The type of performance required for Dancing with the Stars has been a big adjustment for her, particularly resisting the temptation to start singing, as she normally would while on a stage.
“I find it very hard not to be singing, it’s a real struggle,” she said.
“I was very nervous coming into it, I’m not going to lie. I was so anxious, I was barely sleeping at night, which is very strange for me.”
Pro dance partner Stephen Vincent helped to put those worries to rest and now, Kavanagh is relishing in learning a new skill and enjoying getting to meet the “eclectic bunch” of contestants on this year’s show.
For country week on Dancing with the Stars, Kavanagh and Vincent will be dancing the cha-cha-cha to Shania Twain’s That Don’t Impress Me Much.
Kavanagh had plenty of kind words for a number of the other stars, including the “beautiful and interesting” Tolü Makay and the “fabulous” Katelyn Cummins, who Kavanagh said she would “adopt in a minute”.
“Of course, my mammy vibe is coming out. “I’m kind of minding everybody, so it’s really fulfilling all my needs in a workplace.
“I just love to mammy people. I’m having a really nice time getting to know people over the weekend, having little chats here and there, and the dancers are fab.
“I’ve really enjoyed meeting everybody. There’s such a broad range of people that I wouldn’t necessarily have met, like the lovely Philip [Doyle]. God bless him, he’s some boy for the rowing. I might try and get a few bits of advice off him, but he does charge a lot.”
Kavanagh said she doesn’t expect to add dancing to her professional life on stage, but she is looking forward to keeping it up as a hobby after her run on Dancing with the Stars comes to an end.
She lives in the North, where Vincent and his wife Kylee are considering opening their own studio, making it a perfect fit for her to keep on dancing.
“I definitely will take part, just to enjoy the physicality of dancing. It’s really beautiful.
“Mary Black and Dolores Keane might get the phone call before me, so I can’t imagine I’d be getting the call for the dancing gigs just because I can make a few moves now.
“I absolutely am loving the whole concept, and the fitness that I’m getting. I’m definitely dropping weight, but more importantly, the physicality. I don’t feel like I’m killing myself working out.
“I’m not great in the gym, so this is a good way of using all the muscles without putting heavy strain on them, unless they’re going to be throwing me around the place. There might be more lifts eventually, and I’m dreading that.”
Dancing with the Stars airs on Sunday at 6.30pm on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player.