Ludmila Lupu (Ballet Technique, Character) is a graduate of the Ballet Academy of Moldova where she completed 9 years of classical ballet training in the following disciplines: Classical Ballet, Pointe, Variations, Pas-de-Deux, Historical Court Dance, Character Dance, History of World Theater, History of Ballet, Ballet, and Piano, and general education. As a student, Ludmila participated in several ballet performances at the National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet of Republic of Moldova and traveled with the ballet company of the theater throughout the Soviet Union. The training program at the Ballet Academy of Moldova was based on the Vaganova Syllabus and Ludmila’s first ballet teacher was Tatyana Petuhova, a renowned ballet pedagogue and graduate of Kiev Ballet Academy. Ludmila was also taught by Sophia Horisova, a graduate of the Vaganova Academy of Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia. Upon graduation, Ludmila was employed as a soloist for 15 years by the leading ballet company of Moldova - The National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet of Republic of Moldova. Throughout those years, she danced the following ballets: Don Quixote, Pakita, Swan Lake, Spartacus, Giselle, Coppelia, Sculptures of Roden, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadera, Sleeping Beauty, Shopeniana, and Serenade by Balanchine. Ludmila traveled to numerous European countries with the theater. Ludmila started her pedagogical career in ballet at The University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, and after emigrating to the United States, taught at the Joffrey Ballet, Salt Creek Ballet, Faubourg School of Ballet, Dance West Ballet School, and the Chicago Ballet Conservatory of Mohler Ballet School. She has staged many excerpts from multiple ballets and in addition to her work at WSBC, is also on faculty and A&A Ballet where she teaches Ballet, Pointe, Variations, Repertoire, and Character Dance, and coaches and prepares dancers for Youth America Grand Prix, a competition in which her students consistently place in the top 3 and top 12.