Hélène Marchetti
Director of the Academy
Classical technique
Home / The Academy
The Academy
Lyon, a former silk workshop on the Croix-Rousse hill. Forty students, seven teachers, four studios and no tuition fees — for anyone, ever.
Since 2004
Four hundred and six graduates. Two hundred and eleven now dancing professionally.
We take forty students a year and we pay for all of them. Not because it is generous, but because a company that recruits only from families who can afford training will eventually run out of dancers.
Students arrive at fourteen and leave at twenty. The training is complete: classical technique every morning, contemporary and character work every afternoon, plus music, anatomy, notation, and two foreign languages. Nobody specialises before eighteen.
Every student is attached to one of the eleven houses of the network for a month each year. They take company class, they watch load-ins, they sit in the wings during performances. By graduation they have stood on nine different stages.
The programme
Six years,
one apprenticeship
Each cycle ends with a public showing in Lyon and, for the final year, eight minutes on the closing night of the company season.
Y1–Y2
Foundation
Ages 14–16. Classical technique, floor work, music theory. No pointe work before the second year, and no competitions at any point.
Y3–Y4
Repertoire
Ages 16–18. Variations from the classical repertoire, first contemporary commissions, and the first month attached to a house.
Y5
Character & craft
Age 18–19. Flamenco in Barcelona, tango in Brussels, folk forms across the network. Plus stage management, lighting and notation.
Y6
Company year
Age 19–20. Students rehearse alongside the company, dance in the closing production, and are seen by every artistic director in the network.
Faculty
Seven teachers
All seven still work with the company. None of them teaches more than three days a week.
Yuki Sanada
Ballet Mistress
Repertoire & variations
Anton Weiss
Music Director
Musicianship
Sasha Novák
Associate Choreographer
Composition
Rafael Duarte
Principal Dancer
Partnering
Sofia Ricci
Principal Dancer
Character dance
Lucas Berger
Assistant Ballet Master
Foundation years
Émilie Vasseur
Chief of International Dancer
Admissions & careers
0
Students
0%
On scholarship
0
Graduates since 2004
0
Now dancing professionally
Admissions
How to apply
Auditions are held every March in Paris, Milan, Vienna and Copenhagen. There is no application fee, and travel is reimbursed for every candidate invited to the second round.
- 01
Send a video
Fifteen minutes: a class, a variation of your choice, and two minutes of anything at all. Filmed on a telephone is fine — we have accepted students on worse footage.
Opens 4 January 2027 · closes 20 February
- 02
First round
A morning class in one of the four audition cities, taken with about sixty other candidates. No solo, no interview. We watch how you learn, not what you already know.
7–21 March 2027
- 03
Second round
Three days in Lyon with the faculty and four current students. You will be taught something unfamiliar on purpose. Travel and accommodation are covered.
17–19 April 2027
- 04
Offer
Forty places, announced by letter on the same day to everyone. Every offer includes a full scholarship, housing in Lyon and a monthly stipend.
5 May 2027
Questions
Before you apply
Do I need to speak French?
No. Classes are taught in French, English and Italian, and language tuition is part of the programme from the first year.
Is there really no fee?
None. Tuition, housing, shoes, physiotherapy and travel within the network are all covered, and every student receives a monthly stipend.
What if I have never danced on pointe?
That is normal at fourteen and not a disadvantage. We look for musicality, coordination and appetite. Technique is what the six years are for.
Do graduates join the company?
Some do — nineteen of the current eighty-six. There is no automatic route, and no obligation in either direction.
Open day
Come and watch a class
The Academy opens its studios to the public on the first Saturday of every month. Free, no booking, class begins at nine.