Jenna Dewan defended her casting on Dancing With the Stars after fans questioned whether her long career as a professional dancer gave her an unfair advantage.
Dewan, 45, was announced as a member of the season 35 cast on Wednesday, alongside her Step Up co-star Harry Shum Jr, 10 Things I Hate About You actor Julia Stiles, figure skater Amber Glenn, and chef Giada De Laurentiis.
She will compete with professional dancer Val Chmerkovskiy, three-time winner of the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, when the US series returns on 15 September.
Fans called out Dewan’s casting, questioning how someone whose career began in professional dance could fairly compete against celebrities with little or no formal dance experience. Before becoming an actor, Dewan worked as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott and Christina Aguilera, among other performers. Her acting breakthrough came in 2006 when she starred in the film Step Up opposite Channing Tatum.
She has since hosted Jennifer Lopez's dance competition World of Dance and appeared as a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance.
Rejecting the criticism, Dewan said that being an experienced performer was not the same as knowing ballroom dance. “I do not know how to ballroom dance. Let’s be clear. It’s two different languages,” she told Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday.
“There’s parts of my dance training that’s helpful, obviously. I’ve learned choreography, I can perform, but there is a certain sense of unlearning for me. It’s a new technique, brand new technique.”
She claimed her previous work actually made her “a little more nervous”.
“It’s not like you’re giving me a style that I’ve done – I can go out there and do that,” she said. “It has its advantages, but it also has its challenges. But that was part of why I wanted to do it. I really wanted to challenge myself.”
The Witches of East End star told E!News that she wanted to do DWTS because ballroom was “actually very, very challenging for me, and I wanted that challenge”.
“That was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to come and do this. I haven’t trained this hard in so many years and to do it in a new, different way, in this way, it was the right timing,” she said.
Her partner, Chmerkovskiy, defended their pairing, pointing out that this was not “the first time we had a contestant that had experience”.
“She’s known for 20 years of Step Up. She had a career before that. I am really excited about the opportunity to now elevate everything she's done and create new memories. To do ballroom at the highest level is a huge challenge for anybody, with experience, without experience,” he told E!News. "That's the goal. It's not to rest on our laurels but to really step it up, no pun intended.”
Scheduled for a live two-night premiere on 15 September, the new season of the hit ABC show will welcome back Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli as judges and Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough as co-hosts.
The long-running show, considered the American version of Britain’s Strictly Come Dancing, features celebrities paired with professional dancers who train them to compete in ballroom dancing.
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