Dancing with the Stars has been on television for almost twenty years and has 29 seasons to show for it. While it is an incredibly fun show with lots of great and surprising talent, sometimes they try to play off their special celebrities as novices, even when they are not. For those who are unaware of how the show works, the production has 12 or so professional dancers that team up with a famous celebrity outside the dancing world. Typically, these celebrities are supposed to have no dance experience and are learning from the beginning. However, a few too many times celebrities have slipped through the cracks who had significant dance experience, clearly giving them an advantage. Interestingly enough, this does not always guarantee their win. This list composes five “stars” who were known for their dancing ability before the show. This does not include many others who were clearly at an advantage from their previous career, whether they were a member of a boy-band, gymnast, ice skater, or Disney performer.
- Zendaya
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Zendaya was on the 16th season of the show and, at 16 years old, was the youngest dancer to ever compete. Even at 16, she had a clear advantage over other celebrities and was often judged more critically as the judges knew this. The show made her out to seem like just an actor and singer, even though she was famous from her show Shake It Up which is literally about dancing. Nonetheless, Zendaya killed every performance and even got to show off her skills and teach the professional when they did a hip-hop routine.
- Heather Morris
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Heather Morris competed on the 24th season of DWTS and, like Zendaya, was a professional dancer before her start on the show. Morris is known for her time on the television show Glee, but she also was a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance and was one of Beyonce’s backup dancers on the “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” tour. Needless to say, dancing with Beyonce definitely does not make you a novice. Unfortunately, Morris was voted out relatively early, so we weren’t able to see all of her dancing skills.
- Nicole Scherzinger
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Nicole Scherzinger was best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, but her dancing skills came right along with her singing in the group. She won the 10th season of Dancing with the Stars, but not without the help of her childhood dance experience. Scherzinger actually was a dance minor in college and went to a Youth Performing Arts School, so dancing was nothing new or intimidating for her!
- Mackenzie Ziegler
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Mackenzie Ziegler was on the first season of Dancing with the Stars Juniors where she placed in second. While the producers tried to play her off as just a pop star, they made many references to her sister being a professional dancer. Yet they forgot to mention that Mackenzie Ziegler also got famous from her five-year career on Dance Moms. While it may have been a few years since her time on Dance Moms had come to an end, Ziegler clearly showed she still knew what she was doing.
- Corbin Bleu
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Corbin Bleu is best known for his role in High School Musical and he finished runner-up in the 17th season of DWTS. While you may think of Bleu by his singing skills before dancing, he actually studied dance as a child focusing on ballet and jazz. He was in Broadway productions and also graduated from the LA County High School for the Arts and trained at a performing arts school as a theater major. Needless to say, Bleu was much more comfortable with the dance floor than his fellow contestants.