Napier dancer Taylor Ferguson's dream taking her to Wellington

Napier teenager Taylor Ferguson has been accepted into next year's intake at the Chilton Ballet Academy in Wellington. Photo / Supplied

A Napier teenager's dream of becoming a professional dancer is taking her to a ballet academy in Wellington.

Taylor Ferguson has been accepted into next year's intake at the Chilton Ballet Academy.

The academy first started this year and students spend half the day dancing and half the day doing academic work.

The 14-year-old from Onekawa auditioned in September and found out shortly after that she will do her Year 11 studies at Chilton St James in Lower Hutt next year.

Her mother, Diana Shand, said she is the only Hawke's Bay student out of the eight or so who got in and is very excited.

Taylor has danced since she was 3 and this academy will help her in her goal of becoming a professional dancer, Ms Shand said.

"I think it's a great opportunity, it's quite hard for us in the provincial towns to get as many opportunities.

"A lot of the other students come from big cities."

At the end of next year Taylor is hoping to audition for the New Zealand School of Dance because students are usually taken in after Year 11.

Ms Shand, who is a former Royal New Zealand Ballet dancer, is one of her daughter's dance teachers which can sometimes be a strain on the mother-daughter relationship so she will enjoy taking a step back from teaching her next year, she said.

"We'll miss her, it will be certainly a lot quieter around the house."

When Ms Shand was about 16 she received a scholarship to study at the Victorian College of Arts in Melbourne so she knows it will be hard for her daughter to be away from home.

"I got terribly homesick.

"It's better now with Skype and text, it's easier to keep in contact."

However, Taylor needs to take this opportunity now because she wants to be a professional dancer and she will miss out if she waits.

"It's a now-or-never situation."

Taylor's grandmother, Karen Hawkins, who was also a ballet dancer and teacher, said the teenager is very focused on her ballet and loves dancing.

Taylor has been part of the Scholars and Associates programmes at the New Zealand School of Dance for the past few years and will continue this while in Wellington.

The former Taradale High School student also received a scholarship which pays for half her fees.