Monaco’s Marco Masciari impressed the floor to win the Premier prix-médaille d’or and Prix d’interprétation contemporaine at this year’s international competition on the 8th February.
Open to all non-professional dancers aged 15 to 18 of all nationalities, the Prix de Lausanne is a high-profile dance competition that takes place annually. 17 year old Marco Masciari is a dancer of the Académie Princesse Grace, which has now seen three consecutive years of gold medals awarded to one of its pupils (Shale Wagman in 2018 and Mackenzie Brown in 2019).
Marco started dancing at the age of 9 in Calabria, his native region in Italy. At 13, he won first prize in a dance competition in Rome. Inspired by dancers Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Barychnikov, Marco completed an internship at the Académie Princesse Grace before being accepted to the famous Monaco dance academy slightly ahead of the minimum age requirement of 14 years old.
Pioneers in the field of training dancers
The Prix de Lausanne is a highly-regarded, unique competition. Its missions include rewarding dance potential rather than solely results, so not only is the focus on the competition, but also for dancers to be a part of this annual meeting point for the international dance world. A career in dance is usually short (from about age 18 to 38), so another mission of the Prix de Lausanne is to help the best dancers obtain scholarships in reputable schools and professional companies, aiding career transition.
Next up is the second edition of the Summer Intensive programme that runs from the 6th to 11th July in Lausanne.