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Is having dance experience on Dancing with the Stars actually a blessing or a hidden curse? We're diving deep into the ultimate DWTS controversy — exploring whether a professional dance background truly gives celebrities an unfair advantage, or whether it secretly stacks the odds against them when it comes to winning the Mirrorball Trophy. Which side of the debate are you on? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00Do you dance at all?
00:02I can dance, I can move.
00:04Okay.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:07And today, we're investigating the ultimate Dancing with the Stars controversy.
00:12Do celebs with professional dance backgrounds actually have an unfair advantage?
00:16Or does being a ringer stack the odds against them when it comes to taking home the Mirrorball trophy?
00:21I grew up dancing, but no ballroom.
00:24No ballroom.
00:27Practically every year, we get the same story.
00:29The lineup is revealed, a dancer is spotted, and the outrage begins.
00:33So I know you've danced on TikTok already.
00:36You've danced on those secret lives of Mormon wives.
00:38Of course.
00:40What's the energy you can bring?
00:41What do you feel like is your special magic?
00:44Ooh, lots of booty shaking.
00:46They have an unfair advantage.
00:47They're ruining the underdog story.
00:49Sound familiar?
00:50Yet if the history of the show has taught us anything,
00:53it's that a dance background is a long way from a golden ticket to the Mirrorball.
00:57Sometimes, it doesn't even get you to the finale.
01:00I think I can speak for all of the people who love you and love watching you dance,
01:03both last time you were here and this time, week six.
01:06Sucks!
01:08Sure, experience gives you a leg up, but it comes with its own set of trapdoors.
01:13You aren't just learning choreography.
01:15You're forced to unlearn years of hardwired habits,
01:18master the rigid mechanics of partnering,
01:20and constantly prove to cynical viewers that you're sweating just as hard as everyone else.
01:25Boom, it's hip-hop.
01:27Boom, it's hip-hop.
01:28That is Latin.
01:30That is Latin.
01:32Boom, it's hip-hop.
01:34Don't confuse you too.
01:35I got you.
01:36The advantage debate.
01:37Look, we're not denying that having a dance background is a massive advantage on a show like this.
01:42You're coming in with a deep understanding of musicality and how a body actually moves.
01:47From core strength and posture to spatial awareness and control.
01:51From the waist down, you've got to be crisp and clean with your legs and your hips.
01:57The upper body has got to show rhythm and musicality.
02:01In addition to that, you've got to come out and perform.
02:05And you did all three.
02:08That usually helps you learn choreography way faster,
02:12leaving extra time to polish the technique.
02:14Plus, it means you can deliver higher-quality routines right out of the gate,
02:18letting your partner and the choreographers be much more ambitious with what they put together.
02:35Often, that edge doesn't just stay in the training room.
02:38It carries right over to show night, too.
02:49These celebs are usually pop stars or stage veterans who already know how to work a live audience.
02:55They're used to the drill with hair, makeup, and costumes,
02:58performing under glaring lights,
03:00and keeping their cool with millions of eyes on them.
03:03The way you hit the beat is almost like HD 3D.
03:08You manage to lock it and anticipate it and still be on it.
03:12I was backing that character, man.
03:14They also tend to grasp that a great performance is about way more than just hitting the steps.
03:19It's about selling every single moment.
03:21And that is a whole lot easier to do when your brain isn't fried
03:24from trying to remember everything you drilled all week.
03:27It's not in my nature to be nice about two dances in one night.
03:33So I am really disappointed because there was nothing I could see to criticize it.
03:42The muscle memory trap.
03:44Here's the thing, though.
03:45For the average Dancing with the Stars contestant,
03:47this is their first foray into the dance world.
03:50They're a complete blank slate, building their foundation from the ground up.
03:54But for someone with years of dance experience,
03:56the challenge often isn't learning how to move.
03:59It's teaching their body to move in a whole new way.
04:02I'm used to dancing, like, really down in my body, like, really more hip-hop oriented.
04:06This is very, like, forward and on your toes, and it's just different.
04:11If you've spent years doing commercial dance, hip-hop, or jazz,
04:15your body has deeply ingrained muscle memory.
04:18Things like turning in, breaking your frame, or dancing into the floor might work perfectly in other styles,
04:24but they can completely sink you in ballroom.
04:27The thing for you to be unlearning is it's a little placed.
04:32The lifted posture of a cha-cha, the expansive frame of a waltz,
04:36or the rigid matador-like structure of a passo doble all demand something completely different from your body.
