EMMA Watkins represents “the new generation of Wiggles”
While she came from a background in dance, and began ballet lessons at just four, the 25-year-old says it’s been a case of her wiggly past eventually catching up with her.
“The Wiggles have been around 24 years,” she says.
“I remember going to see the Wiggles all through my childhood.
“I must have been about seven, they filmed a concert at the Seymour Centre in Sydney and on the VHS, because it’s that old, and they cut back to the audience and you can see my sister and I dancing in matching dresses.
“I didn’t have any idea I’d be dancing with the Wiggles this far later.
“I had envisioned joining a dance company overseas.
“I still remember some of the lyrics from when I was about five.”
When it came to inheriting the skivvy, Emma found herself in the right place at the right time.
She began performing with the Wiggles in 2010, playing a variety of different characters, before she was offered Greg’s job in May of 2012.
“It was great timing because I was already teaching different styles from three up to the age of 16,” she says.
“Not that I’ve got any early childhood development training or education like the original Wiggles, but I was definitely teaching children before the audition came up.
“We were asked if we’d like to be the new Wiggles, there was no audition process.
“It was truly about the family that was around at the time. I feel so fortunate I was there at that moment, when the originals wanted to pass on the legend of the wiggly era to us.”
She says becoming a Wiggle has changed her life, where she tours the world up to nine months each year.
“It’s definitely the most exciting that’s ever happened to me, to meet children all around the world,” she says.
“Unlike any other job, particularly in the entertainment industry, it’s a bit of everything,
“We are so busy, we don’t really have time to do anything else (laughs). It’s not nine to five, it’s all the time.
“It’s getting to the point where we’re being recognised when we go shopping. If somebody recognises me at the shops it’s probably most exciting for me than it is for the child.
“It’s a dream come true.”
-Ben Cameron-
