Ms Kelly, 18, has been accepted into Sydney Dance Company’s pre-professional program, which will allow her to build her skills in ballet and contemporary and prepare her for a career in the spotlight.

She declined offers from ballet schools in London, New York and Perth to study in Sydney, which she said made her feel the most comfortable.

“Ballet and contemporary are my biggest focuses and I wanted to do more contemporary, which is what Sydney Dance Company is about,” she said.

“After this year, I’m hoping to get into a ballet or contemporary professional company - it doesn’t matter where, just whoever wants me.”

As part of the program, she will complete further training, including improvisation techniques, yoga and pilates, classes in anatomy and assistance with nutrition.

She said ballet was “the prettiest” of the genres she studied growing up, but determination was the key to success.

“Most of it comes down to mental preparation - sometimes they don’t like you and you have to go somewhere else where that’s what they’re looking for,” she said.

“It’s about having the freedom to move and do different things with your body and express yourself - when I’m feeling angry, if I dance, it puts me in a better mood.”

Ms Kelly started dance classes at Central West Performing Arts when she was three, but the decision to take her dancing further came after three years at the McDonald College in Strathfield where she boarded as a performing arts student and danced 40 hours a week.

She starred in a lead role in the Premier State Ballet youth company’s production of Swan Lake last year.

“I realised it was something I really wanted to do as a career,” she said. 

“That was an amazing experience, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done - the standard is so much higher and it makes you realise what’s out there.”

danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au