HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — On stage, Emma Blakley feels free - free from the past, free from the future, free to focus on nothing else but her dance.

"It's a time when you're just purely right there and you're with an audience that's also right there with you," she said. "There's nothing else that really matters."

At 17, Emma Blakley already knows what she wants to do with her life. She's known since she was two when her aunt sent her a VCR tape of the Nutcracker ballet. Fascinated, by the ballet dancers, Blakely would ask her mom to play the video over, and over again. As the years went by, she kept watching them: when she was two, when she was three and every year since. When she was three, that love of watching ballet transformed into a love of practicing and performing ballet. She has not stopped. Over 14 years as a ballerina, Blakley has studied at four studios, been in more than 75 performances, and danced around 750 hours last year.

Today, she attends a pre-professional ballet program at the Pittsburgh School of Ballet. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the school year. Her mom, dad, and three younger siblings all live in Hutchinson, and Emma comes home over breaks, The Hutchinson News reported.

Through many moves, changes, and challenges in her life, ballet remains a strong constant — providing her with a passion and purpose.

"In ballet, you learn all these rules so you can break them," said Blakley. "And in breaking those rules and finding more freedom in your movement, in your acting and artistry, that's what makes it meaningful."

"She's always been very precocious," Blakley's grandma, Linda Durham, said. "She was reading by the time she was two and was always super bright."

"Honestly I can't remember a time when I didn't want to dance," said Blakley.

Her family moved around from California to Scotland to Wichita and then to Hutchinson, ballet remained a constant in Blakley's life.

Blakley was homeschooled until eighth grade, when she enrolled at Northfield, a liberal arts school in Wichita.

"Going to real school was almost like moving out," she said with a laugh. Two years later she really did move out. When her family moved to Hutchinson for her dad's new job at Grace Episcopal, Blakley stayed in Wichita and lived with her grandma, so that she could continue to pursue ballet.

At 14, Blakley learned that to make it professionally, she'd have to go to a professional school by the time she was 16. Instead of dropping out of high school, however, Blakley worked to graduate early. She graduated last spring with the class of 2017 at age 16. This left her free to pursue ballet full time.

The next big decision Blakley had to make was where she would go to study and practice. She first heard about the Pittsburgh School of Ballet from an article in Pointe magazine, which stressed the school's commitment to individuality and creativity, both of which were important to Blakley.

In the end, the decision to leave Kansas was an easy one.

"We were all hoping that it would happen and we all were so excited that it wasn't hard to leave," she said.

Going into her first semester at the Pittsburgh School of Ballet, Blakley struggled to find her place.

"Going from being a big fish in a little pond to a little fish in a big pond was hard," she said. "That was a shock. It took a while to find exactly what my position was, outside of the ballet world . What I was going to be giving and sharing."

The majority of her classmates came from the east and west coasts. There were a few international students, few from the Midwest and no one else from Kansas.

Blakley also struggled with ballet. Although she had been one of the best at her studios in Kansas, there was a huge divide between her and her classmates who had grown up training in bigger cities. When she was training in Wichita, the closet professional ballet companies to her were a couple hours away, and even those were pretty small.

"Kansas is in a little bit of an art bubble," Blakley said. "My teachers had given me everything they have and they're the reason I even had a chance of getting out into the world . but there's a lot of gaps. It was just an entirely different level at school being trained by people who have danced at top companies.

"Walking in, I knew I was going to be at the bottom. But there's was so much the first semester, I didn't know where to start. I was so scared and anxious, and when I get anxious my brain shuts down. So that makes it so much harder when you're trying to look impressive."

Going into her first semester at the Pittsburgh School of Ballet, Blakley struggled to find her place.

"Going from being a big fish in a little pond to a little fish in a big pond was hard," she said. "That was a shock. It took a while to find exactly what my position was, outside of the ballet world . What I was going to be giving and sharing."

The majority of her classmates came from the east and west coasts. There were a few international students, few from the Midwest and no one else from Kansas.

Blakley also struggled with ballet. Although she had been one of the best at her studios in Kansas, there was a huge divide between her and her classmates who had grown up training in bigger cities. When she was training in Wichita, the closet professional ballet companies to her were a couple hours away, and even those were pretty small.

"Kansas is in a little bit of an art bubble," Blakley said. "My teachers had given me everything they have and they're the reason I even had a chance of getting out into the world . but there's a lot of gaps. It was just an entirely different level at school being trained by people who have danced at top companies.

