Oconomowoc graduate Morgan Larson on tour with 'Dancing with the Stars'

Morgan Larson had until the end of a phone call to determine whether she wanted to take on an opportunity to join the "Dancing with the Stars: Live! – Light Up the Night" winter tour. 

As she has done many times before, Larson didn't hesitate to try something new.

Larson, a 2007 graduate of Oconomowoc High School, replaced professional dancer Witney Carson on the tour and began rehearsals immediately.

"There wasn't any hesitation at all," Larson said. "I knew the answer as soon as I was asked. I was like, 'Yeah, it's happening.' "

The tour, which began Dec. 30, will last three months and span 71 shows.

"I love saying yes to anything that comes my way," Larson said. "If an opportunity presented itself, it's always a definite yes, and then I scramble to make it work."

For the last six years, Larson has lived in Los Angeles and been featured as a dancer in Disney Channel's "Teen Beach Movie" and "Teen Beach 2," "La La Land," "Ted 2" and the upcoming remake of "Valley Girl." She has also performed at the Golden Globes, Academy Awards, on "Glee" and the "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," among many others.

"I felt the past year I have done a lot of commercial dance," Larson said. "I wanted to be pushed again in doing something new, whether that was diving into behind-the-scene dance or assisting or working toward acting stuff and leaving the dance world. I was kind of in this limbo situation for a second. When 'Dancing with the Stars' came about, I was so grateful to go back to training."

Larson had worked with Mandy Moore, a choreographer for DWTS, for six seasons of the hit show as a commercial dancer who was brought in to work on the celebrity and pro dancer routines.

"I went from dancing for (Moore), to then assisting for her, to then being thrown into the ballroom world," Larson said.

Larson, who graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor's degree in dance, was not trained in ballroom dancing, so she will rehearse with the dancers and also take private lessons.

"The training I had in Wisconsin and in Arizona definitely prepped me for the work and the content that was on television, but it is a whole new ballgame of adjusting to dance on camera," Larson said. "It's just a different style I had really never done before but always wanted to do."

What's next?

After the tour — it concludes on March 18 in Los Angeles — Larson hopes to pursue more dancing-related ventures or acting opportunities.

"I think my next goal is to try and get on some sort of series," Larson said. "If that is being a troupe dancer on 'Dancing with the Stars' and doing their next season, I would love that, I would freak out and be totally ecstatic. But anything on TV and film I am really searching for. I just want to keep pushing and keep doing the next big thing and see where that takes me."

The life she has lived for the past six years hasn't been easy, but years ago when she was a teenager in Oconomowoc, Larson knew it was the life she wanted most.

"I'm scared out of my mind every day," Larson said. "But I'm like, 'I've committed to this life so it has to work out.' I'm making it work out. I'm really, really scared, but I still feel like my drive and my want to have more is a little bit more than fear. I'm just going with that, even though I'm totally scared all the time."