Dancing With the Stars’ Sharna Burgess Reveals All About Past Partners, Her Love Life, and More

After a long day of Dancing With the Stars tour rehearsals, one couldn’t blame Sharna Burgess if she wanted to retreat to a quiet coffee shop near the DWTS studio space. Instead, the stunning redhead has another idea: “Let’s go someplace a little bigger.” The new destination could not be more different: El Coyote, a Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles where the waitresses wear traditional fiesta attire. Noting that she’ll only drink if I do, we instead settle on the odd combination of tortilla chips and endless cups of coffee. Oddly enough, it couldn’t be more perfect—because Burgess is the perfect company. The 30-year-old is candid, genuine, and fiercely protective of her friends and family. She’s got a heart that shines brighter than the Mirrorball trophy (yeah, we said it), that killer physique that she’s honed through two decades worth of intensive dance training, and then there’s her creative genius that shines through with each dance. Who wasn’t blown away with the routines she choreographed for double amputee Noah Galloway? Who else could have taken Andy Dick as far as he went? And even though Bindi Irwin deserved to win the Mirrorball trophy, how could you not feel disappointment for the likable and charismatic duo of Burgess and partner Nick Carter?

But winning the Mirrorball trophy isn’t the end all for the professional dancer and choreographer from Wagga Wagga, Australia. Sure, she would love for that day to come sooner than later, but if there’s one thing more important than a bunch of mirrored crystals, it’s the lasting friendships she’s formed with her partners and the growth she’s seen in each of them. “I love stretching myself creatively and making someone feel something,” she says of both her partners and the audience. “I want to make you feel good.” Something tells us she’ll be succeeding nightly when the Dancing With the Stars Live! tour kicks off tomorrow evening in Utah (though Burgess will miss the first few tour stops due to a last-minute trip to Australia). So settle in as we talk to the red-haired stunner about past partners, finding the love of her life, and why she couldn’t say no to this year’s tour.

Glamour: Now that you’ve had a little bit of time to think about season 21, has your perspective changed since the finale?

Sharna Burgess: It’s been a whirlwind. In the initial moment, I was really sad for Nick because I knew how much he wanted [to win]. But as Nick and I talked about, you can’t deny the journey and growth that he had. Nick and I are family now, and as I say, I’m a Backstreet girl for life. I can’t wait to see him become a dad. The greatest thing you can take away from Dancing With the Stars is something that lasts beyond it, whether it’s the friendship or that connection you have with that person. It’s kind of like a temporary marriage. I’m really grateful that he and Lauren are both good friends of mine, and that’s a win for me because that doesn’t happen every season.

Glamour: How difficult is the finale night flight to New York? It’s made to look like a grand ol’ time, but unless you’re the winning couple, it’s got to be a tad hard.

Sharna: It’s stressful getting to the flight because we just want to talk to our friends and family and revel in the moment from [the finale], but we have to quickly do press, get thrown in a car, and then put on to this little plane. It is kind of awesome for the first few hours because you’re still hyped up and you can order whatever [to eat on the] plane, have a couple of drinks with each other, and talk about the night and the season, but then all of a sudden, exhaustion hits, and you realize you’ve barely slept at all in the last three months and you have to be at GMA at five in the morning. You try to find a little corner to sleep in. This time, [troupe member] Brittany [Cherry] and I fell asleep snuggling in the same single chair because everybody just lays out.

Glamour: You’re getting ready for tour life!

Sharna: Yes, getting ready for tour life! I’m sure that’s how it’s going to be. It’s hard to wake yourself up when you get to New York and do another dance again.

Glamour: Do you re-do your hair and makeup for the morning shows? I used to think so, but then Bindi showed up in the same hairstyle on GMA!

Sharna: Here’s the really not-so-glamorous part of Dancing With the Stars: I had that makeup on since 7 A.M. Tuesday morning, and it was still there until I was headed back to L.A. on the plane on Wednesday afternoon. I had layers upon layers added on to it! More mascara, more concealer, more lip gloss! You could have scraped it off me with a paint scraper. I bought makeup wipes at the airport and just scrubbed my face clean because I couldn’t cope. [Laughs]

Glamour: Where are you keeping your poster of a young Nick Carter from his Backstreet Boys days?

