‘Dancing with the Stars’ shines on Mondays

The promotional poster for the twenty second season of Dancing with the Stars.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

The promotional poster for the twenty second season of ‘Dancing with the Stars”.

After an all-athlete exclusive season of Dancing with the Stars, the show has returned to the norm of using singers, actors and athletes mixed all competing for the mirrorball trophy. This year also welcomes new professional, Brandon Armstrong. New episodes of the competition air on Monday nights, while the results are revealed Tuesday.

Thirteen celebrities started their journey for the mirrorball on Sept. 24 with the first night of competition. Each celebrity was paired with a professional ballroom dancer to learn the steps of a classic ballroom style to perform. Just after the first of competition, not all the pairs were pleased by what they earned. Of course there’s always room for improvement in the ballroom.

This year also has the show’s first blind competitor, Danelle Umstead. Umstead is a Paralympic Alpine skier, who regained her life when she was first introduced to adaptive skiing. She also met her husband when competing on a slope in Taos, New Mexico in 2005. Her husband leads the way down the slope while she follows in his tracks. The two became the first husband and wife visually impaired ski race team to compete and earn a medal for Team USA at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympic Games.

Her partner in the ballroom is Artem Chigvintsev, who started dancing at the age of 13. He joined Dancing with the Stars in 2014 as a member of troupe before being promoted to a professional dancer for Season 19. Chigvintsev had been announced to be part of the lineup for Season 21, but due to a last minute casting change, he was not seen with a partner. He did, however, still dance with the pros as an extra for the trio dance and as a member of the troupe.

Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter franchise, is also competing this season with Keo Motsepe as her pro. Like Chigvintsev, his television debut was on Strictly Come Dancing. He also first joined the show as a pro in Season 19 and was seen as a member of the troupe prior.

Other actors this season include actor Milo Manheim from Zombies, John Schneider from The Dukes of Hazzard, Juan Pablo Di Pace who was featured in Mamma Mia! as Petros and Nancy McKeon from “The Facts of Life.” Athletes competing on this season include DeMarcus Ware who formerly played for the Dallas Cowboys, but is currently signed with the Denver Broncos and Mary Lou Retton who was the first American woman to win a gold in gymnastics.

Many pros have also returned this season including Sharna Burgess, Lindsay Arnold, Cheryl Burke, Sasha Farber, Witney Carson, Val Chmerkovskiy, Alan Bersten and Season 26 champion Jenna Johnson. Returning to tradition for Season 27, 13 celebrities and pros are competing with and against each other for the mirrorball trophy.