Formerly known as the trainee program, Louisville Ballet Studio Company provides a unique opportunity for dancers on the cusp of their professional careers. While receiving excellent training and working alongside Louisville Ballet Company dancers, these emerging young artists are truly the bridge between The School and Company. Studio Company dancers have opportunities to perform with the Company as repertoire allows each season, with The School, and as a part of the Community Engagement team with education outreach performances in schools throughout the area. Additionally, the Louisville Ballet Studio Company will maintain the classical repertoire in productions created exclusively for these talented young dancers throughout the region.

Half of the Company dancers in Louisville Ballet began their careers as trainees with the Company.

About the ballet, Giselle

Giselle is considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon. It was first performed by the Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris, France on 28 June 1841, with Italian ballerina Carlotta Grisi as Giselle. The ballet was an unqualified triumph. Giselle became hugely popular and was staged at once across Europe, Russia, and the United States.

The ghost-filled ballet tells the tragic, romantic story of a beautiful young peasant girl who falls for the flirtations of the deceitful and disguised nobleman Albrecht. When the ruse is revealed, the fragile Giselle dies of heartbreak, and Albrecht must face the otherworldly consequences of his careless seduction.

The second act is largely dominated by the Wilis, the spirits of maidens who died after being betrayed by their lovers, and take revenge in the night by dancing men to death by exhaustion (a popular theme in Romantic-era ballets). Led by Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, they summon Giselle from her grave and target her lover for her death, but Giselle's great love frees him from their grasp. They gain their power in numbers as they effortlessly move through dramatic patterns and synchronized movements, and control the stage with their long tulle dresses and stoic expressions, creating an ethereal atmosphere that builds as they gradually close in on Albrecht. By saving Albrecht from the Wilis, Giselle also saves herself from becoming one of them.