The International Ballet Gala at The Cube Wodonga will present excerpts from well-known classics such as Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake.

Presented by Wodonga-based company Projection Dance, the gala will feature visiting stars as well as homegrown talents Zoe Cavedon and Amia Mason, who now dance overseas.

Projection Dance director Tim Podesta said the night aimed to show the beauty of classical ballet, with the program including the world premiere of a Romeo and Juliet pas de deux he created for Cavedon and Albanian-born Marlon Dino.

“He’s an international star, he’s really of the highest calibre and he’s danced with all of the prima ballerinas,” Podesta said.

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The director said having this level of talent in a regional centre was rare, exciting and inspiring for Border dancers.

“Dance in Australia is still relatively young and people are still coming to terms with the fact that this is a job, people do it for a living and they travel the world doing it,” he said.

“So when you see these people who are highly successful it just makes it seem like it’s not so much of a dream, it is something that you can achieve.

“It obviously takes a lot of hard work but it is achievable.”

Podesta said the overseas dancers had been shocked by the Border’s heat.

“It was actually a 60 degree temperature difference,” he said.

“Minus 15 for one of them from where they’d left from Germany and then they arrived here and it was 45 degrees.”