Dancing with the Stars contestant Yasmin Seky has said she feels like a weight has been "lifted off my shoulders" as she progresses in the competition.
The actress, best known for her breakout role as Nikita in the RTÉ crime drama Kin, impressed the judges during Dedicated Dance Week with a Rumba she dedicated to youth club workers, Mary, Phil and Gary from Cabra For Youth, who she credited as the driving force behind encouraging her to take on a career in performing.
Speaking to press ahead of Sunday night's show, she told RTÉ Entertainment she feels "a lot lighter" since that performance.
"Last week it just felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders," she said. "Dedication Week was just so important to me, apart from wanting to perform and express myself more, and the reason why I entered into the competition, the second thing was knowing there was going to be a Dedicated Dance, I really wanted to give that to Cabra For Youth.
"Since that weight's been gone I've been having so much more fun in the rehearsal room, getting on stage, having more fun with costume and hair, it just feels a lot lighter. It definitely feels like a big switch for me mentally."
Watch Yasmin Seky and her partner Simone Arena perform a Rumba to Halo by Beyoncé
The Dubliner said she entered the competition to "could get a bit more performance experience and to help with my nervousness" as she described herself as "more of an introverted person".
She said the adjustment from acting to dancing was "nerve-wracking".
"You don't realise what can go wrong," Seky laughed. "Even on that performance last week, my foot slipped.
"We had done it so many times in rehearsals and it was grand, and you think it's fine, that I'll do it the way I always do it and then something happens on the night that is completely uncontrollable and that's the only chance you get.
"It's just nerve-wracking and it adds another layer to the competition that people don't see."
The actress shared that her boyfriend, Luke Joyce, has been her biggest supporter throughout her journey on Dancing with the Stars.
"The person who has been with me most throughout this whole process would be my boyfriend," she said.
"He's been to every single show, he's always in the audience and after every show he looks after me.
"After every rehearsal he asks 'Do you need me to run a bath? Do you need me to order food? Do you need a hug?' Sometimes that's all you need.
"I'd say he's been my biggest supporter."
When asked about the likelihood of Kin coming back for a third season, which is up in the air since the show's production company went bankrupt, Seky was unequivocal.
"I genuinely have no idea if it's coming back but I would love to get the thigh-high boots on and be Nikita again. I would not say no to it!", she said.
Dancing with the Stars continues on Sunday at 6.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
