Dancing with the Stars has been entertaining audiences on ABC for more than 20 years. It turns celebrities into dancers while becoming one of the network’s top-rated programs. The television show eventually began hosting theme nights, one of them being Disney.
The show is currently airing its 35th season, and this year, contestants danced to songs inspired by Disney movies that were developed into Broadway musicals. While it’s different from previous Disney nights, it does not take away the importance of other dances from previous seasons. With that in mind, here is a list of the best Disney dances on Dancing with the Stars.
10
Charli D’Amelio and Mark Ballas
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Image via ABC</figure>
Due to Season 31 only airing on Disney+, the show changed things, and created a Disney+ night. Charli D’Amelio and her partner Mark Ballas were selected to perform a jazz number to the theme song from The Simpsons. The duo put on their best Marge and Homer Simpson outfits, and performed a showstopping number that made the Simpsons look like the perfect couple.
There were times in the routine where Charli appeared to be nervous, which is normal for all contestants who make it halfway through the season. Those nerves began to disappear when she and Mark performed simple moves, and the rise in confidence gave her the edge she needed to show audiences that she is more than just a social media personality. Her confidence boost helped her earn a 36 out of 40 from the judges, and find herself winning the mirror ball trophy without ever landing in the bottom two.
9
James Maslow and Peta Murgatroyd
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Image via ABC</figure>
James Maslow and his partner Peta Murgatroyd celebrated the show’s first-ever Disney night while competing in Season 18 by dancing a contemporary piece to “Let It Go” from Frozen. The routine brought out a gentle side of James that Big Time Rush fans had never seen before, and his relaxing facial expressions brought a calmness to a dance that wasn’t over the top.
Peta was just as calm, and it helped her and James have incredible chemistry throughout the entire routine. Their loving embrace at the end of their performance was the cherry on top of a fantastic contemporary piece. The judges also loved the beauty of the performance, and awarded James a perfect score once he finished dancing.
8
Heather Morris and Alan Bersten
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Heather Morris already had dance experience before competing with her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, in Season 24. After Maksim got injured, she danced with Alan Bersten, and the two performed an enthusiastic jazz routine to “For the First Time in Forever” from Frozen. It was unfortunate to see her performance lack jazz moves, but the pure joy she had throughout the entire routine is too much to overlook.
The happiness she felt while dancing was contagious to a point where late judge Len Goodman gave spirit fingers in his seat. Even though her performance lacked the kind of jazz the judges wanted to see, Heather was still able to earn 34 out of 40 points just for bringing her passion to the dance floor. Sadly, Heather’s love of dance was not enough to spare her from elimination, and she was booted off the show a week later in one of the most shocking eliminations in the show’s history.
7
Juan Pablo Di Pace and Cheryl Burke
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Juan Pablo Di Pace gave off the most arrogance imaginable during the show’s 27th season when portraying Gaston in his Viennese waltz to the song “Gaston” from Beauty and the Beast. He and his partner, Cheryl Burke, reminded audiences through dance that Gaston would never be husband material. The choreography was brilliant, and the build up to Juan hanging from a chandelier was priceless.
The actor’s success in filling Gaston’s egotistical shoes brought the performance to life. His portrayal outshined the other pros, and the fierceness he brought to the Viennese waltz was refreshing to see on a fairy tale evening. The judges were just as impressed with Juan’s performance, and awarded him a 29 out of 30.
6
Rumer Willis and Val Chmerkovskiy
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Rumer Willis and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy crushed their Samba to “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid. The actress went from top contestant to graceful sea witch in the blink of an eye. Everything from the shimmying to the overdramatic arm movements made audiences get to know Ursula as a creature, and not as a witch planning to conquer Atlantica.
Rumer also never came close to breaking character, which is extremely hard to do when having fun in a dance routine. Ursula is the villain fans love to hate, but the star’s dancing made viewers forget why Ursula is a manipulative monster. The judges also saw past the evil in Ursula, and gave the soon-to-be Season 20 champion a 39 out of 40.
Four songs, four completely different theories about how a life is
supposed to go. Here is the one that has been playing under yours, what it says about you, and where
you have heard it doing the same job on screen.
Your life sounds like the most stubbornly hopeful song ever
written. It is about ordinary people on an ordinary night who have not given up on the thing
they are quietly working towards, which is a description of most people and almost nobody
admits it.
- You are playing a long game, and you would rather get there slowly than make a scene
about it. - The song famously cut to black on the last scene of The Sopranos, which is the single
most argued about needle drop in television history. - Glee then made it a phenomenon all over again, and a 1981 album track became one of the
most streamed songs of the last century. - The reason it works on you is the same reason it works on everybody, which is that it
never once promises the thing will actually happen.
Your life sounds like a training montage, and you are completely
fine with that. This is the song for people who need a bit of friction to function, and who
get noticeably better the moment somebody suggests they cannot do it.
