Dancing with the Stars is back for Season 34, premiering Tuesday, September 16. Here’s everything you need to know before you watch this year’s new competition — from who’s competing to who’s sitting at the judging table.
Who’s Competing on Dancing with the Stars Season 34?
Four celebrity contestants were announced ahead of the official Dancing with the Stars Season 34 cast reveal earlier this month. Robert Irwin will be dancing with pro Witney Carson, Alix Earle with pro Val Chmerkovskiy, Jen Affleck with new pro Jan Ravnik, and Whitney Leavitt with returning pro Mark Ballas.
The rest of the Season 34 cast includes Hilaria Baldwin, dancing with Gleb Savchenko; Jordan Chiles, dancing with Ezra Sosa; Baron Davis, dancing with Britt Stewart; Dylan Efron, dancing with Daniella Karagach; Corey Feldman, dancing with reigning Mirrorball champion Jenna Johnson; Danielle Fishel, dancing with Pasha Pashkov; Elaine Hendrix, dancing with Alan Bersten; Scott Hoying, dancing with Rylee Arnold; and Andy Richter, dancing with Emma Slater.
Rounding out the new cast is Fifth Harmony star Lauren Jauregui, dancing with Brandon Armstrong. Jauregui found out that she would be competing on Season 34 of the show just two days before the cast was officially announced on Good Morning America.
This season, co-hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough will be back to emcee the show. Judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli will also be back at the table to share their thoughts and score the celebrities’ dances out of 10. Those scores will be combined with viewers’ votes to determine who should move on in the competition.
Ahead of Tuesday’s Dancing with the Stars premiere, the first dance styles and song choices for the Season 34 cast were revealed. Each of the couples will be make their ballroom debut this week with one of four Latin dances — salsa, tango, cha-cha, or jive.
Stars dancing the tango this week include Lauren Jauregui (to “Yes, And?” by Ariana Grande), Corey Feldman (to “It’s Still Rock & Roll to Me” by Billy Joel), Whitney Leavitt (to HUNTR/X’s “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters), Danielle Fishel (to “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson), and Scott Hoying (to “Abracadabra” by Lady Gaga).
For the cha-cha, we can expect to see routines by Alix Earle (to “Circus” by Britney Spears), Hilaria Baldwin (to “Let’s Get Loud” by Jennifer Lopez), Dylan Efron (to “Milkshake” by Kelis), Elaine Hendrix (to “Woman” by Kesha), Baron Davis (to “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer), and Andy Richter (to “Hold On, I’m Coming” by Sam & Dave).
Taking on the salsa this week will be Jen Affleck (to “NUEVAYoL” by Bad Bunny) and Jordan Chiles, whose song choice has not yet been revealed. Meanwhile, Robert Irwin is the only celebrity dancing the jive this week. His song choice is “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf.
The new season of Dancing with the Stars will air live Tuesday nights on both ABC and Disney+. New episodes of the season will also be available to stream on both Disney+ and Hulu the next day. Voting will be open during the show, with results announced at the end of the night.
Words by:
Jill O'Rourke Jill O’Rourke is a contributor at Talent Recap, writing news stories and recaps for shows like ‘AGT,’ ‘The Voice,’ and ‘American Idol.’ She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and Film Studies, and has been writing about pop culture since 2012, with previous bylines at Crushable and A Plus. Jill spends her free time binge-watching sitcoms and daydreaming about life as a hobbit
