Marco Mascari, a 17-year-old Princess Grace Academy student, has taken out the prestigious Prix de Lausanne 2020 for best overall dancer, as well as the top spot for contemporary interpretation. 

Eight dancers were deemed the best of the best last Saturday at the Prix de Lausanne dance competition in Montreaux. Each will be receiving scholarships to allow them to continue their studies in some of the world’s most prestigious schools or ballet companies.

A total of 77 dancers from 25 different countries were selected to take part. The 47 girls and 30 boys were kept under the watchful eyes of world-class teachers and coaches. They spent a full week preparing, working on both classic and contemporary variations before going in front of the judges.

Twenty-one were finally chosen to move onto the next level. The finalists were from 10 countries, with China having six candidates, the most for any nation, followed by three each from Australia and the United States.

The event was streamed live for six hours each day, and the semi-finalist selection and grand finals were broadcast in their entirety on the Prix de Lausanne website and Arte Concert. The viewership nearly doubled from the previous year, with 1.1 million views compared to 560,000 the previous year.

In the end, it was Monaco’s Marco Masciari who won the day. The seven other winners hailed from the USA, Brazil, China, South Korea, Romania and Portugal.