04:42I think I have a bit of a disadvantage because I have to unlearn so much of, like,
04:47classically trained ballet moves that come to play when I'm trying to practice.
04:51Then there's the counting.
04:53Think every eight-count phrase is counted the same across the dance world?
04:57Think again.
04:58And slow. Quick, quick.
05:01Back, back. Back.
05:04Cross my front, babe. I just showed you.
05:07Even seasoned dancers can find ballroom timings completely bizarre
05:10because styles like the cha-cha and foxtrot don't always follow the rhythms they're used to.
05:15You're suddenly having to retrain your instincts,
05:18like starting a cha-cha on beat two instead of the downbeat.
05:21Oh, and if you're a follower, those counts are essentially for the lead anyway.
05:26She does those little outbursts every once in a while where she doesn't get the step
05:31and she just starts jumping around and screaming and yelling.
05:35Which brings us onto a whole other issue, partnering.
05:39Dancing with a partner in this capacity is, like, so new to me, so different.
05:43Of course, that background helped learning different techniques, but this was still very new to me.
05:50If you're used to dancing solo, factoring in another person is a completely different beast.
05:55Now you're sharing your center of gravity, reacting to someone else's momentum,
06:00and relying on subtle physical cues instead of simply moving because you know what comes next in the choreo.
06:06Just that.
06:07The Viennese waltz is completely different to anything I've ever done before.
06:11Definitely does not feel hot.
06:13Yeah.
06:15I'm working on looking graceful and not looking like I'm in pain.
06:21Movement is no longer just about what your body is doing.
06:24It's about communicating with someone else's.
06:26And for seasoned performers who are used to hitting every beat on autopilot,
06:31learning to actually follow can be a massive hurdle.
06:41Instead of jumping ahead and moving on count one because you know the music,
06:45you have to stay reactive and wait for the physical cue from your partner.
06:49It's a skill that might look simple from the outside,
06:52but it requires a completely different kind of awareness.
06:55So I was a gymnast growing up, and so that helped me get a little comfortable with my body.
06:59Between that and performing, you know, doing Broadway and theater and that kind of thing,
07:02I'm comfortable in front of an audience.
07:04But ballroom is, it is the most physically challenging thing I have ever done.
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07:21The underdog bias.
07:22But if we're being totally honest, what exactly is it that audiences tune in for?
07:27Say it with us now.
07:28The journey.
07:29Between week two and week ten, I've grown as a dancer.
07:32You do drag!
07:34And very good!
07:35Wow, you've come such a long way.
07:38Who doesn't love the classic underdog story of the celeb who came in barely knowing their left from their right,
07:43slowly grew throughout the season, and then lifted the mirror ball at the end?
07:47After all, isn't that what Dancing with the Stars is all about?
07:50If we wanted to watch Heather Morris dance, we could just re-watch Glee.
07:54If we wanted to see Sabrina Bryan or Corbin Bleu perform,
07:57we could have a Cheetah Girls or High School Musical Movie Marathon.
08:01I don't dance, no.
08:04Nothing to it.
08:05Atta boy, atta boy, yeah.
08:07Or if we wanted to watch Joey Fatone or AJ McLean bust a move,
08:11we could revisit their boy band days.
08:14The point is, viewers don't just want to see someone who can already dance.
08:18They want to watch someone transform into a dancer.
08:21And there's twists and turns, and you really don't know the result until you turn the last page.
08:28And the last page is just minutes away.
08:32Oh my gosh!
08:33The viewers certainly draw a hard line when it comes to true ringers.
08:37Where's the fun in seeing someone like Ellaria Baldwin quick-step ahead of the competition
08:41with a literal ballroom background?
08:43And if the producers won't draw that line themselves, you better believe the audience will.
08:48Ellaria and Glenn.
08:50Oh my god.
08:51Please join us for a final moment, Ellaria and Glenn.
08:56Short of that extreme, though, the fandom has made its feelings known through multiple shock
09:01eliminations over the years.
09:03From Sabrina Bryan and Heather Morris, to Elizabeth Berkley, Brandy and Tinashe.
09:08Then there are those who made it to the finals but couldn't clear that final hurdle,
09:12like Normani, Mel B, Jojo Siwa, Maya and Zendaya.
09:17Are you so proud of what you have accomplished making it this far?
09:19I am.
09:20I'm very proud and I'm very happy and I get to leave here, you know, with an amazing experience.