"Walking in, I knew I was going to be at the bottom. But there's was so much the first semester, I didn't know where to start. I was so scared and anxious, and when I get anxious my brain shuts down. So that makes it so much harder when you're trying to look impressive."

Her friends would also work with her in the studio, pointing out mistakes and helping with her technical skills.

Outside of the studio, her class also got close from living together. Blakley and her 19 classmates lived in an off-campus house, 20 minutes from the school. Last winter, the school had Nutcracker performances on the days before and after Christmas, so Blakley and many of her classmates couldn't return home for the holidays.

But they didn't let that ruin their celebrations. Together, they cooked a Christmas dinner and went to see a lights show in downtown Pittsburg.

"We had a snowball fight," Blakley added. "It snowed on Christmas! We all slept in the lounge on Christmas Eve."

In Pittsburgh, Blakley danced 25 hours a week with additional training outside of the studio. She had trouble motivating herself to do the extra cross-training, but the ballet practice came easy.

Simply, it's what she loves to do.

More than practicing, however, Blakley loves to be on stage.

"For me, the stage has always been where I've felt at home," she said. "Even when I felt lacking in the studio, the stage is where I felt good about myself and felt completely free."

When Blakley was younger, she suffered from stage fright. At her first ballet recital ever, she was so nervous she just never came out on stage.

For years after that, Blakley's mom, Rebecca Blakley, wondered at each recital whether her daughter would come out on stage or not.

"She was just hoping and praying that I was going to not back out," Blakley recalled with a laugh.

It wasn't an issue forever though. Now the stage is one of Blakley's favorite places to be.

Her favorite memory from this past school year was when she performed in the Spring Showcase. For the showcase, Blakley was in two numbers. The first one, Pita, was more classical. This one was challenging for Blakley because the technical skills had to be perfect, and completely in sync with the other dancers.

The second dance was more fun. It told the story of a girls' boarding school and a group of cadets coming together for their graduation party.

"It was goofy and sweet and crazy," said Blakley. "They were two total opposite pieces and we got to do both of them together in the same week.

Behind the scenes, though, the world of ballet is not always glamorous. In recent years, the ballet community has come under fire for its narrow view of body type and emphasis on weight, even with very young dancers.

"I think it's good that the ballet world is changing in terms of body type," Blakley said. "We've had a push to become more open and more diverse in terms of race, and with that has come a change in attitude about body type."

For Blakley, one of the benefits of the Pittsburgh School of Ballet is that they have never pushed her to be a certain weight. The school has never told anyone they need to lose weight. Still, it is something Blakley has to keep in mind.

"I like to think about how I eat as 'shaping my tool,'" she said. "If you have a violin, then you take care of it and you polish it. So it's not that I'm trying to be skinny, it's that this is my art and this is my tool and I want to take care of that."

This spring, Blakley's school brought in a speaker who talked about her own experience with an eating disorder and how that affected her as a ballet dancer. She offered the students tips on how to snack, avoid cravings, and get enough calories, but in a healthy way.

Moreover, since there are so few professional jobs in the ballet world, pre-professional programs like the one Blakley is in can get very competitive. Around audition season every winter, she said the mood at her school gets much more nervous and frantic.

"Everybody's stress level goes up and everyone gets more wary of each other," Blakley said. "You're still supporting the people you know but also everyone realizes 'here's where the truth comes out; here's where you find out if you're good or not.'"

This year, competition has been limited mainly to the studio. Outside of it, competition did not affect Blakley and her friends as much. Still, Blakley struggled with a lot of self-doubt.

"I was comparing myself to people constantly throughout the first semester and thinking, where do I fit in? Am at the bottom? Am I better than people? Who's better than me? Which wasn't good because I needed to focus on myself," she said.

In an art that relies on physical movement, injury is another worry. When Blakley was seven, she was diagnosed with Achilles tendinitis, which causes pain and tenderness in the heel. The injury doesn't hurt her now as much as it used to, though.

"The better instruction I've gotten, the less it's hurt me," she said.

Besides that, Blakley has been generally fortunate with injuries, never having to stop practice for an extended period of time. She works hard to lower her risk of injury, strengthening her feet, stretching, and focusing on correct technique.

Even with the challenges, Blakley rarely tires of dancing, but when she does, she has enough discipline to just push on.

"I keep going," she said. "I just hope the next day will be better and I talk to my mom a lot on the phone."

