Now, aged 19, she is living a ballerina's dream and performing on Australia's biggest stages having this year been awarded a contract with the Australian Ballet.

Because of COVID cancellations she's yet to perform with the company in Melbourne but earlier this year she competed a two month tour to NSW and last week wrapped up a season of Anna Karenina in Adelaide.

She's the latest in a long line of Ballarat dancers to perform with the prestigious company which includes current principal artist Amy Harris and senior artist Callum Linnane.

Ms Widmer left Loreto College at the end of year nine to train at the Australian Ballet School, completing her graduate year in 2020 - a year that was anything but normal.

"My graduate year last year wasn't a normal graduate year at all and after lots of ups and downs the company ended up giving out some contracts and secondments, which are like an internship," she said.

"I received a secondment with the Australian Ballet which started on January 4, then David (Hallberg - Australian Ballet's artistic director) asked if my secondment could be extended to cover their next season which was New York Dialect. That was mid-March which was about two weeks before company was scheduled to leave for Sydney."

She said she cried when offered the contract.

"I was pulled out of rehearsals with the Australian Ballet School, told to go to the director's office ... and David was sitting there and offered me four month contract and I burst in to tears. I was very overwhelmed because it was my dream coming true."

Her parents managed to get to Sydney to see their daughter in her first show with the Australian Ballet, and to Adelaide for the recent season of Anna Karenina.

But all of the Australian Ballet's planned Melbourne shows so far have been cancelled because of COVID.

Currently on a mid-season week off in Tasmania, Ms Widmer will return to Melbourne to continue learning Romeo and Juliet which is scheduled to open in Melbourne at the end of August.

"I have always just been absolutely drawn to the tradition and purity of ballet and how absolutely breathtaking it can be, but then you can also simultaneously see the absolute strength and power within dancers as well," she said.

"That draws me in every time whether I'm in class with the company and watching the principles, or watching companies on You Tube. Every time it very much draws me in, the physicality of doing it and knowing it's never quite perfect and there's always something to work and improve."

Ms Widmer said Ballarat's strong support of the arts was one of the reasons it bred such successful dancers.

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"Ballarat certainly is a breeding ground for ballerinas. The support that Ballarat has for the arts, all the dance schools, the teachers, the knowledge that comes out of Ballarat is huge," she said.

She said there was a sense of familiarity among the Australian Ballet and Australian Ballet School dancers from Ballarat.

"Because Ballarat is such a small dance community in comparison to Melbourne or Sydney, whenever someone comes you definitely recognise them from competitions or school or somewhere like that - there's definitely that support and familiarity."

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