For more than two decades, the ballroom has had a rhythm of its own.
The lights come up. The orchestra begins. A celebrity who looked perfectly confident only seconds earlier suddenly realizes that millions of people are watching every step. Somewhere nearby, a professional dancer whispers one last instruction. Then the music begins, and there is nowhere left to hide.
That mixture of glamour, nerves, transformation and unpredictability has carried Dancing With the Stars through 34 seasons.
Now the ballroom is preparing to open its doors again.
Season 35 arrives this September with 16 new celebrity contestants, several intriguing partnerships, a returning professional dancer and a brand-new pro who earned her place through competition. But despite early speculation that the judges’ table itself might undergo a major shake-up, ABC has confirmed that the three familiar judges are staying exactly where viewers know them: Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough. (www-cdn.abcnews.com)
And perhaps that is the real story of this season.
Almost everything around them is changing.
The three people holding the score paddles are not.
Three Judges, Three Completely Different Personalities
A judging panel works best when its members don’t see the same performance in exactly the same way.
Dancing With the Stars has understood that almost from the beginning.
Carrie Ann Inaba has spent years looking for the emotional center of a performance while remaining notoriously attentive to technical details. Bruno Tonioli can turn a critique into something resembling a theatrical performance of its own. Derek Hough brings the perspective of someone who has actually stood on the other side of that desk, knowing exactly what it feels like to wait for a score after weeks of rehearsal.
Together, they have become one of the show’s most recognizable combinations.
Carrie Ann and Bruno have been part of the judging panel throughout the show’s history, while Derek’s relationship with the ballroom began very differently. Before becoming a judge in Season 29, he was one of its most successful professional dancers, winning the Mirrorball Trophy six times. (www-cdn.abcnews.com)
That history gives him a particularly unusual position.
When a contestant forgets choreography, Derek knows the panic.
When a professional dancer attempts something ambitious, he understands the calculation behind it.
When a routine succeeds spectacularly, he knows how much work probably happened in a rehearsal room before anyone saw the finished two minutes on television.
Now he believes Season 35 has something special.
“The cast is incredible,” Hough said while previewing the season on Good Morning America, adding that the professional dancers seemed energized, motivated and ready to compete. (eonline.com)
For a show entering its 35th season, that energy matters.
Longevity can be an achievement.
It can also become a problem.
Audiences need to feel that something unexpected could still happen.
And this year, there are plenty of reasons to believe it will.
The Judges Aren’t Actually the New Part
The promotional image may suggest a “brand-new judging panel,” but ABC’s official announcement tells a slightly different story.
Carrie Ann Inaba is returning.
Bruno Tonioli is returning.
Derek Hough is returning.
In other words, there isn’t a new permanent three-person panel for Season 35. It is the established trio coming back for another year. (abcnews.com)
There had been speculation that Shirley Ballas might join the panel after appearing on Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, alongside her son, longtime DWTS favorite Mark Ballas.
That didn’t happen.
When the official judges were announced on September 1, Shirley’s name wasn’t among them. (eonline.com)
Instead, the major changes are happening on the dance floor.
And that may prove much more interesting.
Sixteen Celebrities Walk Into a Ballroom
Every season begins with the same fascinating experiment.
Take people who have become extremely accomplished at something else and make them beginners again.
Actors who can perform effortlessly in front of cameras discover that a cha-cha doesn’t care about their résumé.
Athletes accustomed to controlling their bodies discover that ballroom technique requires an entirely different kind of precision.
Reality stars suddenly have nowhere to edit out the mistakes.
Musicians who understand rhythm intellectually must learn to express it through unfamiliar movement.
Season 35 has assembled an unusually varied group.
Among the contestants are The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actress Tatyana Ali, 10 Things I Hate About You and Save the Last Dance star Julia Stiles, actress and dancer Jenna Dewan, celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis and singer Taylor Hanson.
The cast also includes reality television personalities Tyler Cameron, Maura Higgins and Ciara Miller, Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn, Paralympian Ezra Frech, Savannah Bananas player Jackson Olson and Jimmy Kimmel Live! personality Guillermo Rodriguez. (apnews.com)
Sixteen celebrities.
Sixteen professional partners.
One Mirrorball Trophy.
And before the first competitive dance has even happened, audiences are already trying to predict who has the ingredients to reach the finale.
Some Names Immediately Stand Out
Jenna Dewan presents an obvious question.
She has extensive dance experience.
Before becoming widely known as an actress, dance was a significant part of her professional life, and that background will inevitably create expectations. Being able to dance, however, doesn’t automatically guarantee success on Dancing With the Stars.
Ballroom is its own language.
Technique matters.
Partnership matters.
And perhaps most importantly, audiences need to become emotionally invested.
Then there is Amber Glenn.
As an elite figure skater, she enters with balance, musicality, flexibility and the ability to perform under extraordinary pressure. Those are considerable advantages.
But ice and ballroom floors behave very differently.
A skater can glide.
A ballroom dancer has to create the illusion of gliding while actually controlling every transfer of weight.
That transition has challenged accomplished athletes before.
Julia Stiles brings another kind of curiosity.
Millions remember her from Save the Last Dance, a film built around dance and transformation. Seeing her step into the DWTS ballroom decades later carries a touch of nostalgia that the show has always known how to use brilliantly.
And then there are contestants like Guillermo Rodriguez, whose greatest advantage may have nothing to do with dance at all.
He knows how to entertain people.
On Dancing With the Stars, that can take someone surprisingly far.
A Familiar Face Returns to Dance
There is also a reunion waiting in the wings.
Sharna Burgess is returning as a professional dancer.
