{"id":62199,"date":"2026-09-03T09:39:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/?p=62199"},"modified":"2026-09-03T09:39:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:39:43","slug":"i-do-not-know-how-to-ballroom-dance-jenna-dewan-defends-dwts-casting-amid-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/09\/03\/i-do-not-know-how-to-ballroom-dance-jenna-dewan-defends-dwts-casting-amid-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I do not know how to ballroom dance\u2019: Jenna Dewan defends DWTS casting amid criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

I genuinely think that every single year when the Dancing With The Stars<\/a> cast list is announced there’s always someone in there who we all already know can dance and it doesn’t go down well, and that’s the exact case this year for Jenna Dewan. <\/p>\n

She’s received some criticism over her casting from those who think she already has too much dancing experience, after all she was quite literally a backup dancer for Janet Jackson and who could forget her iconic role in Step Up?!<\/p>\n

However, Jenna slammed the backlash in an interview with Entertainment Weekly<\/a>, sharing: “I do not know how to ballroom dance. Let\u2019s be clear. It\u2019s two different languages. There\u2019s parts of my dance training that\u2019s helpful, obviously. I\u2019ve learned choreography, I can perform, but there is a certain sense of unlearning for me. It\u2019s a new technique, brand new technique. It almost threw me off initially because I had to unlearn a lot of \u2014 I don\u2019t want to say bad habits \u2014 but just habits of the style that I\u2019m used to.”<\/p>\n

She admits that already knowing how to dance actually makes her feel “a little more nervous\u201d because ballroom \u201cfeels really foreign.\u201d She explained: “It\u2019s not like you\u2019re giving me a style that I\u2019ve done \u2014 I can go out there and do that. It has its advantages, but it also has its challenges. But that was part of why I wanted to do it. I really wanted to challenge myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her Dancing With The Stars partner Val Chmerkovskiy, also defended Jenna Dewan, saying that in the end “it’s all relative.”<\/p>\n

He shared: “First of all, it\u2019s naive to think that this show is just about dance. It\u2019s about the human experience and the human journey and how much you\u2019re willing to reveal yourself. Dance is a vehicle for us to find out more about these people \u2014 and I think that\u2019s our advantage.<\/p>\n

“Forget the dancing part. My advantage is that I\u2019m partnered with an incredible human being that I\u2019m excited to showcase and tell stories with and share space with and celebrate as a woman, as a mother, as someone that gets a chance to do what they love again. That\u2019s what I think our advantages are. And I\u2019m excited to celebrate that, hopefully for as long as people are willing to vote for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all the latest reality TV cast member news, scandals, gossip and updates \u2013 like <\/i>Reality Shrine<\/a><\/i> on <\/i>Facebook<\/a><\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She’s starred in Step Up and used to be a backup dancer for Janet Jackson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249734183,"featured_media":62205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1358],"tags":[2165],"class_list":["post-62199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dancing-with-the-stars"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/09\/03\/i-do-not-know-how-to-ballroom-dance-jenna-dewan-defends-dwts-casting-amid-criticism\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"‘I do not know how to ballroom dance\u2019: Jenna Dewan defends DWTS casting amid criticism","url":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/09\/03\/i-do-not-know-how-to-ballroom-dance-jenna-dewan-defends-dwts-casting-amid-criticism\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/09\/03\/i-do-not-know-how-to-ballroom-dance-jenna-dewan-defends-dwts-casting-amid-criticism\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.realitytvshrine.com\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Ellie-New-Featured-Images-2026-09-03T093615.597-150x150.png","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.realitytvshrine.com\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Ellie-New-Featured-Images-2026-09-03T093615.597.png"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ellie Ring"}],"creator":["Ellie Ring"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Reality Shrine","logo":"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-mX3_1x3z.png"},"keywords":["dancing with the stars"],"dateCreated":"2026-09-03T08:39:43Z","datePublished":"2026-09-03T08:39:43Z","dateModified":"2026-09-03T08:39:43Z"},"rendered":"