Kym Johnson-Herjavec reveals new path after losing confidence during career break
Sydney dancer Kym Johnson-Herjavec has revealed how she helped create a new Christmas movie while juggling her role as choreography director for Carols in the Domain.
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas for Sydney dancer Kym Johnson-Herjavec.
In October she was a special guest judge for dedication week on US Dancing with the Stars – on a season our own Robert Irwin went on to win last week.
She is currently starring in the new movie Christmas in the Ballroom, which she helped bring to fruition.
And Johnson-Herjavec, who turns 50 next year, is the director of choreography for the upcoming Carols in the Domain, where she will also perform a duet with her dear friend Hugh Sheridan.
Life is good for the wife of millionaire Shark Tank judge Robert Herjavec.
The couple met when they were paired on the US Dancing with the Stars stage in 2015 and haven’t looked back.
“We met later in life, and it was just the right time for both of us,” says the mother of seven-year-old twins Haven and Hudson. “It’s amazing and we’ve almost been married for 10 years, so it’s gone by so quick.”
Sydney born and raised, Johnson-Herjavec is a three-time mirror ball champion on Dancing with the Stars – once in Australia and, like the Irwin siblings, twice in the US.
Over the years she has been partnered with Jerry Springer, Joey Fatone from NSYNC, David Arquette, Donny Osmond, David Hasselhoff and even Mr T.
“It was so great to go back,” she says of her latest appearance on the show. “I was on the show for so long over there, so it’s all very similar: it’s the same stage, a lot of the same camera crew, and the EP (executive producer) is back from the old days. So it just felt like being back at home, although it was really nice and obviously different being on that side of the desk.
“I’ve been a judge on the Australian one but not an American show, so that’s a bit different, but I loved it.
“And Robert (Irwin) was great and I was so proud of him. I am a little bit biased but I have to say I didn’t have to be, because he actually is really, really good.”
Johnson-Herjavec stars in Christmas in the Ballroom alongside real-life best friend and godfather to her children Queer Eye’s Carson Kressley, and says it was as fun as it sounds.
“When I was living in Canada with my family, I started working for a production company there that make a lot of cheesy Hallmark/Lifetime movies, and I just I went to them with this idea of a dance Christmas movie, because I haven’t seen a lot of dance-heavy movies and obviously that’s my forte,” she says.
“And they loved the idea and we started creating the script. It was about two years in the making and then we ended up getting it sold and they said, ‘We’re gonna make the movie, you’ve gotta be here in two weeks’.
“And I’d moved to Australia at that stage so I had two weeks to get myself over there, and we got the cast together and shot it in March of this year, all in 12 days.
“It was so great to be involved in it from the beginning, and to see it to fruition was pretty great – I missed being creative like that.
“That’s what I loved about being on Dancing with the Stars for all those years. I don’t think people realise what the professional dancer does in the creative process of it, from the concept of the routine to the costume, to the choreography and staging, props. So I missed doing that part of it.”
Some of that creative disconnect comes part and parcel with having kids – as so many parents relate to – and as Johnson-Herjavec found after having the twins. But her time is now, and she wouldn’t change a thing.
“I really wanted kids so much, so when I had the kids, I really was lucky enough to take a couple of years off and just be immersed in that mum world. But then you do just go down that path and then you sort of lose your confidence.
“I feel that I did, anyway. So getting back into things was actually really nice. And I always want to learn and grow and do different things.
“I think the life of a dancer is kind of tough, because you can do it to an age where you can’t do it any more. So I’ve always tried to figure out other avenues I’d like to take and where I can still be creative in a different way, so this has been a nice outlet.”
Another outlet is her work on Carols in theDomain.
“Being the director of choreography and working with the team creatively, I love that as well, and it’s great. I’m lucky because I know I’m not working nine to five and I can do these things from home,” Johnson-Herjavec says.
“I love being there for the kids with all the moments – the school plays, and I love doing drop-offs and pick-ups and taking them to activities, and my husband does too.
“I’m really lucky that he’s very hands-on and he loves running them around, so we conquer and divide.”
The age of seven is a sweet spot, she muses. Hudson is a mini version of his dad and Haven is a budding performer – and the proud mum hopes her daughter will make a small appearance at the carols. “Which will be a really special moment, because the carols is all about family, and I grew up watching it with my family, wrapping up presents,” Johnson-Herjavec says.
“I always loved watching it on TV, so being part of it was a bucket list thing.”
After the carols they will leave Sydney’s summer for a traditional white Christmas at their home away from home in Big Sky, Montana.
“We definitely feel at home here, even Robert,” she says of their decision to raise their family in Australia.
“We love the kids’ schooling and it’s such a great lifestyle in Sydney. I obviously grew up here and I did leave when I was 18, so I’ve spent a long time abroad, but I feel like there’s no place like home.
“Robert does travel quite a lot and we go over there every school holidays, so we are making it work, but it’s worth the sacrifice because it’s just such a great place to raise them.
“I’m embracing this new chapter and I feel like I’ve sort of found a different career path, more in development and this production world, which I love so, so it’s exciting.”
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