#joywomack

When I say social media ballerina phenomena I’m referring to professional ballerinas such as Misty Copeland, Joy Womack, and Ksenia Zhiganshina.

Misty Copeland has been excessively covered by media since she received her first promotion to the rank of 1st Soloist in the ABT; but what made her a media hype was the fact that on June 30, 2015, Misty became the first African-American woman to be promoted to the rank of principal dancer in ABT's 75-year history. In addition, she has been the cover of Time Magazine as one the 100 most influential people in the world.

Joy Womack’s[1] story is a different one. Joy entered the realm of social media when she was the first American to enter the full training program at the Bolshoi Academy and, later on, the first American to join the Bolshoi Ballet Company. Since then, she has an account on every social media platform, she creates daily vlogs and chats every day with her fans. In addition, Joy Womack has created her own small company: the PrimaBar.[2] In order to communicate and promote her product Joy came with the idea of creating these daily vlogs that give a full insight into the everyday life of a principal dancer.

We have been following Ksenia Zhiganshina’s life in the social media since she was very young. Video recordings of her dancing have been uploaded on YouTube since she was 4-5 years old. When she joined the full program of Vaganova Ballet Academy at the age of 14, Ksenia was also transformed into a media hype for the balletomanes. Ballet fans have been following her through her training and graduation from the Academy. Ksenia was such a social media ballerina phenomenon that when she decided to join the Bolshoi Ballet instead of the Mariinsky Theatre, her decision created great controversy among the balletomanes.

From these three examples, we can see the effect that social media can have not only into the lives of professionals but also of their fans. With the use of social media ballerinas have created other parallel professional jobs, they have found alternative ways to fund their training and to request support from their fans. In addition, with such a strong presence in the social media, these ballerinas may have established and somewhat secure their positions in their companies. A fandom of 80.000 fans can be a factor of great influence in the directorship of a company. The company gains fame, more followers, and a strong indirect media presence. Moreover, these kinds of ballerinas have greatly attributed to the popularisation of their art. They have reached a very wide audience by making ballet more ‘accessible’. Wannabe ballet dancers, students, parents of students have finally accessed a very detailed insight into what a ballerina’s life is about. Joy Womack, for instance, not only has she dedicated a lot of her vlogs in Q&As of her fans but also creates ballet video exercises according to their problems and needs.

[1] Joy is currently a principal dancer with the Kremlin Ballet.