ABC's Dancing With The Stars is currently airing its 30th season, and over the course of the past 15 years has had a wide variety of professional Latin and ballroom dancers to accompany their celebrity participants. While all of them have backgrounds in dancing and choreographing, some have led more contestants to victory than others.
Successful pros on Dancing With The Stars are typically charismatic and have strong chemistry with their partners, while also being great teachers that are willing to support their partners regardless of their previous dance experience. A professional's ability to connect with viewers and create a strong relationship with their celebrity is crucial to their success on the show.
Lindsay Arnold
Lindsay Arnold has been on Dancing With The Stars since 2013, starting in the troupe and eventually being promoted to a professional dancer partner. In her years on the show, Lindsay has made the finals nearly every time and was crowned the mirrorball champion alongside her celebrity partner Jordan Fisher on season 25.
Because of her high placement and record-breaking perfect scores with Jordan, she has been praised as one of the best female pros to grace the show. Redditor hungryeyes07 wrote of the Utah native, "I think Lindsay is one of the best when it comes to teaching. She has worked with celebs of many different body types and dancing experience and has consistently made it pretty far."
Sharna Burgess
Sharna Burgess joined DWTS in season 13 and immediately stood out due to her charming personality and vibrant red hair. In all of her years on the show, Sharna has made the semi-finals and finals several times, coming in second place with IndyCar racer James Hinchcliffe and getting her first victory in the 27th season with radio personality Bobby Bones.
"Even when she has underdogs, she tells their story well to connect the viewers to them (like with James Hinchcliffe a few seasons back!)," wrote Redditor localtouristgr about the Season 27 champion. Reddit user birdeyes 85 commented below them in agreement writing, "I have literally envisioned her choreographing my wedding dance."
Alan Bersten
Alan Bersten started on the hit reality series as a troupe member in the 20th season of Dancing With The Stars. He was popular among fans and eventually promoted as a professional dancer after filling in for other pros like Mark Ballas and Maks Chmerkovskiy throughout his years in the troupe.
Alan made the finals with model Alexis Ren with whom he had a showmance on season 27 and took home the mirrorball trophy with Bachelorette Hannah Brown the following year. "I personally love Alan. He was the sweetest on DWTS Jrs and an amazing coach. (Like yall. Skai’s first-week dance was amazing!!)" wrote Redditor belenb on a thread asking other Dancing With The Stars fans who their favorite professional dancer was.
Emma Slater
Emma Slater is best known in her Dancing With The Stars career for winning with football player Rashad Jennings in season 24. She also placed fourth with one-half of the Property Brothers Drew Scott and found love and got engaged to fellow pro Sasha Farber live on the show.
"My favorite has to be Emma. She works hard and choreographs the dance in order to make her partner stand out. She also has such a genuine personality, she definitely sees the best in people and seems to get along with everyone! and she cracks me up every time I watch her!" Redditor fionaDWTS said of the British pro on a thread.
Val Chmerkovskiy
Val Chmerkovskiy first appeared on Dancing With The Stars in season 2 as a supporting dancer and competed as a professional for the first time on season 13. Since then, he has consistently placed high with his celebrity partners, winning mirrorball trophies with Rumer Willis and Laurie Hernandez and placing third on four other seasons.
Reddit user bcocfbhp ranked the current professional dancers in a thread and put Val at the top, writing, "In my opinion, he should have more wins than Derek. He delivers every year his work with Normani and Zendaya were his best." Val has come close to winning more than any other pro, and continuously pushes his partners to be the best that they can be.
Witney Carson
Witney Carson grew up alongside other DWTS professional dancers Jenna Johnson and Lindsay Arnold in Utah, training in Latin and ballroom dancing. She joined the show after competing on So You Think You Can Dance, and won the mirrorball trophy as a fan-favorite DWTS couple with Alfonso Riberio. She placed second with Milo Manheim and Kel Mitchell in back-to-back seasons.
Redditor rojoe06 complimented Witney's choreography in the past few years writing, "I really think Witney is going through a little bit of a renaissance like Mark went through, her choreography and ability to work to the strengths of her partners the past few seasons have really impressed me." They added that their favorite dances of hers have been, "Alfonso's jazz and Paso, Frankie's contemporary, and Milo's salsa and contemporary."
Karina Smirnoff
Karina Smirnoff won season 13 of Dancing With The Stars with her celebrity partner J.R. Martinez. One of the longest-lasting pros, Karina first appeared on season 3 of DWTS and returned to compete every year until her last appearance on season 22. Over the course of her career, she won the show once and made the finals four times.
On a thread where fans could discuss their favorite and least favorite pros, Redditor ChristineDaae86 praised Karina for her time on the show, "She's not just an amazing Latin dancer and Latin champion, her ballroom was also glorious to watch; her tangos were steamy, her waltzes were romantic, her foxtrots were classy, her quicksteps were showy."
Mark Ballas
Mark Ballas grew up dancing with other pros Julianne and Derek Hough, even being the latter's partner in several ballroom competitions. He competed on nearly 20 seasons of the reality show and is regarded as one of the best and popular male professionals DWTS has ever seen. He won the show twice and came in second four times.
Here, Redditor birdseye85 shared their favorite professional dancer on Reddit by writing, "My fave male pro is Mark Ballas. I mean, insane choreography, innovation, creativity, the list goes on! He was truly in a league of his own when he was on the cast."
Julianne Hough
Before she was an actress or a singer, Julianne Hough was a two-time Dancing With The Stars winner, getting the mirrorball trophy back-to-back in seasons 4 and 5 at only 19 years old. Though she only danced on five seasons, she has since returned to perform with her older brother and serve as a judge.
Redditor The_Real_Talker contributed to a thread on the DWTS subreddit by writing, "Julianne will always be my all-time favorite pro and her with Apollo is still my all-time favorite couple from the show. They had such amazing chemistry and their dances were all so good."
Derek Hough
Though he may be known as a judge on the show now, Derek had his shot at the mirrorball trophy several times by competing as a professional on the show for years. Derek was truly one of the best pros, as he won the title of Mirrorball Champion alongside his celebrity partners six times in his career.
Redditor MaggieFields recalled being a fan of Derek for many years in a comment on a thread discussing the different professional dancers, "He honestly has always been the best teacher in DWTS, he was genuine and nice with his partners, his choreography and creativity are out of this world... will never EVER forget his quickstep with Shawn Johnson."