PLEASE HELP! my dreams are crushed!!?

Why do you have to be paid to enjoy something? I started ballet when I was 13, and even though I know I'll never have a career in it, that doesn't stop me from working hard and improving. You're not working hard for nothing, because you can still be a great dancer, even if you never get paid to dance.

I have a huge passion for ballet, too. Instead of focusing all your efforts on a professional career, turn your passion for ballet into something to improve you, both body and mind. Work hard in class, experience the joys of becoming a better dancer, and just enjoy ballet for what it is. Whether or not you get paid for something shouldn't alter your enjoyment of it.

You are lucky you realized this now. Think of the girls who take over 20 hours of ballet classes a week year round for years and years. Serious hard working dance students who move from home and give up friends , family and their entire childhood for a shot at this. Dancers who have a borderline ballet body who find out it just isn't quite good enough to get hired at age 17/18. Think how they must feel.

Nobody is taking ballet away from you. You can still dance ballet but just not in a professional ballet company.

EDIT: I really wish that giving my answer a TD could change the reality of this but unfortunately it doesn't.

Do you enjoy dancing? The most important thing is to enjoy what you are doing. If you don't enjoy dancing, then maybe it is time to find something else that you enjoy.

Perhaps you could learn to teach others ballet?