Sharna: [Laughs] Well, it’s not hanging up yet, but it is in my bedroom. I think my boyfriend, Paul [Kirkland], is like, “You better not put that up in this room! That is not happening!” He loves Nick and they are great friends, but I think he was like, “Are we done with this ‘I had a crush on Nick Carter’ thing? Can we go back to you loving me now?” But it really was surreal seeing Nick Carter stand in front of me. Never in a million years would I have thought that my 13-year-old crush would be a real person, and I get to have a real conversation with him and admit that I had posters of him! And then dance with him!

Glamour: A year ago, you posted a photo on Instagram of your season 18 partner, Charlie White, and captioned it #MyFave. Was he the partner you bonded with the most up until that point?

Sharna: Yes. Charlie and I have absolutely stayed good friends, and I just choreographed for him and Meryl, but the ones who have stayed like family to me are Noah [Galloway], and it will be Nick. Noah and I text all the time. We were talking about his [recent breakup] with Jamie, and we’re friends like that. Nick and I are just the same. It’s that bond that’s so genuine and so real, and it’s not just for TV. We’re really lucky that Dancing With the Stars gave us that opportunity for our paths to cross.

Glamour: Is there a past partner you had trouble connecting with?

Sharna: There always is. For me, I had a little trouble connecting with Keyshawn Johnson, and I don’t think he was so sure whether he really was excited about doing the show until he really saw what it was about. I think he came in with a preconceived idea, and that was the feeling that I got. There was no chemistry until we were eliminated, and he was like, “I get it now.” That’s not to say he’s not an awesome dude, but we just didn’t connect on that level. Travis Smiley was a sweetheart. We didn’t get very far—we were in and out really quickly! He was again, such an awesome man and so intelligent. I feel like I got smarter every time I spoke to him, but we haven’t necessarily stayed in contact. It was a fun journey, and then it ended.

Glamour: You were a troupe member on DWTS for three seasons, and now you’ve been a pro for six. Viewers obviously get very connected to all the dancers on the show, but what do you think is the special ingredient that takes someone from troupe member to pro?

Sharna: That is a really interesting question, and I don’t know. For me, personally, I would have made Lindsay [Arnold] a pro a few seasons ago. I think to graduate from troupe to pro, the producers on the show have to see you with the ability to choreograph and with the ability to take charge in a rehearsals. All the troupe helps out the other pros, so it really comes from what the other pros say, what the other celebrities say, and then I guess the feedback gets back to the producers. Also, we sort of go in waves on the show. You have to wait for those spots to open up, but I do believe that the troupe is an incredible way to get those young dancers used to this world of television. We saw Lindsay come straight from her season on So You Think You Can Dance, and she had a difficult time with her partner Victor Ortiz. They didn’t mesh very well, so for her first season, it didn’t show all of her talent in a sense. But then she spent a few seasons on the troupe and blossomed as a choreographer and as a teacher and as a woman.

Glamour: The producers would be very wise to bring her back next season. She earned it.

Sharna: Absolutely. 110%. She proved herself, and I think she was always capable of that, but she gained confidence in the troupe. We’ve seen people come in that haven’t gone through the troupe, and sometimes it has worked and sometimes it hasn’t. I originally got approached when there was no troupe in 2009, but I was contracted to Burn the Floor and couldn’t be a part of it. They said to me, “We want to have you as part of the show, we can’t make you a pro this season, but we’d love to put you in our troupe, so people get to know who you are and we introduce you that way.” It is a great way to introduce new dancers because the pros on the show become just as much celebrities as the celebrities these days.

Glamour: Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?

