Tonight, the ballroom lights come on for Season 35 of Dancing with the Stars.
ABC is opening the season with a special two-night premiere. The male celebrities compete tonight, the female celebrities take the floor Wednesday, and each performs to a No. 1 song from the year they were born. One celebrity is scheduled to be eliminated at the end of each premiere night.
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Before anyone receives a score, though, there is another part of Dancing with the Stars that may be every bit as much fun:
Deciding who you actually want to root for.
Before opening night, Amy looked at Season 35 from the perspective of a professional ballroom dance instructor and three-time Dancers Cup Tour champion. She identified contestants whose backgrounds could give them an interesting head start.
If you missed it, read
Amy’s Dancing with the Stars Season 35 predictions and cast preview
.
Today, we’re asking something different: Who does Amy actually want to cheer for?
Amy Hanson has a few Season 35 favorites — and she isn’t choosing all of them for the same reason.
The interesting part is that Amy isn’t simply identifying the people she thinks are most likely to win. She’s choosing people she wants to watch.
Those can be two very different lists.
Maybe that is the best way to approach opening night.
Season 35 includes celebrities with wildly different backgrounds: professional dance experience, elite athletics, acting, music, reality television, comedy, food television and even Banana Ball.
ABC’s official cast announcement confirms 16 celebrity-and-professional pairings.
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That variety is exactly why “Who do you think will win?” and “Who are you rooting for?” can produce completely different answers.
Amy admits these are two contestants she expects to be good — because neither is a stranger to dancing.
Before many viewers knew Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang on Glee, he worked professionally as a dancer. His résumé includes dancing with major recording artists and appearances in the Step Up franchise.
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Jenna Dewan also began her entertainment career as a professional dancer, including work with Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott and Christina Aguilera, before becoming widely known through Step Up.
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But there is an important distinction. Knowing how to dance is not the same as knowing how to ballroom dance. Judge Bruno Tonioli has specifically noted that ballroom and Latin require their own technique and that training in ballet, jazz or hip-hop does not automatically make someone a ballroom dancer.
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Amy has become a big Savannah Bananas fan. She followed the team on social media, saw them when they came to the Twin Cities and found herself especially entertained by Jackson Olson.
Olson is not simply a baseball player who happens to be entering a dance competition. Performance is already part of his job. MLB has specifically highlighted the Bananas’ choreographed in-game dance routines featuring Olson.
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Interestingly, Olson has said he was a shy kid who did not dance or put himself out there before eventually discovering a passion for entertaining people.
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That may be exactly why he is interesting on a show like this. He already understands that sometimes performing well means being willing to look a little silly, commit completely and make sure the audience is having fun.
Sometimes you choose a couple because of the professional dancer.
For Amy, that means rooting for Minnesota’s Alan Bersten.
Alan’s roots run deep in the Twin Cities ballroom community. His brother Gene Bersten and sister-in-law Elena Bersten operate Dance With Us America in Edina, which describes itself as Alan’s home studio.
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Alan’s Season 35 partner is celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis, who has said her daughter encouraged her to step outside her comfort zone and accept the challenge.
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Not every rooting interest requires professional analysis.
His last name is Hanson.
Amy’s last name is Hanson.
As Amy puts it: “Go Taylor.”
Of course, Taylor has been performing in front of audiences for most of his life as a member of HANSON, so the question may be whether that comfort onstage translates when the instrument is replaced by choreography.
ABC confirmed Taylor and professional partner Britt Stewart among the Season 35 couples.
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Because tonight belongs to the male celebrities, several of Amy’s favorites get tested immediately.
ABC says Jackson Olson will dance a Cha Cha to “Wannabe,” while Harry Shum Jr. will perform a Cha Cha to “Let’s Groove.”
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Harry: How quickly can someone with substantial dance experience adapt to ballroom technique?
Jackson: Can his natural ability to entertain an audience translate into a strong judged dance?
Taylor: Will decades of performing in front of crowds help him settle into something completely different?
Maybe that is the biggest takeaway from Amy’s favorites.
If Dancing with the Stars were simply about identifying the person with the most dance experience, there wouldn’t be much reason to spend weeks watching.
Instead, viewers get to watch people learn something new in public. Some contestants improve dramatically. Some make us laugh. Some surprise us. Some develop partnerships that become more interesting than anyone expected.
That is why the person you predict will win on September 15 may not be the person you desperately want to see holding the Mirrorball by the end of the season.
After we watch the first dances tonight, Amy is going to tackle something that is easy to underestimate from the couch:
How difficult is it to learn one of these dances in such a short amount of time?
Tomorrow, Amy will explain what goes into learning choreography, remembering the steps, developing ballroom technique, working with a partner and getting a routine ready to perform in roughly a week — from the perspective of a professional ballroom dance instructor and three-time Dancers Cup Tour champion.
Amy has made her predictions. She has her favorites. Now the part that actually matters begins.
Season 35 premieres tonight at 7 p.m. Central on ABC and Disney+, with Night Two Wednesday and episodes available the following day on Hulu.
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Then come back tomorrow, when Amy explains what it really takes to learn one of these dances in a week.
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ABC Press — Season 35 two-night premiere details
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ABC — Dancing with the Stars 2026 cast announcement
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ABC News — Season 35 celebrity and professional partner profiles
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Entertainment Weekly — Bruno Tonioli on previous dance experience
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MLB — Savannah Bananas and Jackson Olson’s in-game dance performances
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ABC News — Jackson Olson on becoming a performer
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Dance With Us America — Bersten family and Minnesota ballroom connection
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Good Housekeeping — Giada De Laurentiis on joining DWTS
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ABC Press — Official Season 35 cast and professional pairings
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ABC Press — Season 35 premiere episodes and schedule
AI Disclosure:
This article was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed, edited and approved for publication by Ballroom by Amy. AI-assisted tools were used to help research, organize and draft the article, with approximately 20 current and background sources reviewed during preparation and key sources cited within the story above. AI-assisted tools may also have been used to create original accompanying graphic elements. Any such graphic is not official ABC, Disney or Dancing with the Stars promotional artwork and does not use celebrity photographs. Ballroom by Amy is not affiliated with or endorsed by ABC, Disney or Dancing with the Stars. Program names, trademarks and related intellectual property belong to their respective owners.