LIM MEIYI, 21
She will be entering a 10-month programme at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in August

JOY WANG, 16
She will be pursuing a three-year degree at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in September

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Joy Wang has been dancing for half of her 16-year life. Her teachers and peers say that the dancer, who started when she was six, lives and breathes dance.

She is about to leave for one of the top dance schools in Britain - the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

'I'm so excited, I can't wait,' says Wang, who sent in videos for her audition to earn one of 108 coveted places in the school.

The three-year degree programme costs about ?13,600 (S$32,300) every year. Wang is applying for funding from the National Arts Council, but her parents, who work with the Ministry of Education, will support her if she does not get it.

The teenager already has her dance future mapped out.

'After three years there, I hope to join a dance company to see how it works as well as to perform. But eventually, I hope to come back to Singapore and maybe set up a dance school.'

The dance scene here still needs maturing, she says. 'But that's why I want to bring my experience back to develop it.'

For 21-year-old ballerina Lim Meiyi, who is set on pursuing a professional ballet career, the dance scene overseas looks far more attractive.

The ballerina, who finished her O levels at River Valley High School, has been accepted into the Bolshoi Academy.

'It's hard to say where I will be, but I hope to gain more experience overseas. I want to do purely classical works, which may not fit the style of the Singapore Dance Theatre, which also does a lot of contemporary ballet work.'

The fees for the 10-month programme cost up to S$22,000 and will be funded partly by the Lee Foundation. The bulk of it will be borne by her parents, who are both teachers.

She attended the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts for the dance programme, but left during her second year 'because it was not a ballet school'. She decided to try the Bolshoi and was elated when she was accepted.

'There are so many things happening in the international ballet world. Singapore is still quite behind our counterparts in Europe and America.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.