Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Casts Jenna Dewan — and Fans Are Split Over Her Dance Background

Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Is Cast — and the Jenna Dewan Debate Is Already Loud

Every fall, ABC unveils a new Dancing with the Stars cast, fans cheer for their favorites, and the internet immediately finds something to argue about. This year, the argument started before the pairs even hit the floor. When the Season 35 lineup was revealed live on Good Morning America, the loudest reaction wasn’t about who was in — it was about whether one of the biggest names in it deserved to be there at all.

That name is Jenna Dewan. The mere announcement of her casting turned the ballroom fandom into two camps: one convinced her professional dance résumé is a built-in unfair advantage, the other pointing out that knowing how to move in a music video is a long way from mastering a Paso Doble. Both sides have real arguments. And the best part? Dewan herself kicked the whole thing up a notch by insisting she has no idea how to ballroom dance.

The Backlash, Explained

Jenna Dewan is not your typical DWTS rookie. She first broke into entertainment as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, going on to work with Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliott and Justin Timberlake before she ever landed a starring screen role. Then came 2006’s Step Up, the dance film opposite Channing Tatum that turned her into a household name and launched a franchise that kept spinning sequels for years.

So when ABC announced she’d be competing in Season 35, plenty of viewers cried foul. Their logic is straightforward: a woman who danced professionally for some of the biggest pop stars on the planet, then headlined a movie literally about dancers, hardly seems like the underdog the show is built around. Social media lit up with posts accusing producers of stacking the field, with one widely shared comment calling her pairing with a veteran pro an unfair matchup given her history in front of a camera.

It’s a fair instinct. But the counter-argument is just as strong, and it’s worth hearing out before you grab your pitchfork.

“I Do Not Know How to Ballroom Dance”

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Dewan fired back at the criticism with a genuinely funny and, honestly, convincing defense. “I do not know how to ballroom dance,” she said, describing the gulf between her background and the show’s format as being “two different languages.” Where commercial and music-video choreography relies on sharp, freestyle, camera-facing moves, competitive ballroom is a very specific, rigidly codified discipline — Latin and Standard technique with precise footwork, framed posture and intricate partner work that has almost nothing in common with popping for a Janet Jackson tour.

She called ballroom a “brand new technique,” and admitted that breaking in meant unlearning a decade-plus of muscle memory rather than building on it. Anyone who has ever tried to take a dance class in a completely new style knows exactly how humbling that transition is — your body keeps doing the thing it knows while your brain screams the new counts at it.

Her partner, longtime DWTS pro Val Chmerkovskiy, backed her louder than the haters. He argued that the show has never been purely about who dances best, and that reducing it to technique misses what actually separates contestants every year. The competition, he pointed out, rewards emotional openness, chemistry and personal storytelling as much as execution. If anything, the outsized expectations now sitting on Dewan’s shoulders may work against her, because audiences and judges both tend to hold “the professional” to a much higher bar. Chmerkovskiy said his plan is to push her into unfamiliar territory rather than lean on moves she’s already mastered.

She’s Not the Only One With Dance Cred

Here’s the part of the backlash that doesn’t quite add up: Jenna Dewan is nowhere near the only Season 35 contestant with serious performing experience, and nobody is typing angry paragraphs about the others. Glee and Step Up 2: The Streets alum Harry Shum Jr. has spent his whole career dancing on screen, and he faced a similar wave of criticism when his casting was announced. He pushed back on the same grounds Dewan did, telling Us Weekly that ballroom is completely different from what he’s done before. “I was lip-synching while dancing,” he shrugged of his Glee days, “so that’s a little different.” He also noted the one partner dance he attempted on the show nearly killed him.

Then there’s Julia Stiles — of Save the Last Dance fame — who joins the lineup with plenty of screen-dance mileage of her own. In other words, “has danced in a movie” applies to a shockingly large chunk of this cast. If you’re going to argue Dewan has an edge, you’re opening the door to arguing against half the list.

The Rest of the Season 35 Cast

The full Season 35 lineup runs 16 celebrities deep, a genuinely fun mix of stars and personalities you’d expect to see grinding through choreography every week. Alongside Dewan, Shum and Stiles are The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air‘s Tatyana Ali, Food Network favorite Giada De Laurentiis, Hanson frontman Taylor Hanson, Love Island alum Maura Higgins, Paralympic double gold medalist Ezra Frech, Olympic figure skating champion Amber Glenn, Savannah Bananas star Jackson Olson, comedian Connor Wood, and late-night sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez of Jimmy Kimmel Live! fame. Reality TV makes its usual strong showing with Tyler Cameron, Ciara Miller, Conner Leavitt and Sarah Jane Nader also in the mix.

Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough are back hosting, with Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli returning behind the judges’ table. There’s even a brand-new DWTS After Party, hosted by last season’s winner Robert Irwin and airing live after the second night.

Does Dance Experience Actually Help?

It’s the eternal DWTS question, and the answer is more complicated than fans on either side want to admit. Yes, a dancer with professional choreography experience starts with a feel for rhythm, musicality and performing to a crowd — all genuinely useful on the show. But competitive ballroom is its own beast, one that rewards contestants who show up as blank slates and get built up properly. Time and again, the show has proven that raw enthusiasm and a great partnership can out-dance somebody coasting on past glory. The mirrorball has gone to athletes, singers and reality stars with no formal training whatsoever, while trained performers have been eliminated shockingly early.

If anything, the pressure cuts both ways. Dewan is walking in with a target on her back and a fanbase that will judge her every wobble. That’s not an advantage. That’s a lot of weight to carry into round one.

When to Watch Season 35

Season 35 kicks off with a two-night premiere on Tuesday, September 15 and Wednesday, September 16, at 8 p.m. ET across the U.S. The show airs live and simulcasts on ABC and Disney+, with episodes landing on Hulu the next day — so wherever you watch, you won’t miss the chaos. And given the cast reveal is already drawing this much heat, the premiere is going to be appointment viewing.

As a fast-forward taste of the drama, it’s worth remembering that these reality competition shows all live and die by the same formula — raw talent meeting ruthless public opinion. If you can’t get enough of it, you’re probably already deep in America’s Got Talent‘s current run, and you know the drill by now. The stage lights come on, the pressure builds, and half the fun is arguing about who earned their spot.

As for Jenna Dewan specifically, here’s my hot take: let the woman dance. If she’s actually brilliant, we get to watch a seasoned performer get humbled, remade and pushed into something genuinely new. If she’s a mess, we get a hilarious trainwreck storyline. Either way, Season 35 just got a whole lot more interesting. The only thing left to decide is which side of the argument you’re on — before the first cha-cha even starts. And if you’re still catching up on reality shows, she’s not the only star currently pulling double duty — just check the fall slate and pick your player.