Val Chmerkovskiy, a long-time professional dancer on Dancing With The Stars, is shedding light on the lack of representation in the ballroom world. He first joined the long-running dance competition series back in season 2. He has won twice during his time on the show, first with Rumer Willis in season 20 and then again three seasons later with Laurie Hernandez.
On Dancing With The Stars, a diverse group of celebrities has competed for the coveted Mirrorball Trophy, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's Alfonso Ribeiro and NFL star Rashad Jennings, both winners. However, the same can't be said about the professional dancers. In 2020, Britt Stewart became the first Black female pro to appear on the show in its 16-year tenure. Keo Motsepe, who recently split from Selling Sunset's Chrishell Stause, joined the cast in 2014. Based on Val's claims, it took so long for a professional dancer of color be cast because there's such a small pool to choose from.
According to Dancing With The Stars pro dancer Val, Black dancers rarely get the chance to compete, which is why his 2017 partnership with Fifth Harmony singer Normani was so special. On social media, he recently commemorated the four-year anniversary of their time on the show. On Instagram, Val said, "In the world of competitive ballroom dancing, you rarely saw people of color compete, a few here and there, mere outliers, but not nearly as much representation as I felt was needed to broaden the ballroom world, move the needle, especially since so much of the style, not just musically but in movement, came from some sort of Afro inspired culture." Val's post reflects on what a "special opportunity" it was to dance with Normani because "maybe a Black girl somewhere would see someone that looked like her and do a style they might of never considered." Though the team's waltz to "What The World Needs Now Is Love" ultimately landed them in third place, neither Val nor Normani has any regrets.
In a comment on the post, Normani said her time spent with Val went deeper than the DWTS competition: "Beyond the many faces that we saw in the audience were many young Black girls watching and seeing themselves in me and you knew that this was important. What we presented to the world were real experiences." Normani went on to say that she can "only imagine" the lack of representation mentioned by Val but promised that people of color can perform any style of dance "damn good."
There has been a drastic shift in reality TV where viewers are challenging the status quo. They're no longer tolerating racist and racially-insensitive actions, and are demanding that more BIPOC individuals step into prominent roles. This has been seen on The Bachelor and American Idol, which means DWTS isn't exempt. If the call for a more diverse cast of pro dancers is loud enough, especially coming from a big name like Dancing With The Stars' Val, it may just open more ballroom dancing doors for people of color.
Source: Val Chmerkovskiy/Instagram