Rachel Klisavage smiles nervously when she's answering a question on the spot. Her shyness comes out front and center.

But the Seton-La Salle High School senior from Jefferson Hills doesn't catch attention with her public speaking skills -- all eyes are typically studying her frappe, chasse and plie techniques.

Klisavage will appear in her final performance with the Ballet Academy of Pittsburgh, Friday and Saturday, at Chatham University's Eddy Theater. The show includes pieces from "Sleeping Beauty," "Footloose" and "American Jamboree."

"It should be very exciting," Klisavage said. "We have very jazzy things. Then we have contrasting, classy performances."

Ballet is escapism for Klisavage and her spectators. Her performance gives the audience a two-hour break from reality.

"It takes you to a different place," Klisavage said. "You can't worry about your problems. You have to portray a different world to the audience.

"You can't be Rachel, you have to be a fairy."

Klisavage couldn't explain her method of transforming into a character. Unlike acting, she can't pick up an accent to indicate who or what she is trying to portray.

In ballet, being a princess means dainty and delicate movements, Klisavage said.

Being a fairy means more energetic, quick movements, she added.

Then came the nervous smile.

"It's hard because I don't even think about it."

A ballerina since age 4, Klisavage has made dance her main focus in life.

She attends the ballet academy six days a week, five hours each day. When opening nights near, the routine is stepped up to seven days a week.

Klisavage's practice schedule requires her to leave Seton early each day. She gets school credit for her ballet involvement.

Klisavage said her classmates are supportive of her ballet involvement, but they don't always realize each performance is comparable to a college application.

"It's not necessarily easier or harder," she said. "It's just really different."

Her dancing continues into the summer when she joins production companies. In the past, she has worked with the Chautauqua School of Dance, the School of American Ballet in New York City and the New York City Ballet groups at Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

"Going away to summer programs is really difficult," Klisavage said. "It's basically like boot camp."

Tryouts for summer programs involve 80 to 100 people in one room doing the same movements at the same time while casting officials watch, Klisavage said.

The tryouts are competitive and can draw out the worst in people -- head games and gossip -- she added. The key to landing a role is ignoring other dancers and focusing on personal performance.

"You just have to make yourself sparkle," Klisavage said.

"I've been coached to be more competitive, to make sure I always get seen."

Klisavage's ballet school helped cultivate her confidence.

Rather than pit performers against one another for spots, it has given all of its students time to shine, Klisavage's parents said.

"The school's been really nice," said Rachel's mother, Alice.

"You to go New York, and it's cut-throat. But the school has been like a little community."

Still, her parents said Rachel finds a way to stand out.

"Your eyes are more drawn to her than the others when she's in the group," her father, Bernard, said.

"It could just be because she's our daughter," Alice piped in.

This summer, Klisavage hopes to make her mark on a production company in Charlotte, N.C., or Nashville, Tenn.

She'll spend four weeks at each before making a decision.

When asked which one she favors, Klisavage's smile reappeared.

"I just know that I've been called to do this," she said.