LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It costs about $40,000 to cover ten years of training for one student at the Louisville Ballet School. 

To eliminate that financial barrier for families that can’t afford the price tag, the ballet company is offering 20 students from greater Louisville the chance to study ballet for free and prepare for a career in dance.

The ballet company is using its Ballet Bound Audition Tour to find its next class of scholarship students.

Students are usually found through residency programs in schools, but this year they weren't able to do that due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Instead, they partnered with Olmsted Parks to hold ballet auditions across the Louisville Metro area. 

“What we're trying to do at Louisville Ballet is change what ballet looks like for people and be a reflection of the community that we live in. So that we have students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds racial backgrounds, all in a class together, participating and finding a path to a career as a professional dancer,” said Stacey Blakeman, Louisville Ballet’s director of community engagement.

Along with building diversity, Ballet Bound is designed to be a pathway to a career in ballet. 

“As a student who might want to dance but who doesn't have access to the art form, or who doesn't have the financial need to get you through a ballet studies program, I think this program could be a game changer for their life,” Blakeman said. 

Nine-year-old Kyah Young put on her dancing shoes at the age of three. She was excited about the opportunity to get involved with Louisville Ballet when its after-school program was brought to her school last year. 

Withing a few weeks she was audition to study classical ballet at the downtown studio. 

“It felt weird. All these judges were staring at me, writing stuff down and it was also very, very, kind of not embarrassing but kind of scary because you know you don't know what they're saying. You never know,” Young said. 

It had to be good things they wrote about her, because she received a call back that she was one of a few students selected to receive the Ballet Bound scholarship. 

“I'm happy I got the scholarship," Young said. "I will not take this gift for granted." 

She was one of 5 out of a class of 20 to pirouette to earning another scholarship to continue to the Louisville Ballet School. 

“I've already learned some of the basics already, and some of them have just had to refresh because some of them I barely recognized at first, but then I got better into it and I got more skilled,” she said.

Young has a few words for the aspiring ballet dancers that are in the shoes she wore one year ago: “Just try your best, remember your form and your strength."

The young dancer is moving through life one beat at a time.

“I'm very very proud of myself, because if i made it this far," she said. "I mean, I don't know how far I can make it."

The final Ballet Bound audition will be held at Russell Lee Park on July 24 at 10 a.m. 

Scholarship winners will be announced on August 1st. More information about Ballet Bound can be found by clicking here.