Some 11-year-old girls are preoccupied with their first crush or next sleepover. Courtney Lopes was only concerned with her dance classes.

“I started off dancing at In Motion School of Dance when I was around seven or eight years old,” said Ms Lopes, who’s now a professional dancer and instructor for New York-based performance group Dance Heginbotham.

“I literally didn’t want to do anything else. I was interested in sports and a few other things, but even at that young of an age I was very focused on dance and expressed that to my parents.

“By the age of 11 I was 100 per cent sure it was what I wanted to do with my life.”

The 24-year-old is now getting to travel the world with her talent.

Earlier this month she journeyed to South Korea with her dance company to perform in a local arts festival there.

Later this year she will be embarking on a six-week tour through South East Asia — including stops to the Philippines, Indonesia and Laos.

“The festival in Seoul, South Korea was similar to the Bermuda Arts Festival and we got to perform there with a musical orchestra called Alarm Will Sound on April 11 and 12,” she said. “We travelled with them to do two performances, open to the public, which took place in a museum [called Culture Station].”

While in the East Asian country, she took some time out to visit a few palaces, go hiking through the mountains and sample street food at the local night markets.

Her favourite part, however, was the time she actually spent on stage.

“Honestly the performances that we did were the best part,” she said. “The musicians we went with were incredible to perform live with.

“And the Koreans seemed to completely love the shows we put on for them. When people get so excited and you feel this energy from the audience it’s such an amazing feeling. They were just so grateful for the shows we did for them and it felt very satisfying.”

Ms Lopes admitted it took a combination of hard work and passion to get to this point in her career.

Once she decided to pursue dance professionally, it was her mentor, Lizz Pimentel, who encouraged her to explore her options outside of Bermuda.

She took a trip to the Big Apple, but was intimidated by the plethora of talent she found there.

“That first trip to New York made me realise I wasn’t that good at all,” she said. “I realised I had lots of work to do, but it was good being exposed to that high calibre of dance and definitely encouraged me to keep working hard.

“Then by the age of 14 I got good enough to go away to a boarding school in North Carolina. I took regular high school classes but was also dancing five or six hours a day.

“It was a really strict environment and if you didn’t maintain a certain grade point average you wouldn’t be invited to come back to the programme. They were really serious about academics as well as your dancing.”

She appreciates that meticulous training now more than ever.

“Dance is something you have to love and want to do every day,” she said. “I have never lost that passion and it’s all I have been doing for so long.”

Just this past month she started teaching at a local YMCA in New York City.

She’s been able to pass on some of her knowledge and enthusiasm to children as young as three.

“They are just so excited to be able to learn to do a plié or tendu,” she explained. “So now I’m officially doing this full time and when I’m not practising dance myself I’m teaching.”

These days her life is extremely hectic.

In the space of a day she might have to be in three different boroughs — from Brooklyn and Queens to Manhattan — but she said she’s grown quite fond of the city.

“Most days I go to class in the morning which is two hours then go to rehearsals, which last four or five hours every day. I also teach during the evenings everyday but Sundays. Most days I’m working from 10am until 7pm or 8pm.

“But I get to dance with a lot of my friends, which makes it really fun and just makes it feel like we’re hanging out all the time.

“In my downtime I’m really just trying to do nothing, but relax. I also try to enjoy New York City because the weather is finally getting nice and everyone wants to be outdoors in restaurants or bars.

“I’ve also recently been trying to go to see a few Broadway shows, including some that my friends are in.

“I’m trying to take advantage of the arts in the city because it’s literally everywhere. You are never bored in a city like this. There’s always something to do and it’s easy to get around.”

Ms Lopes said she was excited with the direction her career has taken her.

In high school she was able to venture to places like China, Mexico and Taiwan to further pursue dance.

“I really love travelling the world and dancing,” she said. “That’s what I would really love to do all the time and it’s starting to happen right now.

“It’s so cool to see how each country accepts or doesn’t accept the kind of contemporary dance we bring to them. And just experiencing their dance culture is really fun as well.”