Sharna: I get inspired by everything that I see. First and foremost, it’s from the person standing in front of me and what their story is. I sit with my headphones on and play the song over and over and over again, and I visualize different things. I never see steps. I see shapes and movement and scenes and the way it breathes, and I feel how it makes me feel. From there, I can build what that actually means when it comes to steps. And then I get inspired by movies and TV shows or walking in the park and seeing someone sit next to each other on a park bench and the feeling it gives me. That actually gave me the inspiration for my Viennese Waltz with Noah. I was walking through the park and saw this couple sitting on a park bench, and he grabbed her hand and she put it on her heart, and I thought, “That’s a dance move!” For my Viennese Waltz with Nick, where the camera shot all the way around us and we froze, I wanted to re-create that Matrix [moment]—it’s called a bullet-time shot. That’s actually done with hundreds of cameras in a circle, and it freeze frames. I begged our directed to give me that shot, and I had to fight for it a little bit, but it was worth it in the end. Sometimes I don’t know where these crazy ideas come from, but we have an amazing team on production and wardrobe that helps me make it come to life. I love being a storyteller.

Glamour: Let’s talk about your early career. You performed in the closing ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Sharna: I was 15 years old, and I remember the feeling of standing underneath the stadium right before we were to run out and dance, and it was the first moment I ever really felt that surge of a live performance. I felt the entire 100,000 plus fans roaring, and the energy that surges through you is incredible. Camera flashes were everywhere, and it was the prettiest thing. I think that’s when I fell in love with live stage performance. Up until that point, for me, was my most incredible moment dancing.

Glamour: What is your most incredible dancing moment now?

Sharna: Oh wow, it’s so hard to choose. Definitely my first performance on Broadway. I remember standing behind the curtain and listening to the audience buzz, thinking of all the great people who were there before me, [like] Cyd Charisse, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire…it’s sacred ground. I never in a million years could have dreamt that as this little ballroom dancer in Wagga Wagga [Australia], who was just training to be a world champion and own a dance studio, was going to go from Broadway to one of the biggest shows on television. And then to dancing with Nick Carter!

Glamour: Producers asked you to do the DWTS tour before, so why did you say yes this time around?

Sharna: They asked me to do the summer tour, but I had other commitments and wasn’t ready. I was so emotionally exhausted after that season with Noah because I wanted to make those dances perfect. I wanted time for myself, for my friends, for my relationship, to just be me for a second. Now, though, was [the right] time. I want to meet these people that love our show so much and make it possible for me to do what I love. This show wouldn’t exist without our fans, and I love them so much for that. I think there’s a reason that So You Think You Can Dance isn’t as successful as Dancing With the Stars and that’s because we’re…more about the journey. That, in turn, creates great dancing. Derek and Bindi’s Viennese Waltz was for me as good as any contemporary dance on SYTYCD because of the journey and story and how real it was, whereas on So You Think, it’s about technique and lines, and you don’t feel as much. I feel like that’s where we surpass that. But getting back to why I wanted to do the DWTS tour…

Glamour: You just wanted to live on a bus for two months…

Sharna: Yeah, I was totally excited to be cramped on a small bus with 10 people! [Laughs] No, I wanted people to get to know more of who I am. I think they did over the last year with Noah and Nick, but I’m not just this vixen redhead who can dance really sexy and snap their fingers and flip her hair. I really am that nurturing woman that you see me be with my partners. I want you to smile, and I want this to be your journey. That’s just who I am.

Glamour: Speaking of natural, you’re actually a blonde!

Sharna: Yes! [Laughs] Everyone else on the show is not, and I am the natural one! I’m sticking with red for a while, but when I was 14, I had this beautiful, long, thick blonde hair, and my dance coach at the time said I looked too young next to everybody else and needed me to look more grownup. She said, “I’m going to send you to my hairdresser, and he knows exactly what to do, so don’t worry. My mom and dad came with me because I was 14, and the hairdresser grabs my hair at the base of my neck and chops it. I walked out two-and-half-hours later with an asymmetrical, black/reddish bob, dead short, almost shaved on the neck. I cried the whole time he was doing it, and my dad nearly knocked him out. He was like, “That’s my baby girl! What are you doing?” My mom wasn’t coping, but again, you put your life in your coaches hands, and we just wanted to go to the world championships. If this is what we had to do, this is what we were going to do, but I didn’t go to school for a week because I cried my eyes out that I looked like a boy. Which I did! Once it grew out, it got a little better, and then we lightened it. I didn’t really go red until about a year ago. I feel this suits me more than brown. It’s that whole Jessica Rabbit thing.

