Early years

Sharna Burgess was born in Australia, Wagga Wagga city in a New South Wales and from a very early age she was showing interest for entertainment. As family and friends say she was always ready to perform and make the show for family and guests, so it was no surprise when she started training dance and gymnastics when she was just 5. She started competing in dance competitions when she was just 8 and only 7 years later she was already chosen to represent country in an international competition in Latin and standard dances. She has also performed at the closing ceremony for Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.  

Career development

Sharna moved to London when she turned 18 to pursue her dancing career. She got into the famous show Simply Ballroom, and thanks to her excellent presentation in this show, producers offer her a role in another dancing show called Burn the Floor. This was a huge success not just in the Great Britain, but around the world, so they toured over 150 cities around the world for several years-and Sharna was part of the crew for 6 years. The show sold several million tickets in these years and gave Sharna even more visibility and popularity. Excellent presentation within the show was her entrance ticket for the show's Broadway presentation.

From Broadway, road to world fame wasn't long. She was noticed on the Broadway by the producers of Dancing with the stars and she accepted the role of professional member dancer of the crew in the 13th season. Her dance partners through seasons were famous comedian Andy Dick, after him there was retired NFL player and TV reported Keyshawn Johnson. After Keyshawn she danced with the Olympic competitor-ice dancer Charlie White. In 20th season, Shawna danced with the war veteran without limbs and motivational speaker, Noah Galloway. They ended the competition third and won the hearts of viewers with their inspirational dancing.

In this year's season she danced with the famous Backstreet Boys singer, Nick Carter. They went all the way to finals but didn't win after all. However, they were excellent throughout the season and viewers loved to watch them-just as the judges did.

Private life

While representing Australia in a dance World Championship, Sharna suffered leg injury but instead of stopping and looking for medical help, she continued to compete and ended the competition with two torn ligaments and demolished meniscus in one knee. She has recovered afterwards and often mentions this as the proof of her resilience and determination to finish out everything she takes onto herself to do.

Sharna has been in a long-term relationship with a dancer and producer Paul Kirkland. They are also business partners, as they together founded Dance Fuzion, school of different dances. He has cooperated with stars such as Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez and even Madonna.