After the Dance

After becoming a world-class ballerina, Rachelle di Stasio is set to excel as a model and actress

- By Brandon Friederich

When a lifelong dream has been realized, what’s one to do? Realize an-other, if you’re Rachelle di Stasio. On Instagram, the striking feats of flexibility sprinkled between runway shots and bikini snaps hint at the first discipline she conquered: ballet.

It didn’t take much of her life for di Stasio to do it—she made her professional debut at just 13 years old in the leading role of the Nashville Ballet’s The Nutcracker. But instead of taking a traineeship with her hometown ballet company the following year, di Stasio set her sights on New York’s American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the world’s most prestigious dance troupes.