Abbey Lavery is just 16, but has already been named among the top-eight ballet dancers in Australia, and finished in the top-four of the Alana Haines Australasian awards in New Zealand.

She will now fly to Cannes, France, for week-long stint at the L’ESDC Rosella Hightower dance school.

Abbey said the week dancing overseas in Europe would be an exciting new experience.

“I am looking forward to the experience of dancing somewhere different and learning some different things,” she said.

“I am really excited about the opportunity.”

It marks a big step forward in the experienced dancer’s career, which first started 11 years ago at the Ballarat Dance School of Distinction, but will now continue at the Jane Moore Academy in Melbourne.

Abbey starts her day with a 6.30am train ride to Melbourne for dance classes that run from 9am-3.30pm.

By 6.30pm she is back in Ballarat, where she still trains with the Dance School of Distinction on weekends.

While organising all this she must also keep on track of her school work, which she completes online, through Distance Education.

She also did dancing during her three years at Ballarat’s Loreto College.

Abbey is one of four children, something her mother Lauren said has made her completely self-reliant.

“It is her first year at the school in Melbourne, but it is something she wants to do for a long time,” she said.

“She has to be accountable for it, I can do so much, and she sacrifices a lot.”

Abbey’s family including her siblings have all been supportive of her dancing, even if that means spending time at lessons or in the car while she trains.

Dance School of Distinction principal Anita Michael said the community was incredibly proud of Abbey’s achievements.

“She was one of 260 in the competition in New Zealand and it made it to the final four of the 16 to 18 category,” she said.