Glamour: Would you ever go back to blonde hair?

Sharna: I would love to! What’s funny though is that when my roots start to grow out, I look bald! It’s crazy because it’s so light. No one can believe it. It’s a commitment to be red, but everyone on the show is blonde, so why should I do that too?

Glamour: How often do you get back to Australia?

Sharna: My family is still there, so I try to go home as often as I can, but it’s still not enough. I turned 30, and you realize how important your family is. I’ve been traveling for the last 12 years, and I’m in a place where I can afford to buy those flights to go home. I need to do that.

Glamour: Who among the DWTS cast are you most closest to?

Sharna: Without question, Peta [Murgatroyd] is like my sister, and we see each other and text each other all the time. We were friends before the show, so we spend a lot of our offseason together too. And Val [Chmerkovskiy] and Maks [Chmerkovskiy] are very good friends of mine. I know no matter what, they will always be in my corner and always supporting me, and that’s real family. Everybody is my family on the show, but we all do gravitate a little bit, and that’s natural.

Glamour: Will Peta definitely be back next season?

Sharna: I hope so! I need my girl back! It was so weird not having her this season. She had a full ankle reconstruction. I don’t even know how she lasted most of last tour. That just shows how strong she is, and I’ve told this to her, but how silly she is too. We all learn our lessons. [Laughs] But I definitely hope Peet comes back, and I know the show would love to have her. She is an amazing pro and a great fan favorite, so hopefully.

Glamour: Lastly, let’s talk about your boyfriend, Paul. He’s a dancer and choreographer as well, so is that how you met?

Sharna: Yeah! He works on a lot of stuff with me too. Paul and I met in 2011 in London. We were both choreographing on a movie called Street Dance 2, and he was doing all the hip hop stuff and I was doing all the Latin stuff. The movie was incredibly cheesy, but the dancing came out amazing. [Laughs] I remember Paul came in a little bit later, as we had already been dancing for a few weeks, and I was told I had to go downstairs to meet one of the hip hop choreographers, and I said, “OK.” Mind you, I looked like crap—no makeup, hair in a ponytail, sweatpants, I was just so stressed trying to get this job done, and there he was sitting in this corner with a cap on, and I remember thinking, “Damn it! I do not need to be interested in some guy while I’m working on this movie!” But, of course, a couple of days later, I walk into the rehearsal room, and he’s dancing full out to this Michael Jackson track and my heart just exploded. I think I fell in love with him in that moment. It was probably a couple weeks later when we got together, and we kept it a secret the whole time because we didn’t know if it was going to work out or not. It was just something that we both really wanted, and then all of a sudden, Dancing With the Stars contacted me and said, “We’d love to have you in L.A.” Paul lived in L.A., so being in the same place for [an extended period of time], we were like,”Why don’t we see where this goes?” Nearly five years later, we’re still together!

Glamour: Would Paul ever join the show as a pro?

Sharna: He’s so incredibly talented and has done a bunch of tours for Madonna, Christina [Aguilera], J.Lo, etc. He’s worked with the best of them. He hasn’t studied ballroom, even though he could do it, but we are exploring bringing on people that aren’t necessarily ballroom dancers. We’ve done that in the past, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I would selfishly love to have him come on the show with me, but who knows? I think they have their guys pretty much filled up now, but he works with me on the show all the time. He’s always pushing me creatively. In the last few years, I’ve grown so much as a choreographer and a dancer through knowing him and working with him because of his passion. That, in turn, inspires me. He helped me with my freestyle with Nick this season, as well as my freestyle with Noah last season. He helped me with my Jazz number with Charlie—Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious—if that damn umbrella worked! [Laughs] It’s a really great partnership.

The Dancing With the Stars tour kicks off tomorrow night in Utah and continues through Valentine’s Day. You can purchase tickets here.