>> It's Sunday morning on CBS and here again is Charles Kuralt. >> Dancing with a dream that is what ballet dancers do. The dream is perfection, nearly impossible to achieve, but some few perfectionists are driven to dance, thank heaven. They start young, as you will see, in Eugenia Zuckerman's story and they work, hard. ♪ (piano music) ♪ >> This is the way dancers all over the world begin their day. ♪ (piano music) ♪ >> I never wanted to be a ballet dancer, I wanted to be a tap dancer when I was little, but once I started ballet, I really liked it. So that's what I ended up doing. ♪ (piano music) ♪ >> I didn't have anything to do after school and my friend was going to ballet class and she, you know, she asked me if I wanted to come one day and so I did and that's how I started. (laughs) ♪ (piano music) ♪ >> Stephanie Murrish, 20, and Jonathan Bower, 22, are from the United States, but in this class in New York City, there are dancers from all over the world. They are all competing in the New York International Ballet Competition. ♪ (violin music) ♪ >> Now take a nice fondu as you're going down, nice fondu reach. Stay up, don't tense up in your arms, just go with it. >> Just three weeks before arriving in New York, Stephanie and Jonathan began their partnership in Watertown, Connecticut under the watchful eye of Stephanie's teacher, Donna Bonasera. Stephanie was fifteen when she started dancing, an age many say is too old to begin a ballet career. >> I think if you have the determination and you think you're capable of doing it, why not go for it? (laughs) ♪ (violin music) ♪ >> A nice (inaudible) There you go. Bend to him. Look right at him, Stephanie. >> Stephanie and Jonathan were preparing the Swan Lake pas de deux, as were 22 other couples around the world. All of the couples brought that dance, their hopes, and their dreams to New York. >> Turn back to the same direction. If you go around, go-- >> Igor Youskevitch, a former dancer, is the artistic director of the competition. >> You know, actually the goal of the competition is to provide dancers with the learning process that will give them dance experience, which contributes eventually to their growth as dancers. >> Ilona Copen founded the competition several years ago, it takes place every three years. >> That's a bit much (laughs), New York didn't have an international ballet competition, everyone says New York is the dance capital of the world, which I think it is, and there was a void to be filled. And I felt there was a need and I thought it would be a very exciting thing to do. ♪ (classical music) ♪ >> Once the dancers arrived in New York, they began the difficult process of learning three new works in two weeks. ♪ (classical music) ♪ >> I wanted to come and take classes and work with the coaches and see how much I could learn because that will always help me with whatever else I need to do. You know, and it's fun to come, it's a challenge to learn things in this amount of time. >> Lengthen, lengthen, lengthen and then take the forward, forward, forward. Better, and sit, okay, good. Be careful the position is not this-- >> I'm just amazed that we're, that we're able to take class with these people. You know, they have so much knowledge and it's just incredible that we're, you know, they're teaching us. It's-- I really like it. (laughs) ♪ (classical music) ♪ >> Violette Verdy was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. What does she expect these young dancers to learn? >> Be fast, be accurate, be concentrated, be exact, and also be immersed in what you do so that on stage, you have an intensity that will interest the public and the jury. That intensity is what makes the difference within important dancers. >> And while the dancers were taking class and rehearsing and touring New York, a group of very prominent people in the dance world, the jury, is holding its meeting. >> But the best-- >> Included were Alicia Alonso, general director of the National Ballet of Cuba, and Arthur Mitchell, founder of the Dance Theater of Harlem. >> The thing is is that, you know, when you're in your own country, your own city, your own studio with your own teacher, the whole world evolves around you. Then all of a sudden you go out and you may be a big fish in a small pond and all of a sudden you're a small fish in a large pond and it gives you, again, the wherewithal to become aware of others, see what's happening technically around the world, artistically. And I take for granted that by the time they come to the competition, they have the technical base. So consequently, I'm looking for the artistry that goes with it. ♪ (classical music) ♪ >> It takes years of study, sweat, and discipline before dancers are ready for an international competition. Yet the few moments they will spend here on stage at city center may determine their entire futures. ♪ (classical music) ♪ >> You prepare for so long, but the moment is when you're on stage and that's when it should come together, I mean it should be there. ♪ (classical music) ♪ >> Oops! >> Well, it's 12:30. (background talking) >> After the first of four rounds of the competition, the dancers gathered to see who would advance to round two, but the judges didn't decide until 1:30 in the morning. >> Just in case, we'll bring her here. >> Oh, I can hear it. >> Are you coming or not? >> It's her! >> Is everybody here? >> No. >> Shall I just post them on here? Will they come? >> Yeah >> A few of them. >> Don't throw up, it's not worth throwing up about. Aren't there any thumbtacks? >> Only this, here take these. (laughs) (background talking) >> Wow! >> We did it! (screaming) ♪ (classical music) ♪ >> Flower Festival was the next test for Stephanie and Jonathan and they passed that, and then it was round three. ♪ (classical music) ♪ >> One, two... ♪ (classical music) ♪ >> Competitions are strange in the sense that, you know, if anything goes wrong, you could slip or trip or something-- you know, if anything goes wrong, that's the one chance that you have to show it and that's what you're judged on. ♪ (classical music) ♪ >> At the end of round three, Jonathan Bower was eliminated from the competition. Stephanie Murrish went on to the fourth and final round, but then she, too, was eliminated. >> Performing is the important part, learning and performing, that's what you want to do with the rest of your life. Anytime you can get on stage is great. You know, at that point it doesn't matter whether you're competing or not. >> Gold medal, (inaudible), Cuba. (applause) >> The winners were from Cuba, Argentina, and China, but at the Gala, no one was competing, all of the dancers who had brought their dreams to New York, showed their artistry. ♪ (classical music) ♪ ♪ (soft classical music) ♪ ♪ (classical music) ♪ ♪ (upbeat classical music) ♪ (applause)