Jenna Dewan is responding to criticism over her casting on Dancing with the Stars.
If you didn’t see the news, it was announced on Wednesday (September 2) that the 45-year-old The Rookie actress will be competing on season 35 of the ABC competition series with pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
Jenna‘s casting sparked some backlash on social media with many arguing that she has professional dance experience, since she started out as Janet Jackson‘s backup dancer and starred in the 2006 dance movie Step Up opposite now-ex-husband Channing Tatum. Many fans believe that Jenna‘s extensive dance background gives her an unfair advantage over the other contestants that don’t have the same level of experience.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jenna defended her casting, saying that while she is a experienced dancer, “I do not know how to ballroom dance.”
“Let’s be clear. It’s two different languages,” she explained. “There’s parts of my dance training that’s helpful, obviously. I’ve learned choreography, I can perform, but there is a certain sense of unlearning for me. It’s a new technique, brand new technique. It almost threw me off initially because I had to unlearn a lot of — I don’t want to say bad habits — but just habits of the style that I’m used to.”
Jenna said that her dance background almost makes her “a little more nervous” to compete on the show because ballroom dancing “feels really foreign.”
“It’s not like you’re giving me a style that I’ve done — I can go out there and do that,” she added. “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.”
Val, 40, also defended Jenna‘s casting, saying, “First of all, it’s naive to think that this show is just about dance. It’s about the human experience and the human journey and how much you’re willing to reveal yourself. Dance is a vehicle for us to find out more about these people — and I think that’s our advantage.”
The 3-time mirrorball trophy winner noted that Jenna“comes in with incredible talent,” but added, “with great talent comes incredible expectation — that’s my challenge.”
“The way I approach things is that you’re only as good as the thing that you’ve never done, so I’m going to push her and push us to showcase to the world something they haven’t seen from her yet. That’s a challenge in itself because we’ve seen her at the highest form of dance and what that expression can look like —” Valsaid, before Jenna interjected to add, “Many years ago!”
Dancing with the Stars season 35 premieres on September 15 on ABC and Disney+. Check out thefull cast list here!
Posted To:Dancing With the StarsJenna DewanVal Chmerkovskiy
