Although a recent foot injury will keep Royal Winnipeg Ballet student Tristan Dobrowney from dancing in the Professional School's year-end production of Don Quixote this weekend, the young dancer still has plenty to be excited about.

Dobrowney, 20, will join the RWB as an apprentice for the company's 69th season, following his graduation from the School in June.

"I was really surprised," Dobrowney says of his promotion. "It's really exciting - it's going to be a really different atmosphere."

That said, Dobrowney seems to adapt well to change. His formal dance training began at age six in his hometown of Saskatoon, Sask. - but it wasn't ballet that Dobrowney was initially interested in. He was a Ukrainian dancer for six years, before switching gears and taking up ballet at 12.

"Originally, I was just going to take it to supplement my Ukrainian dancing," Dobrowney says. "I was the only guy in my class in Saskatoon. It was a little weird at first, but then I started to get really into it."

It wasn't long before ballet took centre stage for Dobrowney, and in 2001, when he was 14, he decided to try out for Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Professional School.

"I had been doing ballet for two years in Saskatoon and I thought it would be interesting to audition," he says.

Dobrowney quickly became one of the School's star students, receiving several awards during the course of his studies. He also landed roles in high-profile RWB productions such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Dobrowney says it's the strict discipline of the medium that attracts him to ballet.

"It's really difficult, so I like the challenge of it. I like striving to achieve the perfection of it."

While ballet is indeed a highly technical art form, Dobrowney says he's at a place in his career where he can enjoy the performance aspect of it.

"Before, when I went onstage, it was, 'I hope I don't make any mistakes.' Now, it's about performing and connecting with an audience.

"It's becoming more and more of a passion."

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