09:24So I'm happy.
09:25Yet strangely enough, that's not always the story.
09:28Nicole Scherzinger, Jennifer Grey, Jordan Fisher and Charli D'Amelio are among the stars
09:33who manage to make viewers overlook their experience and win their respective seasons.
09:38How did they do that?
09:39By understanding that while, yes, this is a dance competition, viewers are often just
09:44as invested in the partnership behind the scenes.
09:47Dancing with the stars is, strangely enough, it's not all about dancing.
09:51It's about, um, it's about a journey.
09:54It's about letting people get to know more about you and it's about you learning more
09:57about yourself.
09:58Ultimately, fans vote for emotional transformation and human connection just as much as technical
10:04perfection.
10:05We'd rather watch a powerful story unfold than a flawless machine perform.
10:09Plus, let's be honest, how many of us actually know whether they executed that fleckel correctly
10:15or whether those bachacatas were technically perfect?
10:18If it looked good and they sold the performance, that's usually enough for us.
10:31The impossible scorecard.
10:33We'll tell you who does know their stuff, though, from frame to footwork, the judges.
10:37They're there scrutinizing every heel lead, head position, line, timing, and piece of
10:43musicality.
10:44It had a little bit too much staccato.
10:47It looked more like a ballroom tango in places.
10:50It didn't have that sort of ooziness that you see in the Argentine tango.
10:54And it doesn't take them long to gauge a celeb's level and whether they're doing their personal
10:58best or whether there's another gear they could find.
11:01With so many spins and turns, they weren't executed with perfection.
11:04And really, that's all I had to judge from because there wasn't a lot of other dancing
11:08in it.
11:09So you performed it very well, but I just felt like I wanted a lot more from you.
11:14I expected a lot more.
11:16That's where experience can become a double-edged sword.
11:19Someone who starts from zero might score highly because they've made a huge leap from where
11:23they began, whereas someone coming in at an eight or nine is expected to keep pushing
11:28further.
11:29The judges aren't necessarily being harsher.
11:31They simply have a different level of expectation because they know what these contestants are
11:35capable of.
11:36Listen, you're all so good.
11:38We really have to work on details now because it's very, very difficult to differentiate because
11:44you give so much and you're so good and we're going to be tough.
11:47Don't get us wrong.
11:48These contestants will often still find themselves near the top of the leaderboard, if not sitting
11:53comfortably at the top.
11:54But the feedback tends to get much more technical.
11:56For me, there is far too much of this.
11:59Waft your arm, waft.
12:00I'd like to see a little bit more in the hold.
12:03And while not all of us understand every correction about frame, footwork, or timing, we do understand
12:09when the judges are saying that wasn't quite good enough.
12:12And after all these years, viewers know they usually know their stuff.
12:16It wasn't really my cup of tea.
12:18I felt it was a little bit dark.
12:20Viennese was I wanted to see more flow and there was a lot of these jerks.
12:23You know, I understand.
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12:56The Verdict.
12:57So yes, of course, having dance experience absolutely helps.
13:01Nobody's arguing otherwise.
13:03But history has shown that it's a long way from a guaranteed mirror ball.
13:07Must be swift as a coursing river with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength
13:16of a raging fire.
13:19Once the judges raise the bar, the audience starts looking for a journey.
13:23And you're battling years of muscle memory while trying to master the techniques of ballroom
13:27partnering.
13:27That so-called unfair advantage suddenly becomes a lot more complicated.
13:31It's so specific and so different from what I'm used to that it almost is a hinder.
13:37A disadvantage.
13:37Yeah.
13:37I agree.
13:38It's like you have to relearn all old habits.
13:40But is having dance experience a curse?
13:42Of course not.
13:44These are still elite, incredibly talented performers.
13:47But maybe next time the lineup drops and the internet starts screaming about an unfair advantage,
13:52it's worth taking a step back.
13:54Behind all that technical know-how, these contestants are carrying a unique set of challenges that
13:59total beginners never have to face.
14:02Whenever you feel comfortable, you're doing it wrong.
14:04Okay.
14:05And maybe they deserve just a little more appreciation and grace for the different
14:10weights they're carrying all season long, too.
14:12Being a ballroom dancer is very different than what you were trained in.
14:15And so I want you guys all to realize that it's very different.
14:18And you are putting in time and energy into something that you've never done before.
14:22Which side of the debate do you sit on?
14:24Let us know in the comments.
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