Over the past few years, Dancing With the Stars has seen a resurgence I don’t think even the most talented fortune tellers could’ve predicted. Thanks to social media-savvy pros and the good ole’ power of virality, Dancing with the Stars may be the most talked-about show on television right now. But with that resurgence comes a lot of new fans, and it can be a little difficult to context clue your way through over 20 years of iconic moments. So, if you’re new to the DWTS fam, first of all, welcome! Secondly, I’m doing the investigative work to round up every piece of Dancing With the Stars lore you may have missed, so you can keep up with even the longest of fans.
How Dancing with the Stars pros are cast
You may have assumed that the pros’ casting process works like that of a typical TV show: You audition, then you’re cast. But it’s actually a web of connections. Many of them grew up dancing at Center Stage Performing Arts in Utah, including Derek Hough, Julianne Hough, Witney Carson, Lindsay Arnold, Rylee Arnold, Jenna Johnson, Brandon Armstrong, Ezra Sosa, and Hailey Bills. Mark Ballas’ father, Corky, was also on the show, and his mom, Shirley, who recently appeared as a guest judge and judges the British version of the show, Strictly, trained many of the pros who grew up in Utah, especially Julianne and Derek, who grew up very close to Mark.
If you haven’t caught on to some of the duplicate last names, there’s also a sibling trend when it comes to the pros. Past pro Lindsay Arnold is the older sister of current pro Rylee Arnold; Val Chmerkovskiy’s brother, Maks, also used to be a pro on the show; and Hailey Bills is the niece of Jenna Johnson, who is married to Val, if you somehow missed that.
There’s also a strong DWTS troupe and Juniors pipeline. Many current pros, like Rylee and Hailey, started on DWTS Juniors, along with current troupe member Kamri Peterson. Hailey and Ezra were also both troupe members before getting promoted to pro.
The Dancing with the Stars relationship drama
OK, bear with me on this section. There is a lot of relationship drama within the Dancing With the Stars cast. Like a “where is HR??” level of relationship drama. Pro Sasha Farber proposed to fellow pro Emma Slater on the show, then they got divorced, and now she’s dating pro Alan Bernstein. Alan also dated Derek Hough’s wife, Hayley, a while ago. Mark Ballas and Witney Carson dated years ago and still don’t really talk.
Multiple celebs have also married their dance partners, like Kym Johnson and Robert Herjavec, Daniel Durant and Britt Stewart, and Sharna Burgess and actor Brian Austin Green, who are engaged. That’s not even getting into all the showmances that happen while filming. You may remember a particularly messy fling between pro Gleb Savchenko and Brooks Nader in recent seasons. Basically, there have to be some awkward moments at work.
The commercial versus ballroom-trained pro drama
For the average viewer, it may look like every pro is an absolute master in their field. But they actually all have different backgrounds in dance. Some pros grew up training in ballroom dancing, whereas others are trained commercial dancers who have more recently become experts in ballroom. This conversation always comes up when pros (mostly Gleb and Maks) start critiquing other pros for not having the correct training; i.e., Jan is a commercial dancer. He also didn’t start on the troupe first. The Chmerkovskiys, Ballases, Houghs, and Pashkovs are all Latin and ballroom-trained and come from the traditional competitive dance world.
Dancing with the Stars judge drama
If you’re a newer fan, you may notice that the internet definitely has thoughts about the judges. Specifically, there have been calls for Carrie Ann Inaba to not return for another season. If you’re wondering why the turn on Carrie Ann, it was more of a gradual shift. She kind of had to step into the Simon Cowell role by default after the passing of the previous technique-focused judge, ballroom dancer Len Goodman, and people often criticize her for inconsistent feedback and scoring.
People also tend to slight her because she doesn’t have a ballroom background, but her defense has always been that the panel of judges has represented all dance backgrounds to reflect the show’s mix of them all (Bruno Tonioli’s roots in choreography and musicals, Len and now Derek with careers in traditional ballroom, and Carrie Ann being commercial dance; she was a Fly Girl on In Living Color with JLo).
How Dancing with the Stars has changed
There have been some structural changes to the show that are important to know because fans definitely have thoughts. The first one is that there used to be a judges’ save, which, honestly, I hope they bring back. The couples also used to all dance one of two dance styles a week, so you could more directly compare each celebrity against the others. Some people think they should also bring this back so we aren’t judging a contemporary against an Argentine tango.
Lauren Blue, Editor & Book Club Co-Host
As an Editor for The Everygirl, Lauren ideates and writes content for every facet of our readers’ lives, from must-read books and behind-the-scenes interviews to beauty products she can’t live without. When she isn’t sitting in an AMC watching the latest buzzy release, she can be found scouring Goodreads for the perfect pick for The Everygirl Book Club. There, she co-hosts discussions with members, debating plotlines, fancasting characters, and, of course, tossing in her own recommendations.
