ET exclusively spoke with the professional dancers via Zoom this week.
Cheryl Burke and Sharna Burgess are missing their Dancing With the Stars family.
Due to social distancing amid ongoing concerns over the coronavirus, the professional ballroom dancers are unable to see each other in person, only virtually. People all across the globe are continuing to quarantine to help prevent further spread of COVID-19, and Hollywood is no exception. Concerts, sporting events, TV production and more have all been affected by the pandemic.
When ET exclusively spoke with the ladies separately via Zoom this week, they shared their hopes for this all to be over in time for the fall season of DWTS. If the show returns to ABC as scheduled, that means training would begin in August.
"I have no idea what’s going on to be quite honest, but I think everyone is just living it day by day and we will see what happens," Burke told ET's Katie Krause. "I think there is a creative way of doing things. Everyone is really into taking 15-minute classes. I think we have to go with the flow when it comes to changing. This is our world evolving and we must evolve. I know change is hard and I know for me, too, you have to just surrender."
"I'm hoping [we'll be back on time]. Right now I keep hearing May and June," she added, regarding news updates on when the quarantine period is expected to be over. "My birthday is May 3 and that's fine. My anniversary is May 23 and that's fine. As long as we can do another season of Dancing With the Stars, I'm willing to give all of that up."
Burke also offered up some suggestions on what ABC could do in the meantime to keep fans of the dance competition show entertained while quarantined.
"I'd love to see reruns of Dancing With the Stars in the meantime. Just prepping everybody!" she said. "Like, gosh, my first season was 14 years ago, so I think people need a good ol’ recap."
"You could go through a whole throwback basically," she added. "You would just play an episode every day up until this is over."
Burgess shared similar hopes, telling ET, "As far as I know, Dancing is planning on going ahead with their fall season, but these things change week to week right now."
"I certainly hope that there is a way to figure it out because I think the world needs that kind of fun, carefree, loving show that's just about seeing people do good and overcoming adversity. And dancing! Which brings everybody joy. So I hope that there's an opportunity to put that show on," she continued. "The show must go on! If we can't do it in the form that it exists in, I am sure that the creative team over there and the wonderful producer team will figure out how to make it work in fitting with all the guidelines. But that's also what's so crazy; this is like the new normal for a while."
Burgess, who was cut from season 28 of the show alongside fellow pro Artem Chigvintsev, also told ET that she would be more than happy to come back.
"I certainly miss it. And now, especially being away, I miss all my friends," admitted Burgess, who has been living alone in her home country of Australia since January. "I haven't seen them in so long. I would love to be back but it hasn't been a conversation. They haven't asked me yet. I'm sure they've got a lot more things to worry about than whether I'm going to be coming back or not."
"It's still early so we'll see," she added. "But as I've said before, I have so much love for them."
ET has reached out to ABC for comment.
For now, both Burgess and Burke are focusing on ways to entertain themselves (and their fans) at home while quarantined.
Burke, who lives with husband Matthew Lawrence, said that she has been keeping busy by taking online courses, FaceTiming with her family and listening to various podcasts all while diamond painting. "I just try not to think about the future; I try to just live in this moment right now," she shared. "I get anxious like any other person, but at the end of the day, diamond painting helps me with alleviating that stress. It's not hard. It does take a good couple of months to finish it, but when you finish it, you feel so accomplished."
"I've collected, like, Swarovski rhinestones throughout my years of ballroom dancing. I've been using them for these canvases," added Burke, who is launching her own diamond painting canvases in June. "There’s something about this that’s super therapeutic for me. When I was competing, before I did Dancing With the Stars, I used to rhinestone my own costumes and I just loved it."
Meanwhile, Burgess confessed that she's been "going a little stir crazy" with so much alone time, but has been watching a lot of Netflix, working on new dance cardio classes for her fans and more.
"I'm trying to doing some live dance classes and live cardio dance workouts, which has been a lot of fun for me," she shared. "Just trying to build more of that content so I can have some great stuff to give people while everyone's locked at home. I've been designing more workouts and more ways of doing things, even cool little fun dance classes that I can put together for people at home."
"I think this is going to be the new normal for a while, which is daunting," she added. "So anything I can do help me pass the time and help everyone else ... that's kind of the goal right now."
Hear more in the video below.
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