Okay, So Which Celebs on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Season 35 Actually Have Professional Dance Experience?

Dancing With the Stars season 35 hasn’t even officially started yet and there’s already drama thanks to the cast “eye-rolling” and “whispering” about each other behind the scenes. The problem? The fact that some people went to Juilliard have prior dance experience when this show’s premise is professionals teaching non-professionals how to dance. Fans have specifically called out Jenna Dewan’s casting (and she issued a response defending herself), but there’s actually more than one person on Season 35 that has a dancing background. Let’s get into it!Amber GlennAs an Olympic gold medalist ice skater, Amber definitely has an understanding of movement and form, though she made it clear that dancing off the ice is very different from dancing on the ice. “Everything’s so new and so refreshing, I definitely thought ‘Okay, the structure, how I hold myself is going to be pretty similar,’” she told Entertainment Tonight. “Oh no. I’m used to being so square and ready, and its like, ‘No, you’re twisting.’ I’m like ‘Oh my god okay, new muscles being used, okay great awesome!’”Ciara MillerWhile she was never a professional dancer, Summer House star Ciara Miller told Us Weekly that she did ballet for 10 years. Meaning she definitely knows how to dance, which should come in handy once she’s in the ballroom.Harry Shum Jr.Harry Shum Jr. might have more dance experience than anyone else on the show. He was a backup dancer for the likes of Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, and Jessica Simpson; also starred as a dancer in Glee; and was in Step Up 2 and Step Up 3D. But Harry pushed back against claims he has an unfair advantage, telling People “I think everyone’s idea is like, ‘Oh, you dance, so you should be able to dance anything.’ And I mean, that’s just not true. There are hundreds of styles, not dozens, hundreds all over the world.”Jenna DewanOn top of starring in the original Step Up—which is a very dance-heavy movie—Jenna was a backup dancer for Janet Jackson on tour. Dancing is part of her DNA!Connor LeavittConnor has some dance experience thanks to TikTok (look, those skills come in handy!) and he was also in 11 to Midnight—an Off-Broadway dance show.Julia StilesJulia was in Save the Last Dance and had to train pretty intensely for the film. I mean, THIS SPEAKS FOR ITSELF:Tyler CameronHe doesn’t have “professional” dance experience in the traditional sense, but this isn’t Tyler’s first dance competition show. He was runner-up on The Real Dirty Dancing back in 2022.And for what it’s worth, this isn’t the first season of DWTS where the celebs have some dancing experience. Charli D’Amelio was a competitive dancer before winning the show, Dirty Dancing’s very own Jennifer Grey also won, multiple Olympic ice skaters and gymnasts have competed over the years, and Dance Moms alum JoJo Siwa was a runner-up!