The Italian ballerina Paola Cantalupo trained and danced in the Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala in Milan. After being awarded a gold medal at the Prix de Lausanne, and a bronze medal at the Jackson International Dance Competition, she left Italy to dance with Maurice Béjart’s Ballet of the 20th Century and John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet, before becoming a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Portugal. In 1989, she was named ‘Etoile’ by H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover with the Ballets de Monte-Carlo where she performed until 2009 and was decorated as a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Culturel of the Principality of Monaco. Following her teacher training in Paris, she became the Artistic Director of the Ecole Supérieure de Danse Cannes Rosella Hightower and the Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Marseille, and was asked by the French Ministry of Culture to develop a regional center of dance in the Mediterranean region. She serves on the Artistic Committee of the Prix de Lausanne and is the Vice-President of the Association Danse Médecine Recherche (ADMR).