Ballarat Girl to show of twinkle toes

ACTRESS Kimberley Davies, who grew up in Ballarat, will compete in the next series of Channel Seven's Dancing With The Stars.

Ms Davies, 33, lived in Napoleons between the ages of two and 14 years, and attended Ross Creek Primary School and Ballarat and Clarendon College.

She said her relatives "probably make up half of Ballarat's population", with her brother, two grandmothers and countless cousins, aunties and uncles still living in the city.

"I come back to Ballarat as often as I can, because I just love the place," Ms Davies said.
"It really has a great sort of close knit community feel to it."

The glamorous mother of Isabella, four, and Joshua, two, made a name for herself playing Annalise Hartman on Neighbours between 1993 and 1996.

She later moved to America where she appeared in a number of successful programs including Friends, Spin City, Ally McBeal and Pacific Palisades.

She described joining Dancing With The Stars as a "once in a lifetime opportunity".
"It is such an unusual opportunity to be offered and you really do have to jump at these experiences in life," she said.

Ms Davis said the only background she had in dancing was doing ballet for two years in Ballarat.
"I was five when I started ballet and I used to have so much fun getting dressed up and performing in big recitals," she said.

Despite the lack of experience, Ms Davis said she had welcomed the ballroom dancing challenge with open arms.

"It's a lot of hard work, but it's good for the soul to try something that's difficult to do," she said.
Series six of Dancing With The Stars will kick off on Tuesday.

Posted in the Ballarat News Saturday Feb 17