Her Pa, who is now 90, was a dancing teacher in Ballarat in the 1940s.

"The last time he and I danced together was around 10 years ago, a silly little shuffle around the couch when he could still stand up okay," Ms Skewes said.

"He and my grandmother were always the first on the dancefloor and the last off."

Ms Skewes said she hoped her Pa would be able to watch her dance via live streaming at the Dancing With Our Stars gala evening on June 22, when she will compete against 10 other Ballarat identities in a fundraising effort for the Ballarat Foundation.

The blogger, photographer and actor has spent the past three months learning and practicing her dance and raising money through social media, while juggling acting school, work, blogging and photography, and overcoming health struggles.

Watch Liana pitch for your vote in the video below.

Rehearsals have been interrupted by a bout of shingles and the flu throughout her Dancing With Our Stars journey.

Ms Skewes said she was looking forward to ditching high heels for rock climbing shoes after the event was over and making time for the hobby she loves, but will continue her passionate advocacy for the Ballarat Foundation.

"The motto of the foundation is to break the cycle of disadvantage in our community. I did the leadership Ballarat program a couple of years ago and to hear the statistics around the disadvantage and the ongoing impacts was shocking," she said.

"In the 2015-2016 financial year, 12 per cent of the Ballarat population needed emergency food relief. That is insane. Various emergency food relief organisations gave out 55,000 meals in 2016 alone.

"To me knowing the Ballarat Foundation was keeping hungry people fed, helping people become employable and helping kids get literate, how could I say no?."

Community members can show their support for Ms Skewes or their favourite dancing 'star' by voting online. A $1 donation is one vote and equals one entry to win a diamond ring valued at $22,400.

Visit ballaratfoundation.org/dwos/ for more information and to vote.

The Ballarat Foundation is aiming to raise $100,000 through its biggest community fundraising effort yet - Dancing With Our Stars.

The philanthropic organisation's purpose is to unite community to break cycles of disadvantage.

"Regardless of circumstance or background no one person should be devoid of opportunity," the foundation's purpose statement reads.

"The causes of entrenched disadvantage are complex and no single organisation can solve these issues alone. We need to work together to achieve change."

The Ballarat Foundation's four key focus areas are school readiness, youth success, housing security and food security.

READ MORE: Ballarat Foundation's big community impact

In December the organisation estimated it delivered around $700,000 worth of community value throughout 2018.

Last year the foundation raised more than $65,000 to address food insecurity, with an additional $5 million state government investment for Foodbank hub in Ballarat announced in the lead up to the November election.

Four new events contributed to the momentum behind action on food insecurity; the Chairman's Lunch, Art for a Cause, Food for Thought and Run for a Cause as well as the launch of the Feed Ballarat campaign - and now in 2019 Dancing With Our Stars.

The foundation gifted $96,000 in grants to more than 20 community organisations, donated 6000 books through the Ballarat Reads program and distributed $10,000 in vouchers to assist vulnerable families with back to school vouchers last year.

More than 90 young learner drivers were given the opportunity to gain more than 3500 hours towards their license through the foundation's L2P program and 36 young drivers graduated from the program.

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