A year ago, Emily Weir made a fervent wish public. Now it’s happened, she has shared the immense ‘toll’ it took.
Emily Weir from Home and Away was running for a spot on Dancing With the Stars at this time last year.
The actress’s ambition came true when she performed for the first time last Sunday, but she was unprepared for the injuries and physical “toll” dancing has on the body.
In 2022, Emily decided that a trip to Channel 7’s The Morning Show would be the ideal time to inform the Dancing producers of her desire to compete.
When she appeared on The Morning Show for Home and Away a year ago, Kylie Gillies asked, “Is this your pitch?,” she recalls to 7Life. “We were chatting about how I really wanted to do Dancing With the Stars.”
“Yeah, absolutely, I want to do it,” I responded.
“So I stated it live on TV, and then I received the call six months later. I hurried to get in and said, “Finally, I’ve been waiting for you,” when they called.
“To me, it was a no-brainer.”
She didn’t realize how much more of a “toll” this experience had taken on her body, and she even got hurt.
“I did something to my glute, and then I had to do ice baths and get needles in my bum, it’s hard on the body,” she says, adding that it was painful.
The good news is that the body heals very fast, too. I was fortunate to have experience on my side, but it was incredibly trying and challenging.
Fortunately for the celebrity, she already had a fitness regimen in place that included yoga and running.
She quickly realized, though, that dancing required entirely other muscle groups.
I went in rather well because I kind of already had a fitness routine in place, but it tested a lot of different body parts and muscles that you don’t generally utilize, which is why I got hurt, she says.
Emily had to balance her training with filming for Home and Away, which fortunately was finished by the time she had to perform.
Emily is not the first member of the Home and Away cast to compete in the dancing competition; actress Ada Nicodemou did so in 2021.
Ada told Emily it was “going to be hectic… and she wasn’t wrong,” according to Emily.
The time Emily spent waiting on stage as her introductory package was shown prior to her first performance is one particularly “nerve-wracking” memory she had.
“That is the time when I truly thought, ‘Oh my goodness.
We were the first act in the series to perform, and as they obviously start playing your entrance package, I’m waiting on stage, she says.
“I was told to concentrate entirely on my dance and to avoid looking at the entrance program. ‘Look at me, don’t look at the TV,’ said my dance partner Leo.
“When the music starts, I ask myself, “What am I doing? How am I acting? I can’t remember the steps, but after doing it so frequently and working out so hard, your body just sort of gets used to the rhythm, Emily continues.
It’s quite nerve-racking.
She admitted that she genuinely forgot what had happened after leaving the stage, which she claims can happen when acting if you are completely immersed in the action.
In addition, Emily realized that for the first time, instead than as her Home and Away character Mackenzie, “Australia will see me as me” on the show.
She acknowledges that she was unsure of what people might think.
“I’m not for everyone, and that’s okay,” she claims.
“It’s definitely a different kind of vulnerability stepping into the public eye,” the actress adds.
Emily explains that she is very different from her on-screen character who is “very direct”.
“I’m more considerate,” she says. “I actually really appreciate Mackenzie’s boundaries because I’m not good with boundaries, you know.
“Also, I don’t wear high heels in the sand and dresses, I’m more of a ‘chuck on a pair of trackies and Crocs’ type of vibe. I think I’m a bit softer and a people pleaser.”
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