Bindi Irwin Is 'Hoping to Make Dad Proud' on 'Dancing With the Stars'

— -- When Bindi Irwin was first asked to participate in the new season of "Dancing with the Stars," she was floored.

After all, dancing has been a hobby of the conservationist's since she was a little girl in Australia.

"Living in a zoo means it wasn't always sparkly dresses but I would still dress up. I had this pink sparkly dress and fairy wings and I'd put those on and then go and dance in the zoo," she recalled in an interview with ABC News. "My best friend was a magpie goose and my magpie goose would follow me around and we'd dance in the zoo together. Then I'd be covered in mud! My poor fairy dress - my mom has washed it more times [than I can count]!"

Now, years later, she may be trading a backyard for a ballroom, but there will almost certainly be sparkly dresses in her near future: Irwin, 17, appeared on "Good Morning America" this morning to announce that she'll be participating in season 21 of the ABC dancing competition. The daughter of Terri Irwin and the late "Crocodile Hunter" star Steve Irwin, TV has been a part of the teenager's life since she was little. Still, this show, she admitted, will be dramatically different -- especially fashion-wise.

"I'm not used to being in heels, so I've been trying to practice," she said, adding that she's excited to "step away from khaki just slightly." "It's nice to be a girly girl now and then."

In between "DWTS" practices, Irwin, who will be joined in L.A. for the duration of filming by her mother and 11-year-old brother, Robert, will also be finishing up her high school degree online and continuing her conservation efforts. She told ABC News that she's also hoping to carry on her father's legacy.

"Dad was that one person who no matter what he did in life he just took it by storm, and he was so passionate and just really lived in the moment," she said. "Whatever the opposite of a procrastinator is, that was him... and I think I kind of inherited a little bit of that. I'm hoping to make dad proud."

And while she's admittedly nervous about learning new moves and performing them for millions, Irwin, who said her only request for a partner is someone who loves animals, said that she wants her leap of faith to inspire others to take chances, too.

"I kind of think of my life as this incredible hurricane of so many adventures," she said. "We can all make a difference and we can all be courageous and believe in ourselves."