Dancing With the Stars professional dancer Jenna Johnson, now part of the dance troupe on the ABC series, is taking you behind the scenes of season 25.
Last week was epic! How fun was it to see some of our favorite past celebrities back in the ballroom for Trio week? It was awesome to have some new energy in the ballroom and having some past champs here made things even more competitive. People were in it to win it last Monday night! Can we take a second to talk about Lindsay Arnold, Jordan Fisher and Corbin Bleu's Salsa? I mean, out of this world!! I'm also a little embarrassed to admit this but Corbin Bleu was my ultimate crush growing up. Let's be honest, ladies who grew up in the generation of High School Musical... he was yours too, LOL. All jokes aside, I think he is one incredibly talented person, but I still had to fulfill one of my childhood dreams and get a picture with Mr. Bleu himself.
This week is the Semi-Finals and with that comes the challenge to recreate a past dance done by a previous competing couple—but not just any dance, it's Iconic Dance Week and the challenge is to recreate a performance that truly stood out in the 24 seasons of DWTS. These aren't just some awesome dances but naturally, they were performed by some truly epic pairings. Here is the breakdown for next week:
Jordan and Lindsay have a Jive routine to "Proud Mary" originally done by Paige VanZant and Mark Ballas.
Victoria Arlen and Val Chmerkovskiy have a Charleston to "Bang Bang" originally done by Amber Riley and Derek Hough.
Frankie Muniz and Whitney Carson have a Paso Doble originally done by Apolo Ohno and Julianne Hough.
Drew Scott and Emma Slater have a Jazz to "Yeah" originally done by Corbin Bleu and Karina Smirnoff.
And last but not least, Lindsey Stirling and Mark will be recreating the Tango to "Feel So Close" originally done by Meryl Davis and Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
This is a fun challenge because these are some of the most popular dances we've seen on DWTS and now we get to see another couple reinterpret them. The fun part is that the choreography, creative concept, wardrobe, etc. can change but there have to be elements from the original performance that inspire the "remix." Basically, we're in for a treat with this one!
One of the most important elements in dance is music. It moves us, directs our bodies to hit certain accents, makes us feel emotion and makes our movement come to life. We are very lucky to have one of the BEST live bands in the industry, Ray Chew Live. He has performed at some of the most prestigious award shows and some of the most memorable TV moments ever, from SNL to Showtime at the Apollo to American Idol Ray has done it all.
It isn't far-fetched to say Ray Chew is a musical legend in the world of TV and music and what's truly special is we get to enjoy his arrangements and the sounds of his incredible band every single week here on DWTS. Every week Ray is given a list of songs to arrange for the live performances and it doesn't just include the dances performed by the couples that are competing—every bumper, every in-and-out of commercial jingle from opening numbers to the terrifying sound of a couple being eliminated, Ray and his musicians are in charge of all the music you hear on Dancing. It's pretty incredible how many parts make up our show but the Ray Chew Live band is definitely up there with one of the most important components of Dancing with the Stars.
Also, Sunday night a few of us DWTS dancers were able to perform at the massive annual Christmas Tree Lightning at The Grove in LA. We did two fun and festive Christmas numbers choreographed by Mandy Moore and then I was lucky enough to choreograph a piece to Jordan Fisher's new single "Mess" while he performed with us. This officially put me in the holiday mood and made me SO excited for Christmas! We also got up walk the red carpet with Santa! It was a really special night :)
I still can't believe we are one week away from the finale! And I hear it's going to be next level amazing!! Who are your top 4 picks to possibly be named the next Mirror Ball Champions of season 25?!
DWTS airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.