BALLERINA DREAMS `GOTTA DANCE' COULD BE LESLEY LEONARD'S CREDO.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

ACTON - Seventeen-year-old Lesley Anne Leonard started studying ballet seriously at age 9.

Now she spends 1 1/2 to three hours every weekday, and six hours on Saturdays, studying or rehearsing at an acclaimed Pasadena studio. After she gets her high school diploma in 2002, she hopes to join the American Ballet Theater, San Francisco Ballet or the Joffrey Ballet.

``I just love it; it's my life. I can't imagine my life without dancing,'' said Leonard, a tall, slim girl with waist-length dark brown hair.

The teen-ager just got a boost toward her goal: She was chosen by the Music Center in Los Angeles as a semifinalist for its 13th annual Spotlight Awards, which recognize young people pursuing professional performing arts careers.

From among 800 young people who auditioned, 73 became semifinalists, including 12 dancers.

The 12 dancers audition again in March to be chosen as the two finalists. The first-place finalist receives $5,000 and the second-place finalist receives $2,500. Finalists will perform April 17 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Leonard is studying ballet at the Pasadena Dance Theater, where two previous students have joined professional dance companies - one dancing for the American Ballet Company and the other for the San Francisco Ballet.

The teen began taking classes in 1996 while living with her family in Rosamond. Because of the commute and her schooling, she would get only three or four hours of sleep at night. But a year ago, the family relocated to Acton.

``Whatever way we could get to get her there, we would get her there,'' said Leonard's mother, Angela Turner, of the often-complicated arrangements to get her classes.

Sometimes that meant Leonard rode with her father, a lawyer in Pasadena, or her grandmother, taking the Metrolink and meeting her grandfather in Pasadena, or even riding with her instructor, Lawrence Blake, who lives in Palmdale.

``We work it out somehow,'' said Turner, whose three other children are ages 3, 9 and 11. ``Thank God, soccer season just ended.''

In another effort to save time, Leonard gets her schooling through an independent study program called Options for Youth. She goes to the program's Lancaster office twice a week to take tests.

In addition to her ballet classes, Leonard began taking classes twice a week in Pilates, a form of yoga for dancers.

In 1999, Leonard auditioned for and attended a summer camp at the San Francisco Ballet, and last summer she attend the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater in Pennsylvania.

She hopes to become a professional dancer. But if it doesn't happen, Leonard says she will attend college.

``When I was really young, I was always into dancing,'' she said. ``I've always liked it. Even if I didn't become a dancer, I would have to do something where I was performing.''

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Lesley Anne Leonard, 17, goes on point during a recent production of ``The Nutcracker'' in San Gabriel.

(2 -- color) Lesley Anne Leonard shows off her grace and form in traditional ballerina garb in ``The Nutcracker.''