Mulwala farm girl and Australian Latin Champion Alarna Donovan shines on Dancing With The Stars

After a weekend of fun and games, the rough and tumble as one of eight, tight-knit siblings, she plugged into the small screen of big dreams.

A new Australian television show, That's Dancin', had captured her imagination.

With the whole clan crowded around to watch, Donovan said the pioneering series really resonated with her.

"I used to love watching it!" she recalled.

"During the ad breaks I'd try to do the dances in the closest thing I could get to a costume, which was usually a leotard and some hand-me-down dance shoes, one pink and one black.

"That show really encouraged me to follow my passion for dancing!"

Australian professional ballroom dancer Leslie Newman was behind the 1989 creation of That's Dancin', which ran for three years in prime time throughout Australia.

Each episode showcased dance couples in a competitive format, judged by a panel of professional experts.

Learning dance from age seven, Donovan worked hard to hone her craft over the following decade, ably supported by her dance-loving mum, Pam, and doting dad, Trevor.

By 13, Donovan was already junior Latin American champion with her then-dance partner, Arsen Kishishian.

They travelled 600 kilometres to dance together some weekends.

Calling off that year-long partnership due to the distance between them, the stars aligned again in 2001 when Donovan turned 18 and moved to Melbourne to pursue a dance career.

In 2005 dance coach Helen Richey, who is a judge on Australian TV series Dancing With The Stars, said that Kishishian and Donovan were one of the most promising couples she had ever taught.

"They're very talented and work very hard; they deserve to realise their dreams," she told The Age (It Takes Two, December 6, 2005).

Donovan has a World Grand Prix Dance Championship, Rising Star Blackpool Championship, four-times Australian Adult Latin Championship and numerous Australian titles to her name.

When Dancing With The Stars premiered on the Seven Network in 2004, Donovan was a standout candidate for a role on the show.

Donovan, however, said the timing was not quite right.

"Dancing With The Stars approached me to be a professional on the show when I was at the peak of my professional career," she explained.

"I was trying to travel to Europe for dance competitions with my dance partner (Kishishian) and you needed to be available for a large chunk of time for filming the show.

"Our competition career was our priority but they were still interested to have us involved in the show and used some footage of us dancing.

"Years later when I was available, the show had a real life of its own; I'd probably written off any chance of being on it.

"But it was always close to my heart and I always wanted it to do well."

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Still living in Melbourne today and working as a legal practice manager, Donovan was invited as a professional to join the second season of Dancing With The Stars: All Stars, which premiered on Channel Seven recently.

Winners, finalists and fan favourites from the past 17 seasons of the show vie for their chance to win the coveted mirror ball trophy.

The returning stars, and a few wild cards, face the judges Todd McKenney, Helen Richey, Paul Mercurio and Mark Wilson while Daryl Somers and Sonia Kruger host it.

Based on the British series Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing With The Stars harks back to That's Dancin', the show that resonated with a young Donovan.

(In 1989, the show was the ABC's highest rating series in the Sunday 7.30pm timeslot. In 1991, it achieved the national broadcaster's largest audience against - coincidently - Channel Nine's perennial hit, Hey Hey, It's Saturday.)

Coming full circle is not lost on Donovan either.

"I can't believe I'm doing a show that might inspire a little person to get started on their dance journey in the way That's Dancin' did for me!" Donovan said.

For this series Donovan was paired with Australian singer-songwriter and actor Rob Mills, a 2009 DWTS fan favourite, who is dancing for The Australian Children's Music Foundation.

She felt beyond blessed.

"I couldn't have been luckier!" she said.

"He's done high-end musical theatre so his musicality is exceptional but more than that he's generous, down to earth and has a great sense of humour.

"He's constantly giving; when we were doing lockdown number 28 in Melbourne last year and we were allowed to film this dance competition up in Sydney, we were both well aware of that privilege. We would do eight-hour sessions at the studio and then Rob would do a Zoom chat with a group of school kids because he didn't want them to miss out; his first thought is always other people."

With filming done in Fox Studios Australia last October, Donovan said it was exciting and nerve-racking to see it all come together on the small screen over seven consecutive Sundays.

She and partner Alexander hosted their nearest and dearest - including Donovan's mum Pam and sister Keira (herself a dancer on the Border and Donovan's biggest fan) - for a viewing party of Donovan and Mills' first DWTS TV appearance.

"I was nervous to be watching it because you've never seen the actual footage until it goes to air," she said.

"I watched it sitting on the lounge peeking around from behind a cushion!"

Having survived the first-round elimination process - determined by judges votes and super fan scores, Donovan and Mills hit the dancefloor again on Sunday night.

The two, lowest-scoring couples each week dance-off for the chance to stay in the competition, meaning nerves have to be kept in check.

"You get better at telling yourself you're excited, not nervous!" Donovan quipped.

Looking ahead, Donovan said dance would always stay with her even as she approached parenthood.

"The day I got to Sydney for filming, I found out I was pregnant," she said.

"I'm going to enjoy growing this child!

"But I'm still teaching dance to competition couples and wedding couples at the studio at the back of my home and I'm a dance adjudicator.

"Hopefully I can continue my ties with Dancing With The Stars too!"

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