"The really great thing about my family and the community here is that no one has ever encouraged me to do something where I'll make more money," said Blakley. "That's never been a question. My parents have always gone with: If you work hard at it, we're going to support it."

For her family, there was never a question about letting Blakley pursue ballet.

"I've seen her go through some really difficult times and just work all the harder," said Durham. "But she knows who she is and she knows what she wants to do."

Beyond her family, Blakley also is supported by her faith.

"We all kind of felt like I had been called to do (ballet)," she said.

Many times, she said, her family had struggled to find the right studio or pay for her lessons, but had been helped or had found new opportunities at the last minute.

"So many doors have opened right when it seemed like everything was crashing in," said Blakley. "It seems pretty obvious that God is supporting us and showing us that it's got to happen, for some reason."

Blakley prays before every one of her performances,

"(My faith) has definitely supported me because I've felt so much more like there was a purpose to it," Blakley said. "Sometimes I look around a think, wow there's so much happening in the world, it's so hard, there are so many people in pain and for some reason, I'm doing ballet. It can be hard to reconcile that - just because you're on stage, you're not helping people. So having that behind me, knowing, OK, God must really want me to do this, has helped give it purpose and make it more meaningful."

In Pittsburgh, Blakley also found a close community at Calvary Episcopal Church.

"The church I've attended in Pittsburgh has a lot of similarities to the one in Hutchinson," said Blakley. "Everyone in that church has been incredibly welcoming. They made sure I got settled."

Her grandma, Linda Durham, has also been instrumental in supporting Blakley's ballet career. When Blakley was three and still living in Scotland, she went with her parents to see a ballet and called Durham afterward to tell her about it.

"I was at school at the time, teaching, but she left a message," Durham recalled. "She said, 'Nana I really want to take ballet but we don't have the money.' I called her back right away and said 'You may not, but I do. Enroll and I'll send you the money."

Years later, Blakley would get more support in a place to live in Wichita, when her family moved to Hutchinson. It allowed her to continue with ballet.

"She's great," said Blakley of Durham. "She's always been there to take photos at every recital, every rehearsal. She's paid for plane tickets to get me back, buys me leotards at Christmas."

This summer, Blakley is back in Kansas, living in Wichita during the week and Hutchinson on weekends. In Wichita, she's staying with her grandma, just like she did in high school, and working at Elderslie Farm, outside of the city. Blakley works, picking blackberries, from 6 a.m. to noon on Mondays through Saturdays. Although it's hard work, she remains grateful for her time on the farm.

"Ballet - it's hard, it's not easy - but it's still a very cushy world," Blakley said. "You're in a nice facility, you don't get dirty, you're in expensive dance clothes and expensive shoes. Definitely having that contrast of working on a farm has been really good for me. It's kept me grounded and I've loved having the perspective of these two worlds. And to remember where I'm from."

The money she makes working on the farm this summer will go right back into paying for ballet school in Pittsburgh.

When she's back in Hutchinson, Blakley spends the majority of her time with her family. Since none of her younger siblings can drive, she'll take them to coffee shops or parks, and just spend time with them. She also loves talking with her mom - about politics, friends, the future, really everything.

"I started to realize everything I missed more when I came back," Blakley said. She recalled a time in June when her car broke down on the side of the highway. "Within the span of fifteen minutes two people stopped to make sure I was OK and see if I needed anything," she said.

"That's just not something you experience in the city. Everyone takes a minute to connect with people and I've missed the beauty of a small community and a small place where you know people and connect with them and see them."

While she is in Wichita this summer, Blakley is also teaching ballet at the studio where she used to train. Throughout her years in Wichita, she trained at several studios, but at her most recent one, she became the first student to go on to a pre-professional program. Now, through teaching, she wants to help others do the same.

"I've learned so much in this last year, and I want to be able to give back, to return some of what I've learned," she said. "And because Wichita is so far away from so many of the dance hubs, I want to be able to bring back as much as I can so that other people can make it and get out there and do what they love."

Next winter, Blakley will audition for summer programs and apprenticeships with professional ballet companies.

Although it was challenging at times, Blakley did not hesitate in saying she would do it all again.

"I had a couple moments during my last year of high school were I thought 'is this a mistake? Am I going to get there?' " she said. "And I think it's natural to have those moments but I was scared. I thought 'what if I don't love it? What if I get there and we've spent all this money and it's not what I want to do?' But then I got there, and I didn't know I could love ballet this much.

"In that moment, it was perfect."

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Information from: The Hutchinson (Kan.) News, http://www.hutchnews.com