BBC
Two “Dancing With the Stars” professional dancers have said they would happily dance in a same-sex pairing on the show — current pro Val Chmerkovskiy said he would love to do it next season and former “Dancing With the Stars” pro Anna Trebunskaya told her fans she’d happily do it and it’s not actually that uncommon in ballroom dancing.
Val Chmerkovskiy Said He Would Dance With a Man Next Season ‘In a Heartbeat’
On the October 4 episode of current pro Cheryl Burke’s podcast “Pretty Messed Up: Dancing With Myself,” Cheryl was interviewing fellow professional dancer Jenna Johnson, who this season is dancing in the first same-sex partnership in “Dancing With the Stars” history with partner pop star JoJo Siwa.
Burke commented that she thinks they’re doing great and that if she and Cody Rigsby can’t win, she wants Jenna and JoJo to win. She also said the male-male partnership on “Strictly Come Dancing” is doing a great job as well.
“‘Strictly Come Dancing,’ the English version that they have over there of ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ they have two boys dancing together, two men, and I find it very cool and fascinating … I don’t find it — it’s not offensive, it’s not raunchy, it’s not out of this world, it’s very classy. I think you’re doing a great job, Jenna, and I think you should win. If we don’t win,” said Cheryl.
Johnson then chimed to say that she saw the video of the pair, John Whaite and Johannes Radebe, dancing a tango in week one and she thought it was so cool.” It also sparked a discussion between her and her husband, Val Chmerkovskiy, about if he would ever dance with a man — and he said he’d do it in a heartbeat.
“Val and I were actually talking about it and I was like, ‘Would you ever do this?’ and Val was like, ‘I would do this next season in a heartbeat,'” Johnson shared.
She also said she thinks he’d be great at it because “he’s really great at the girl’s part” and he would be “liv[ing] his best life.”
Anna Trebunskaya Also Said She Would Dance With a Woman
During her Instagram critique of Britney Spears week on “Dancing With the Stars,” Trebunskaya, who was last on the show in 2015 for season 21, was asked her opinion on Jenna and JoJo and same-sex ballroom couples in general. Trebunskaya didn’t even hesitate, she said she thinks it’s great and she has actually taught same-sex couples in her dance studio.
“Absolutely, I would [dance with a woman]. I would take the female partner, I would. … I’ve taught same-sex couples,” said Trebunskaya, adding in a separate post, “Same-sex ballroom competitions been going around for years now. I’ve coached some same-sex couples … it poses its own challenges and I’m talking about purely like physicality and technicality, who leads, who follows, but it also creates opportunities.”
What do you think, fans? Do you want to see Val Chmerkovskiy dance with a man next season?
“Dancing With the Stars” season 30 airs Mondays at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on ABC.
READ NEXT: Tom Bergeron Talks Mourning ‘Dancing With the Stars’