The season 30 premiere of Dancing with the Stars has kicked off in grand fashion. Third up in the ballroom, professional basketball player Iman Shumpert stepped in front of a new audience. Drafted to the NBA is 2011, Shumpert has proved to be a standout player on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now, he takes on a new challenge in the DWTS ballroom.
As we dive into his first day of training, we discover that Shumpert is paired with Daniella Karagach. Blown away with how tall he is, the major height difference showed to be a major challenge for the professional dancer and choreographer.
Karagach was forced to design a routine that would complement the athlete despite his above average proportions. In the pre-performance interview, Shumpert expressed his excitement for his anticipated performance.
“It will be cool to take the jersey off…and look at the crowd in a totally different light,” Shumpert said.
Iman Shumpert Dances the Jive to “Hey Ya”
Dancing the Jive to Outkast’s “Hey Ya”, the Cleveland athlete sported a pair of funky green plad pants and suspenders. While he is obviously super tall, he moved around pretty effortlessly. It was quite an impressive sight to see, and he was definitely sweating by the end of it. Judge Bruno Tonioli was pleasantly surprised as well, and offered some positive feedback.
“Very hard for tall people to do the Jive,” said Tonioli.
He commended him for his efforts through he says he needs to “work on his footwork.” Judge Len Goodman, on the other hand, was pretty harsh and provided more stern comments than the rest of the panel.
“I thought it was too loose,” said Goodman.
He gave the harshest commentary and lowest score of four. In total, the couple received a total score of 21. While it’s a good start, there is still room for improvement.
“It’s the first week, we have a lot of work to do,” Karagach responded before walking off stage.
