Khayla Fitzpatrick and Simon Catonnet, students of the National Ballet Academy’s pre-professional programme, danced Viktor Gsovsky’s Grand Pas Classique on 16 April at the gala performanceof the Concorso Danza Eurocity in the beautiful, nineteenth-century Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, Italy.

The Grand Pas Classique is the best-known work by the Russian dancer, ballet master and choreographer Viktor Gsovsky (1902-1974). He created the duet in Paris, in 1949, for Yvette Chauviré and Vladimir Skouratoff, to Le Dieu et la Bayadère by the French composer Daniel Auber. Since then, it has been danced by many great stars of ballet, including Sylvie Guillem, Elisabeth Platel, Nicolas Le Riche and – in the Netherlands – Jurgita Dronina and Mathias Heymann. They performed the duet to great acclaim at Dutch National Ballet’s gala for the opening of the season in 2013.

The Concorso Danza Eurocity is taking place this year for the eighteenth time, and is part of an international Dance Meeting that is held annually in Lucca. Dancers can enrol for the categories classical, modern and contemporary. This year’s competition jury comprises:
•    Kathryn Wade (chair, former director of the English National Ballet School)
•    Stephan Brinkman (Folkwang Hochschule Essen)
•    Jean-Yves Esquerre (National Ballet Academy)
•    Tadeus Matacz (John Cranko Schule, Stuttgart)
•    Cinthia Harvey (American Ballet School, New York)
•    Jay Jolley (The Royal Ballet School, London)
•    Michele Pogliani (freelance choreographer)
•    Lorella Reboa (Associazione Europea Danza)
•    Kenneth Tharp (The Place, London)
•    Samuel Wuersten (Codarts Rotterdam and Holland Dance Festival)