15, halfway across the world.

“At first, they were a little shocked,” Womack said. “But I explained it, and they thought if this was something I’d set my heart on, how could they say no? They saw all the doors lined up and decided, ‘How can we be the people holding you back when everything is right?’ ”

From the moment she stepped into the Bolshoi Academy, she felt she belonged. Still, there were challenges – she had to overcome the language barrier and prove herself as a dancer among some of the best students in the world.

“Those first days were a blur,” Womack said. “There were times I couldn’t understand what they were saying, and I felt like a deaf person, like there was a wall of glass and I couldn’t break through that wall.”

But she did begin to break through the wall, learning Russian and progressing to the top of her class with remarkable speed. She was chosen to tour with the Bolshoi in Barcelona, and a special solo was created for her in their rendition of “The Nutcracker.” Though she missed her family during holidays, Joy was enchanted by life in Russia.

And then, after landing the most prestigious role yet, the life she’d built for herself was nearly shattered.

On the night she was to dance in a major performance with the stars of the professional Bolshoi Ballet, Joy’s foot began to throb unbearably. She had no understudy; she would have to dance. Onstage, she moved with grace and a smile; as soon as she danced into the wings, tears streamed down her face. Afterwards, Womack learned she had a bone injury requiring surgery. She called her parents and found there wasn’t money for the operation, or tuition for the rest of the year.

She arrived at church that week feeling lost and praying for answers. An elder noticed she was upset, and Womack told him she needed surgery that she couldn’t afford and would have to return home.

“He said, ‘Pray about it,’ and he came back later and gave me the money,” Joy said. “He said, ‘I’ll take care of everything. [But] I don’t want you to look at this as from me. This is from God. If it’s God’s will for you to dance, then I feel He’s telling me to give you the money.”

Womack paused, and then said, “If he hadn’t done that, it would be over.”

She healed rapidly. Womack had surgery in February, and by early March she was back in the dance studio, being filmed for a New York Times story on American ballet students in Russia.

“[The doctors] had never seen that kind of recovery before,” Womack said. “I look back, and I don’t understand how. I was carried on angels’ wings.”

Womack’s parents found money for tuition, and she finished the year. She is currently working to raise money for tuition on her website, www.joywomack.com, so she can return to the Bolshoi Academy next year. The cost is daunting – $18,000 – but Womack has faith that she will find a way to return to Russia.

“I know God has a plan for my life,” she said. “I feel like I’ve found a sense of who I am, and not only who I am, but who God wants me to be.”