Dancer's hopes set on brilliant career

Hope Anderson, 16, is working to raise money so she can attend a ballet training academy in Sydney.

Sore and blistered feet from hours of working to perfect a dance move might tip an ordinary person over the edge.

But for a young Auckland ballerina, the pain is part of the journey she hopes will lead her to some of the top ballet performance stages in the world.

Hope Anderson, 16, is working hard to perfect her skills after being accepted at the Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy in Sydney.

The dance school is well regarded around the world and entry is by audition only.

Hope, who does correspondence from home in order to fit more training into her schedule, travelled to New South Wales in September to audition and got the news just a few days after arriving back in New Zealand.

"It was amazing. I was absolutely ecstatic. Wanting it for so long and never really knowing if it was going to be achievable or if I was ever going to get there - it was amazing."

The teen currently trains at the Mt Eden Ballet Academy. She said her passion for the dance form started at an early age and she has been working towards her goal of becoming a renowned ballerina ever since.

"I've been studying ballet since I was 3 and I've always wanted to do it. I've always wanted to be a professional ballet dancer and never wanted to do anything else apart from achieving that goal and dream.

"My mum used to put music on and I would dance all around the house. So she thought: 'I should probably take her to a ballet class'."

The teen and her family are now working to fundraise for Hope's living costs and tuition fees once she begins her training next year.

The academy operates on a four-term basis and students pay fees of up to $3550 a term, taking the total cost of training up to $14,200 a year. Hope's course will run over three years.

She said years of blisters and aching feet hadn't put her off striving to become a top ballet dancer. "To a normal person it would look crazy, but to ballet dancers it's just the usual thing. I love performing up on stage and the beautiful costumes and portraying a story.

"I like being able to move in a completely different world and the way dancing just makes you feel like it takes you to the real world. I just feel amazing when I dance - I feel like how it's always meant to be inside, if that makes sense."

To help Hope, visit: givealittle.co.nz/cause/helphope2dance.