A 21-year-old dancer is reaching new heights in her career after being accepted into an associates’ programme at the Welsh Ballet Company.Krystal Smith has been twirling and learning to plié since the age of seven.She is now chasseing her way to success and this week began her coveted post in the year-long programme in Wales.She will take part in different workshops to develop her dance and choreography talents over the next few months. She will also perform every third Sunday of the month with the company’s director and dance in the occasional Welsh production.The gifted performer was also recently awarded several scholarships to cover the programme and living costs in the UK.The National Dance Foundation of Bermuda (NDFB) and Bermuda Arts Council each gave her $3,000; while non-profit charity Talent Explosion, funded by the Ace Group of Companies, gave her $1,900.She also danced at Chewstick’s facility on Court Street, Hamilton, to raise additional funds for the trip.Since arriving in the UK last weekend she has got settled into an apartment and taken her first class with the Welsh Ballet Company.“I am scheduled to take class with another Welsh company called National Dance Company of Wales and I was invited to take class with a contemporary ballet company, BalletSoul, located in London on Monday,” she told The Royal Gazette.Krystal admitted she was excited about the opportunity to train overseas. She said dancing was more than a passion but a way of life.“I guess I feel most like myself when I’m dancing, even more comfortable and more myself than walking in the street or eating. Dancing is more natural to me.”She began dance lessons at In Motion School of Dance as a child, but decided to focus more on ballet training at the Somerset School of Dance in 2005.Through summer intensives with the NDFB, she was able to experiment with contemporary, modern, ballroom and African dancing. She was also encouraged to look at dance as a career option, instead of just a hobby.She said it was challenging growing up in Bermuda where many people are focused on careers in business rather than the arts.“But going to summer intensives and meeting other people from America, Canada and different parts of South America and hearing them talk about dancing professionally was eye opening.“It wasn’t so dreamy, like ‘I want to be a ballerina’. It helped motivate me and made me think it’s something I could do.”She said dancing could also be challenging on the body; and admitted: “I guess to a certain degree you have to be okay with pain. A lot of ballet is making your body something it wouldn’t ordinarily be, like arched feet.“To a degree it keeps you healthy and active, but to a degree it’s also bad for you. I think that you have to love it. There is a bit of pain, but it’s voluntary pain.”Despite the occasional hardships, she said it was rewarding to see the end result in your dancing.“Very rarely do you work really hard and not see any return. If you work eight hours every day in the studio you are going to benefit from that.“It’s rewarding to be able to dance on a stage for friends and family or even complete strangers and see how they react to it.”She is hoping the opportunity in Wales will get her one step closer to her dream job of working full-time with a ballet company in the UK or US, like Complexion Contemporary Ballet in New York.Krystal encourages other young people to reach for the stars and follow their hearts.“We need people to work in the exempt companies, but if that’s not where your heart is don’t do it.“I would rather be poor living in a studio apartment doing what I love, than in a giant house doing a job just to make money.”