At just 19, Tara Gower thought she would have to give up her dream of becoming a professional dancer.
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After two years of unsuccessful auditions while living alone in Europe, she was on the brink of quitting dancing and taking up a course in zoology.
Her luck changed in September when, after one last audition, she was awarded a position to train with the Sydney Dance Company.
Ms Gower, of Monash, is one of just two Canberra dancers who have been awarded the sought-after positions in the pre-professional year program, being run for the first time next year.
Sam Young-Wright, 21, of Wanniassa, was also picked as one of only 25 dancers from around Australia to be part of the intensive 12-month program.
Ms Gower, who studied at Germany's prestigious Hamburg Ballet School, said she was relieved to get one last shot at a professional career. "I was expecting to get somewhere overseas. I did about 18 auditions and by my tenth or eleventh one I started to feel a bit of doubt. For my age I didn't think I had time to get into a company.
"I was going to stop and when this came up I thought this is my chance. I feel very lucky," she said.
Mr Young-Wright, a Western Australian Performing Arts dance graduate, said the program would give him a rare opportunity to rub shoulders with Australia's dance elite on Sydney's Walsh Bay Wharfs.
"The real benefit of this is being able to get the network and contacts of this high calibre of people. It's a very rare opportunity to be bred within that cultural hub on the wharf."
Mr Young-Wright said dancers from Canberra had special qualities.
"The commitment level and drive from Canberra's dancers is huge because they have to make that extra commitment to leave their home town," he said.
Living independently, away from her family in Canberra, continues to be a necessary sacrifice for Ms Gower, too, in order to follow her dreams with dancing.
She said although she would miss life in Canberra, she was looking forward to living in Sydney and was not the type to get too homesick. Mr Young-Wright said he trained every day to build strength and technique, but that all dancers must also develop resilience.
"Dancers have to have the strongest psyche," Mr Young-Wright said.
"You can only give yourself a pat on the back for so long. As much as it is a relief to be accepted, it's also just an indication that the work is just beginning."