- You are driven by the comeback rather than the win, which is why the second attempt at
anything is always your best one. - Sylvester Stallone commissioned it for Rocky III after he could not get the rights to
another track, and it went on to define the whole genre. - That guitar intro has been doing the work of an entire pep talk for more than forty
years. - The risk in this one is real, since a person who needs an opponent will eventually go
looking for one.
Your life sounds like the happiest song ever recorded, and the
clever thing about it is that it is quietly a bit sad underneath. You are the person who
makes an evening happen, and the room is measurably worse when you are not in it.
- You treat joy as something you build rather than something you wait for, which is a
genuine skill and an exhausting one. - Mamma Mia turned ABBA into a second career for a whole new audience, and this is the
song everybody waits for. - There is a melancholy buried in it about a night that will not last, and that is
precisely why it lands harder every year. - Your friends would describe you as the reason they still go out, which is a bigger
compliment than it sounds.
Your life sounds like a song about getting out. Springsteen wrote
the definitive account of being young somewhere small and knowing, absolutely, that the real
thing is happening somewhere else.
- You are restless in a way that is not unhappiness, and you have never fully unpacked
anywhere. - This is the most cinematic song on the list, which is why it has soundtracked roughly
every film about leaving a town behind. - The record nearly did not happen at all, since Springsteen spent six months on the title
track alone and almost scrapped it. - What saves it from being simple escapism is that he is not running alone, and neither,
if you are honest, are you.
5
Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson
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Image via ABC</figure>
Harry Shum Jr. channeled his inner Dick Van Dyke for a Mary Poppins-inspired jazz routine to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” The Season 35 routine was full of quick feet and fun quirks, along with umbrella skills one could dream of doing in musicals. He also threw in a few knee spins, which were similar to moves he did in dance routines while portraying Cable in Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D.
Although it appeared as if his partner Jenna Johnson would outshine him, that prediction went out the window after Harry smiled on the dance floor. He was also clever enough to show different emotions through his facial expressions, and it helped the choreography become more eccentric. Everything he did was practically perfect in every way, and he managed to earn his second perfect score in a row from the judges.
4
Normani and Val Chmerkovskiy
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Image via ABC</figure>
Normani did not play around in Season 24 when dancing a paso doble to “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan. The singer proved to be a warrior ready for combat the moment she stepped on stage with her partner, Val. Normani hit her moves spot on, and did so while listening to the vocal styling of Donny Osmond, who portrayed the singing voice for Captain Li Shang in the 1998 film.
There were a few occasions in the routine where Normani’s intense facial expressions almost disappeared. The warrior in her did not diminish, but her smile was almost too big to contain. In a way, the singer’s struggle was adorable, and the judges praised her and Val’s epic routine before awarding them 39 out of 40 points.
3
Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold
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Image via ABC</figure>
Jordan Fisher and his partner Lindsay Arnold danced a stunning Foxtrot to “You’re Welcome” from Moana. The routine was one of the most precise and relaxed dances of the season, and it was nearly impossible to tell who the Dancing with the Stars pro was. The mellowness also made the dance look simple.
Jordan’s smile was a bit smaller than Lindsay’s at times. He still appeared to be dancing on cloud nine, and may have gotten a kick from dancing to a song he sang with Lin-Manuel Miranda for the Moana soundtrack. The judges were more than impressed with the routine, and awarded Jordan a perfect score just weeks before he won the Season 25 mirror ball trophy.
2
Riker Lynch and Allison Holker
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Image via ABC</figure>
Riker Lynch always had a smile on his face when he entered the ballroom…that is until he portrayed Captain Jack Sparrow for his paso doble to “He’s a Pirate.” The singer and his partner, Allison Holker, stepped out of a Pirate’s of the Caribbean movie and performed one of the fiercest routines of Season 20. Riker outdid some of the best Dancing with the Stars pros in the routine, and his ability to keep up with the timing was impeccable.
Riker’s acting abilities alone were phenomenal enough to make this one of the best routines on Dancing with the Stars. Once he and Allison were able to halt their pirate personas, the judges gave the pair a 38 out of 40. Riker went on to become first-runner-up in Season 20, and his routine continues to live on in fans’ minds.
1
Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy
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Image via ABC</figure>
Jenna Dewan and her partner Val made the quickstep look easy during their Season 35 performance to “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast. The duo were in sync throughout the entire routine, and Jenna’s confidence reminded fans why the power of dance can make a difference in anyone’s life. Even though Val is the professional dancer in their partnership, Jenna dominated that routine, and proved that if she weren’t an actor, she would be a Broadway star.
Besides confidence and dancing abilities, Jenna unleashed her personality whenever she could. It was little things like sticking out her tongue, trying delicious gray stuff, or pushing Val away with her foot that allowed audiences to get to know the real Jenna. The judges felt as much joy as her fans, and awarded the actress her first perfect score of the season.
Dancing with the Stars
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