Paola Cantalupo trained and danced at the Ballet of la Scala in Milan. After being awarded a gold medal at the Prix de Lausanne in 1977, and a bronze medal at the Jackson International Dance Competition in 1979, she danced with Maurice Béjart’s Ballet of the 20th Century, and with John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet. In 1984, she pursued her career as a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Portugal in leading roles of the traditional classical repertoire, including Giselle, Swan Lake, and La Bayadère.
She then joined Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo in 1988 where she was appointed Etoile the following year by HRH, the Princess of Hanover. Her eclectic repertoire includes Major roles of the Russian Ballets (Scheherazade, The Firebird, Les Sylphides), works by G. Balanchine, A. Tudor, J. Kylian, W. Forsythe, R. Petit, and Major creations of Jean-Christophe Maillot (Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker Circus, Cinderella, La Belle). Italian critics awarded her the Leonide Massine Prize in Positano in 1991, the Danza e Danza Prize in Venice in 1993, and the Career Award in 2001.
She was decorated as a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Culturel of the Principality of Monaco in 2002. Mrs. Cantalupo is a holder of the “Certificat d’Aptitude aux fonctions de Professeur de Danse”, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture, and regularly invited as a teacher or jury member in international competitions (Prix de Lausanne, Youth American Grand Prix, …). She is also Vice-President of the Association Danse Médecine Recherche (ADMR) and an honorary member of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (IADMS).
Since January 2009, she has been the Artistic and Pedagogical Director of the Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower. From 2012 to 2017, she also held the same position for the Cycle Supérieur of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Danse de Marseille. This double direction gave rise in 2017 to the creation of the Pôle National Supérieur de Danse Rosella Hightower. In 2021, Mrs. Cantalupo was decorated as Officier de “l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Ministry of Culture, for her contributions to French cultural inheritance enrichment.
