Cochrane has it's share of talented athletes and Quinlan Sharkey is one of them.

Eighteen year old Sharkey is heading back to the Big Apple for her second of four years at Joffrey Ballet School. In Sharkey's first year, there was roughly only 60 dancers from all over the world accepted into the elite school.

New York City has been an adjustment for Sharkey, who has spent her time growing up in rural Cochrane on a farm.

"It's quite crazy to adjust to that kind of environment. I never expected to love it as much as I do."

 Days are fairly intense for the young ballerina, who spends 5-6 hours plus, perfecting her talent.

"At around 8:30 you start your ballet technique class and usually after that you would have a pointe class or we would sometimes have our partnering classes. In the afternoon we would have our modern or jazz or character classes, and some days you would have more academic classes such as dance history or nutrition."

Sharkey was blessed to earn a scholarship this past year to help offset pricey program costs.

In the future, Sharkey is hopeful to achieve what few do.

"My dream is to join a company and perform on stage for years. After that I've thought about teaching ballet to kids and giving that back because it is important to me."

Sharkey has been dancing since she was 4-5 years old and although she focuses on ballet she has a variety of experience.

"I started out with ballet but then as I grew I started to do jazz, lyrical, contemporary- I tried pretty well everything but hip hop."

When Sharkey hit grade 10, she knew she wanted to professionally pursue her passion and started doing a bunch of auditions, including Royal Winnipeg and Alberta Ballet. Sharkey danced one summer for Alberta Ballet and by year two was dancing at Joffrey.

When it comes to chasing dreams, Sharkey says never give up.

"If you have a big dream you need to keep going. Do whatever you can to achieve that dream because that is one of the most important things in life, it's so rewarding when you achieve it."