Vidya Cannonier-Watson has been accepted into English National Ballet School. The move to the specialist classical ballet programme for her final year of study sets her up for a promising career with a top professional dance company. In London, her training will combine school and company experience, preparing her for the next stage of her ballet career.

For Vidya, 17, the big problem now is the cost. She is hoping scholarships will help with tuition fees, which are £7,479 (about $9,600) per term. On top of that she must pay for accommodation, adding £1,000 to her monthly expenses.

“It is an honour to be accepted into the English National Ballet School graduate programme and I have no doubt that with my technical standard, along with the training I will receive next year, I will have all the assistance I require to pursue my career in a professional ballet company,” said Vidya, who has been honing her skills in Britain since the age of 10, when she earned a place at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.

“While English National Ballet School isn’t as expensive as being at Tring, living in London will definitely be more strain on my parents, so if they don’t have to pay as much for, say, tuition, then it would be a great help. I’m not working, and living in either shared housing or a studio apartment would still be quite a lot of money.”

Despite that she is excited about her studies in September at the renowned training centre for “aspiring and highly talented young ballet dancers”.

At Vidya’s audition, the panel of judges included Aaron Watkin, the artistic director of English National Ballet, and Lynne Charles, the artistic director of English National Ballet School.

“I had always considered English National Ballet to be a school that I would like to go to. I was quite nervous to go into my audition because I knew that there would be a lot of really good dancers there,” she said.

As it turned out, the class wasn’t as difficult as she had feared. Vidya believes she was one of only a handful of dancers invited to join the programme.

“I don’t think they accepted that many people because they have quite a small student body and I think they’ve got about 26 girls and maybe ten boys in their year. So I’m assuming they didn’t accept that many people,” she said.

Vidya began dancing at the age of 2, inspired by her mother, Sophia Cannonier, who was herself a professional dancer.

She received lessons at the Bermuda School of Russian Ballet as well as private instruction from its founder, Patricia Deane-Gray.

“It definitely instilled discipline from a very young age, and I think that's something you also need to have. You need to have the conviction to keep going [and] I think that all the training that I’ve had prepared me,” she said.

Although Tring offers a graduate programme that also prepares students for a professional career, Vidya saw English National Ballet School as the best next step for her development.

“I was considering staying,” she said. “I spoke with the head of dance [at Tring] and he basically didn’t give me a choice. He was like, ‘This is too good of an opportunity to pass up. You’re going.’ It was very encouraging. It's nice to know that I do have a great group behind me, supporting me.”

In preparation for next year’s auditions with professional ballet companies, the teenager plans to “focus very hard” on refining her technique and honing the artistry that sets her apart.

“Just having the technique to do a move is not the same as doing it with a certain conviction. I would say a lot of companies now are looking for artists, not just dancers. They’re looking for dancers who can take what they’re being given and make it into something else.”

It’s a skill that cannot be taught, Vidya added.

“Something our teachers say to us quite often is that they can’t teach us to have a presence on stage. It is something you have to find for yourself. And that’s something I’ve been working on in the last few years — to just try and find things that I can do to set myself apart from my peers, so that I feel that my performance is completely authentic to me.”

Aside from her mother, Vidya takes inspiration from brother Ravi, who last year signed a permanent contract with The Royal Ballet Company.

“He worked so incredibly hard to get where he is, and I think that while his career has been incredibly successful this far, he has so much more to come for him,” she said.

As a female dancer, however, the hurdles are even higher.

“There are so many girls in dance. That’s why it is so important to have something that makes you stand out because you can't just show up and have great technique and have nothing about you,” she said.

“So I think it will be challenging, but I'm willing to put the work into it. I’m not going to give up. I would say it’s definitely a mindset that my parents have instilled in me and my siblings from quite a young age — that nothing will be handed to us, that if you want something bad enough, you will get it if you put the work in.”

• For more information on English National Ballet School, visit www.enbschool.org.uk/