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 these years, she participated in the following ballet performances: 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 Joffrey Ballet School, Salt Creek Ballet School, Faubourg School of Ballet, Dance West Ballet School, and Chicago Ballet Conservatory of Mohler Ballet School. She has staged excerpts from Paquita, Don Quixote and The Waltz of the Flowers, The Russian Dance, and Final Waltz and Apotheosis from The Nutcracker. Currently, Ludmila is on faculty and A&A Ballet and Chicago Ballet Conservatory, 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 have placed in the top 3 and top 12 numerous times.