Taekwondo star Jack Woolley hears a whistle every time he's about to participate on Dancing with the Stars – and it gives him a major boost and a focus for his performance.
What’s in a whistle? Well, it’s more about who is doing the whistling. In this case, it’s Jack’s partner, Dave.
So when Jack and his pro dancer Alex Vladimirov are about to take on the roles of supervillains The Joker and Harley Quinn for a Tango to Lady Gaga’s version of The Joker, Jack will be on the lookout.
"The big whistle that you hear at the start of my dance is Dave," he says. "I always just have to make eye contact with him and be like, 'Yeah, I've got this.’
"And then I just perform because the dancing is about putting on a character, and I find it really cringey sometimes.
"When I know he's there, I'm like, I'm doing it for him and that everybody else isn't even there. So yeah, he does help a lot."
And while Dave is clearly a great support for Jack - he also calls to rehearsals with gifts of water and snacks for him and dance partner Alex, and is basically Jack's driver - it's their time together that makes their relationship special.
"We're both very much ourselves when we're around each other - more than I would be with anybody else," Jack explains.
"Alex is starting to see that because obviously we're getting a little bit more comfortable with each other, but me and Dave are very strange together. We're able to kind of have a giggle - it's like our inner child comes out when we're together.
"He kind of takes my mind off it in a different way," he adds. "Rather than talking about it and addressing the issues . . . when I'm with Dave, I feel like all the problems in the world kind of disappear.
But if he heard that, he'd laugh at me. But honestly just being there and kind of being able to be in his presence, just makes me relax."
As for the practical side of being on Dancing with the Stars - learning steps and moves, practising and preparing all week for the show on Sundays - he finds it quite a contrast to his sporting career and training for an event such as the Olympics.
"The dancing is a lot different," he says. Taekwondo is very fitness based. You know, this is a little bit less, but I'm having to use my brain a lot more. You need to remember the steps.
"It's a lot more challenging mentally. Which is something that I struggle with. So the first few days I'm learning a new dance, you can see I'm getting very in my head and stuff like that."
What he's discovering as the weeks go by is that his body is gradually more accustomed to the craft of dancing. "It's become a muscle memory," he says.
"It's getting a lot easier for me and as the weeks go on I am picking up the choreography a lot quicker. It’s not as draining physically, but mentally I'm finding it a lot tougher."
Another big difference for Jack is that learning and rehearsing a dance is a very time-consuming activity.
"The hours are different too," he notes. "I mean the hours are very long. I used to do like an hour and a half [at taekwondo]. I would do one or two [sessions] a day, but with this it's like four or five hours straight through. Non-stop.
"You might get 5-10 minutes for a break," he adds. "But, you see, if we take a longer break, then I tend to shut off and not really engage in the dancing. So short breaks are vital for me."
Naturally, he relishes the challenge, the fact that he’s out of his comfort and trying something different. "I'm really enjoying it though," he insists. "It's something I'm loving and I'm the type person who enjoys doing something that they're good at as well.
"So the fact is that I'm not too bad," he adds humbly. Would he consider becoming a professional dancer? "It's something that I'd keep up on the side and as a past time because I am really enjoying it - but professionally? Absolutely not."
.svg)