WHEN Ella Rose Churchill started taking dance lessons in her hometown of Portland at the age of three, her parents never expected that 13 years later she would be heading overseas to study at one of the most prestigious ballet schools in the world.

Ella Rose has always loved the stage and did her first solo ballet performance at The Hamilton Eisteddfod at only four years old, however, it was at the age of 11 that her ambitions became clear, and she set her sights on becoming a professional classical ballerina.