The petite blonde sitting in front of me is one of the few women who actually lived out her childhood dream of becoming a ballerina. Megan Swart, began dancing at the relatively late age of eight with Lynne Fouche in Johannesburg. When she was sixteen she was awarded a scholarship to study at the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London.

From there, she danced with the Birmingham Royal Ballet for two years before returning to South Africa in 1996 to dance with the Cape Town City Ballet (CTCB).

"I missed home and I missed Africa. I had always planned to come back."

SA is a rugby culture

But cracking it as a professional ballet dancer in South Africa is tough. There just isn?t enough of a ballet culture.

"Rugby culture is what we have here," says Megan. "Overseas everybody goes to watch ballet ? it?s part of the culture, people are brought up that way."

In South Africa, the audience is difficult to penetrate and because the ballet company is struggling financially, they cannot afford the television and magazine advertising that attracts audiences to bigger touring companies like the St Petersburg Ballet. But that is only half the problem.

"Cape Town is so hypercritical," says a clearly frustrated Megan. "They love everything from overseas. It?s the 'emperor's new clothes' syndrome."

And she?s right. Audiences flocked to the St Petersburg Ballet's productions of 'Giselle' and 'Swan Lake' ? even those who don?t know a pirouette from an arabesque and who usually watch rugby on Saturday afternoons were keen to get a glimpse of the Russian ballerinas.

Admittedly, they were a joy to watch, but the juxtaposition of the popularity which surrounded their shows and the dearth of attention being paid to CTCB's upcoming shows illustrates Megan's point.

'Very different, but the same'

Megan is performing in both of CTCB?s upcoming shows ? Veronica Paeper?s 'Carmen' and Sean Bovim's 'Tango Nights'. She describes the classical 'Carmen' and the modern 'Tango Nights' as "very different, but the same". Both are very sensual and the passion behind the gypsy Carmen and the tango is similar.

But the roles also have their unique characteristics. 'Carmen', which is very dramatic involves a lot of eye contact and classical technique, whereas 'Tango Nights' is modern ballet on points, which means that the body moves and responds in completely different ways.

For Megan, who has danced in, amongst others, 'Beauty and the Beast', 'La Sylphide', 'The Snow Queen', 'The Sleeping Beauty', 'Giselle' and 'Swan Lake', each role is challenging in its own way. For her, the most challenging aspect of any role is the marriage of drama and technique ? finding the perfect balance between acting the part and being technically proficient.

Artistic athletes

"Ballet is an art, but in the mental sense you are an athlete."

This translates into hours of grueling training and a highly disciplined lifestyle. Not to mention some serious mental stamina. But unlike other sportsmen and women who are at the top of their game, ballet dancers aren?t surrounded by a bevy of sports psychologists.

"It's very much a mind game. You are always psyching yourself up. You can?t let your confidence go for a second or you lose it." And things don?t get better with experience. "The older you get, the worse it gets ? you have more to lose."

After Megan describes how one dancer throws up in the wings before every performance because of nerves, I begin to wonder what could possibly be so alluring about being a ballet dancer.

"We're adrenalin junkies ? you love to hate it," she says. "The buzz of the performance and after the performance keeps you going. One good rehearsal makes it all worthwhile. And we?re perfectionists. You always want to keep getting better or dancing new roles or improving old roles."

And if she could be her best, I ask, if she could be any dancer, male or female, in the history of ballet, who would she be? She thinks about it for a moment and then, with a small smile replies:

"Baryshnikov. He has such stage presence and such strong technique. He has just the right amount of ego to match his perfection ? he had a ball on stage, really engaging the audience. A female dancer couldn?t be like this, they need to be more reserved."

A pity, but I?m inclined to agree. I suspect Megan?s mother would have been more than just a little surprised if she had said she was going to be the next Baryshnikov.