MY TIME WITH YTT
GEELONG local Kirralee Badham’s start in the entertainment industry came from a cultural phenomenon.
When she was just 15, Ms Badham — who is now head coach and gym owner at Cheer Geelong — wrote to Young Talent Time choreographer Maggie Burns to see if she could do work experience.
“I really wanted to do something in the entertainment industry,” Ms Badham said.
“Maggie said yes, which was a big surprise.”
The teenager, who grew up in Geelong, started out with work experience, then juggled working there with schooling.
She left school at the end of Year 10 and started working “full time in the entertainment industry”.
She started out with her role as assistant choreographer at Young Talent Time and ended up spending three years with the wildly popular variety show, which helped launch the careers of Australian stars including Dannii Minogue and Tina Arena.
This weekend, Ms Badham will fly to Sydney for the filming of the Young Talent Time 50th anniversary reunion special.
The show ran from 1971 to 1988, and Ms Badham worked on the show between 1985 and 1988.
Ms Badham, 50, worked on both the weekly show and tours around Australia.
“I actually performed a few times on the concert tours,” she said.
“That was pretty cool, going out on stage in front of 15,000 people to dance.”
Ms Badham said she made lifelong friends through Young Talent Time and was “still really close with” several people.
She said she was looking forward to reuniting with the Young Talent Time team and in particular was really looking forward to seeing host Johnny Young.
“He was great, he’s just so enthusiastic, very hardworking and really good fun," she said.
Ms Badham worked on choreography with Dannii Minogue, who she described as great to work with.
“We've had lots of good times together,” Ms Badham said.
“Young Talent Time was such a great start and such a great experience and really set me up.”
The Young Talent Time special, to which access can be purchased online, will premiere at 7pm on Saturday, May 1, and then be able to be viewed “on demand” at epicentre.tv