Her last competitive season was Season 30 in 2021, making her Season 35 comeback one of the most notable changes to the professional roster. (abcnews.com)
Longtime viewers know exactly what her return means.
Sharna isn’t entering the ballroom as someone trying to discover what the show is.
She knows the strange weekly rhythm intimately.
Monday begins with a new challenge.
Then comes choreography.
Training.
Corrections.
Camera blocking.
Costumes.
Pressure.
And eventually, the live performance.
A professional dancer on DWTS isn’t simply responsible for dancing beautifully. The pro must become choreographer, teacher, psychologist, motivator and partner.
Sometimes they receive a celebrity with natural rhythm.
Sometimes they don’t.
The job is to make both look as though they belong on the same floor.
Sharna has done it before.
Now she gets another chance.
The New Professional Who Had to Earn Her Spot
But perhaps the most fascinating professional entering Season 35 is Adele Zaikman.
Unlike most new pros who simply appear when a cast is announced, viewers have already watched Adele compete for the opportunity.
She won the inaugural season of Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, defeating AJ Pritchard and Selena Hamilton and earning a coveted position on the main show’s professional roster. (abcnews.com)
That creates an entirely different kind of pressure.
Her first season isn’t simply a debut.
It is the fulfillment of a promise.
During The Next Pro, Derek Hough praised her ability to command attention and suggested she wouldn’t merely fit into the existing DWTS cast — she could elevate it. (eonline.com)
Those are enormous words to carry into your first season.
But Adele appears ready for them.
After winning, she described the moment as a celebration of the sacrifices she had made to reach that point.
A “big ‘I made it’ moment,” she called it. (eonline.com)
Now comes the harder part.
She made it into the ballroom.
She still has to survive it.
A Historic Partnership
Season 35 will also feature another milestone.
Reality personality Sarah Jane Nader has been paired with professional dancer Hailey Bills, creating the third same-sex partnership in the history of the American edition of Dancing With the Stars. (apnews.com)
The pairing adds another element of unpredictability to a season already packed with unusual combinations.
That is ultimately what makes the casting stage so much fun.
Nobody knows yet which partnerships will truly work.
A pairing that looks perfect on paper can struggle.
Two people nobody expects to connect can suddenly produce the dance everyone remembers.
Chemistry can’t really be announced.
It has to appear.
Two Familiar Hosts Will Be Waiting
The judging panel isn’t the only familiar part of Season 35.
Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough will return as co-hosts. (abcnews.com)
Both have unusually deep connections to the competition.
Alfonso isn’t merely someone hired to present the show. He competed on it and won Season 19 alongside professional partner Witney Carson.
Julianne’s connection runs even deeper.
She was once one of the show’s professional dancers, winning two Mirrorball trophies before eventually returning in a completely different role as co-host.
That means much of the current Dancing With the Stars leadership comes from people who have actually experienced the competition.
Derek danced in it.
Julianne danced in it.
Alfonso competed in it.
They know what is happening beneath the sequins.
They know that behind the polished two-minute routine might be 30 hours of frustration.
They know how much a score can matter.
They know how badly someone can want one more week.
And perhaps that shared history helps explain why Dancing With the Stars continues to feel unusually connected to its own past.
The Shadow of Last Season
Of course, every new season begins underneath the shadow of the previous champion.
Season 34 ended with Robert Irwin and Witney Carson lifting the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy in November 2025.
Their victory came after a finale that also included Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy, Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa, Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach, and Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten. (abcnews.com)
Now the ballroom resets.
The scores return to zero.
The trophy waits for another name.
And somewhere among the 16 new contestants is the person who will eventually lift it.
At this point, nobody knows who.
That’s the magic.
Why Season 35 Feels Important
Thirty-five seasons is a remarkable number for any television program.
Most shows never get close.
Yet Dancing With the Stars has repeatedly managed to reinvent itself without abandoning the formula audiences originally loved.
The celebrities change.
Professional dancers arrive and leave.
Hosts change.
Judges evolve.
Streaming changes how audiences watch.
Social media changes how contestants interact with fans.
But at its heart, the premise remains almost absurdly simple.
Take someone famous.
Teach them to dance.
Put them under enormous pressure.
Then see what happens.
Sometimes the result is technically extraordinary.
Sometimes it is chaotic.
Sometimes a contestant arrives with seemingly every possible advantage and leaves early.
Sometimes someone who appears destined to disappear in Week 2 suddenly finds confidence and becomes a finalist.
The transformation is the real competition.
The Mirrorball is simply the reward at the end.
The Ballroom Opens September 15
Season 35 begins with a special two-night premiere on Tuesday, September 15, and Wednesday, September 16, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+. After the premiere, the competition will continue on Tuesdays, with episodes available the following day on Hulu. (abcnews.com)
When those ballroom doors open, the celebrities will arrive with different levels of experience.
Some will look comfortable immediately.
Some almost certainly won’t.
Someone will surprise Derek.
Someone will make Carrie Ann emotional.
Someone will inspire one of Bruno’s famously theatrical reactions.
Someone who thinks they cannot dance will discover that they can.
And eventually, one partnership will be standing beneath falling confetti holding the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.
So yes, Season 35 does have a fresh lineup and enormous expectations.
But the biggest surprise about the judging panel may be that there isn’t a surprise at all.
Carrie Ann Inaba is back.
Bruno Tonioli is back.
Derek Hough is back.
And after 35 seasons, perhaps Dancing With the Stars has learned one of television’s hardest lessons:
Sometimes keeping the right people in their chairs is just as important as finding new people to put on the dance floor.
If you’re looking for more celebrity news, read about Miley Cyrus saying goodbye to her last name or the heartbreaking story of Disney star Carla Jeffery.
