It’s no secret that the Dancing With the Stars (DWTS) Australia celebrities go through intense rehearsals to master a whole new set of dance moves for their performances. But what happens when the celebrities blank mid-dance and forget their moves?
Professional dancer Jess Raffa, who’s reached the grand finale with Trent Cotchin on DWTS Australia 2025, told Chattr that memory slips do happen and confirmed that when that happens, she improvises in the hope that the judges won’t notice
“It’s always about just hiding everything,” she said. “I call it smoke and mirrors, and just making the audience and judges not see, I wouldn’t mention if he made a mistake, because a lot of the time people don’t even realise, so I wouldn’t make a big deal about it.”
Jess — who’s competed on eight seasons of DWTS Australia and won in 2013 — added that from her very first meeting with Trent, she could tell he was a natural when it came to dancing.
“I know within the first hour with who I’m going to get and what kind of challenge I’m going to have,” she explained.
“So with Trent this year, I’d show him a step, and he’d pick it up straight away. And I thought, Okay, so that’s that’s less hours of training. So you spend more time just perfecting the routine, which is great, but then you get some celebs that take hours and hours to learn a basic step, and you’ve just got to adapt to it.”
Jess Raffa is teaching dancing at a Taylor Swift-inspired charity event
Jess will be using her dance skills for a good cause — and teaching some iconic Taylor Swift moves along the way. She’s part of Let’s Dance: Swifties Club by Trueheart at The Emerson in Melbourne, which supports Share The Dignity, a non-profit that empowers girls and women.
“We’re putting together an amazing event,” Jess said. “I’ll be teaching three routines, very simple routines, but it really is just to get everyone moving and dancing and having an amazing time.”
“I want all my Dancing with the Stars fans to come and meet me and get to know me. I’m going to be there for the dance party. So it’s just going to be one big celebration. It’s a chance for people to just let go, and we’re helping an amazing cause here, too. It’s not just about dancing, it’s about helping.”
You can find out more about the Let’s Dance: Swifties Club event, and buy tickets here.
The Dancing with the Stars finale airs on August 5 at 7:30pm on Channel 7 and 7plus.
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