In China, she says, a lot of dancers take ballet as just another vocation. "It's not necessarily a passion," she says and provides the logic for this as well.

"Ballet is comparatively new in China," she says, recalling how the skilled Russian performers were invited to help train Chinese dancers when the Beijing Dance Academy was founded in 1954. Therefore, it will probably take a while for the tradition to catch up with the masses and become really big in China. "As the Chinese have more money to spend they will perhaps start going to the theater more often than visiting restaurants."

Her own passion for ballet is rock solid. She broke her foot during a performance in the United States and was unable to walk for two months. But in six months time, feet now fortified with a series of tiny screws, Neves was back on stage, spinning under the arc lights. "The accident just reinforced how much I wanted to dance," she says, smiling fragilely, much like one of the petite swans she plays.

For all her vulnerable beauty, Neves has very strong views about what she wants to do, although the unpredictability factor in her life does not allow her to see too clearly beyond the next six months.

Her Chinese sojourn, she says, will last only as long as artistic challenges keep being lobbed at her. And since most ballet companies in China do not accept foreign dancers, she has pretty much exhausted all possibilities. Once the stream of options that inspire her to put her best foot forward dries up, Neves will be looking for fresh terrains to step into.

Although she is just in her early 20s, Neves can already hear her biological clock ticking away. "A dancer's career does not normally last beyond 30 years," she says.

"I can't sacrifice my career to continue living in a country I like."