ABC announced two of the Dancing with the Stars Season 30 contestants at their Television Critics Association Zoom panel on Aug. 26. Olympic Gold Medal gymnast Suni Lee and singer JoJo Siwa will compete. Furthermore, the panel announced that Siwa will dance with a female partner for the first time in the show’s history.
Siwa spoke about this historic change for Dancing with the Stars on the panel. Dancing with the Stars Season 30 premieres Sept. 30 on ABC.
Jojo Siwa: ‘You get to dance with who you want to dance with’
Siwa will be the first Dancing with the Stars contestant to dance with a partner of the same gender. She hopes she won’t be the last.
“It breaks a wall that’s never been broken down before,” Siwa said. “It’s normal for a girl to dance with a guy, and I think that that’s really cool. But I think that it’s really special that not only now do I get to share with the world that you love who you want to love, but also you get to dance with who you want to dance with. I think it’s really special.”
Siwa’s girlfriend is Kylie Prew and she hopes dancing with a female partner will speak to other young girls who watch Dancing with the Stars.
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“When you’re little, you know,” Siwa said. “You know if you’re gay and you don’t really think anything of it as a 7—year—old. But you just somehow know and I think that me partnering with another female on this show makes a sense of ‘Oh, it’s okay.’ It’s not ‘I have to be with a boy.’ It’s not normal to be with a boy, it’s normal to be with anybody, a human.”
2 female dancers will complicate ‘Dancing with the Stars’
The barriers to which Siwa referred are not only social. Siwa acknowledged the practical issues she’ll have to work out with her Dancing with the Stars partner.
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“There’s a lot of barriers that we’re going to have to break through,” Siwa said. “Who leads? How do you dress? What shoes do you wear? It’s all something that I’m looking forward to, and doing something that’s never been done before. It’s going to be tricky, but it’s going to give so much to people out there, people of the LGBTQ community, everyone. People who feel just a little different, it’s going to give them a sense of ‘Wait a second. A girl can dance with a girl? Obviously. Why not?’”
JoJo Siwa contemplates her potential ‘Dancing with the Stars’ partner
This was just the announcement of Siwa’s participation on Dancing with the Stars, and the big news that her partner would be female. Now Siwa is thinking about which of the Dancing with the Stars pros could be her partner.
“There’s so many girls that are so amazing on this show that I would love to be paired with,” Siwa said. “I think Lindsay is awesome. Jenna is incredible. Britt is amazing. I think if I got one of those three, I would just be so happy.”
