On September 20, history was made on Dancing with the Stars as actress, singer, and former Dance Moms cast member, JoJo Siwa, took to the ballroom floor with her partner, Jenna Johnson. In the show’s 16 year and 30 season run, this is the first season to feature a dance couple of the same sex.
It was announced on August 26 that Siwa would be joining the cast, along with the news that she’d be dancing with another female pro. Siwa, who came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in early 2021, was given the option to dance with either a male or female pro. She chose to be with a female saying, “I actually would love and prefer to dance with a girl. Why not show the message even stronger that you can love whomever you want to love?”
Although Siwa has been a dancer since she was 5 years old, she stopped in 2017 and is not a trained ballroom dancer, which is why she is allowed to compete on the show. Johnson, her partner, has been on the show since 2014, but she got her start in 2013 as a dancer on season 10 of So You Think You Can Dance. When approached with the idea of dancing with another woman, Johnson’s immediate reaction was “Oh, my goodness…of course!” Although, she had initially assumed that there would be a pair of two men when the idea of a same-sex couple was brought up.
While this is the first time that the American version of Dancing with the Stars has featured a same-sex pairing, international versions of the show had previously done this. The UK show Strictly Come Dancing, on which DWTS is based, featured female same-sex dance partners (boxer Nicola Adams and pro Katya Jones) last season.
By the end of the premiere, Johnson and Siwa had earned the top score of the night, a total of 29 out of 40 points across four judges. “Making history and Top score of the night was literally a dream come true for me. Chase every dream you have and believe in yourself…” Siwa shared in an Instagram post later that night. “I thought that if I chose to dance with a girl on this show, it would break the stereotypical thing,” she said, adding that it would be “new, different” and a “change for the better.”
This June, Siwa was named in GLAAD’s 20 under 20 list. Their head of talent, Anthony Allen Ramos, states “As one of today’s most watched and celebrated programs on television, ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and Tyra Banks are making the right decision to feature JoJo Siwa competing alongside a female professional dancer. There is a real opportunity here for people to celebrate the same-sex pairing and root for JoJo and all LGBTQ young people.”
In terms of future pairings, Johnson has spoken about the possibility of a male pro dancing with a male celebrity. In fact, she described her husband and fellow DWTS pro, Val Chmerkovskiy, as a “fabulous candidate” and “willing to push boundaries.” The hope is that normalizing same-sex dance couples on such a widely watched show will also promote overall acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. The media has the power, and therefore the responsibility, to highlight the beauty of marginalized communities.