Dancing with the Stars 2026 Premiere Song Choices and Dance Styles (Plus a TWIST)
Dancing with the Stars returns for Season 35 with a special two-night premiere event that promises high energy, memorable music choices and an immediate twist: eliminations on both opening nights. Co-hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough will guide the live competition while judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough evaluate each performance. Sixteen celebrity contestants will make their live debuts across two consecutive nights, each paired with a professional dancer and assigned a dance style and song designed to showcase their strengths from the very first performance.
Season 35 premieres on TUESDAY, SEPT. 15 and continues WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16 (8:00–10:03 p.m. EDT/PDT, 7:00–9:03 p.m. CDT), simulcast live across ABC and Disney+ in local time zones, with episodes available the next day on Hulu. The format for the two-night opener divides the field by gender: male celebrities perform on Night One and female celebrities perform on Night Two. Each competitor will dance to a No. 1 song from the year they were born, and each night will end with one elimination—raising the stakes from the very start.
The couples (along with their dance styles and songs) are the following:
- Tatyana Ali with partner Jan Ravnik will perform a Jive to “Knock on Wood” by Amii Stewart
- Tyler Cameron with partner Sharna Burgess will perform a Tango to “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz
- Giada De Laurentiis with partner Alan Bersten will perform a Tango to “Venus” by Shocking Blue
- Jenna Dewan with partner Val Chmerkovskiy will perform a Tango to “Call Me” by Blondie
- Ezra Frech with partner Daniella Karagach will perform a Tango to “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson
- Amber Glenn with partner Pasha Pashkov will perform a Cha Cha to “Smooth” by Santana ft. Rob Thomas
- Taylor Hanson with partner Britt Stewart will perform a Quickstep to “Tell Her About It” by Billy Joel
- Maura Higgins with partner Mark Ballas will perform a Foxtrot to “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles
- Conner Leavitt with partner Adele Zaikman will perform a Salsa to “Whoomp! There It Is” by Tag Team
- Ciara Miller with partner Brandon Armstrong will perform a Foxtrot to “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” by Whitney Houston
- Sarah Jane Nader with partner Hailey Bills will perform a Jive to “Sk8er Boi” by Avril Lavigne
- Jackson Olson with partner Emma Slater will perform a Cha Cha to “Wannabe” by Spice Girls
- Guillermo Rodriguez with partner Witney Carson will perform a Cha Cha to “Mr. Big Stuff” by Jean Knight
- Harry Shum Jr. with partner Jenna Johnson will perform a Cha Cha to “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind & Fire
- Julia Stiles with partner Ezra Sosa will perform a Quickstep to “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton
- Connor Wood with partner Rylee Arnold will perform a Cha Cha to “I Like It, I Love It” by Tim McGraw
The song selections nod to the contestants’ birth years by pairing each celebrity with a No. 1 hit from their year, creating a nostalgic soundtrack that ranges across genres and decades. That variety will test the competitors’ versatility: expect steamy tangos, bright jives, smooth foxtrots, driving quicksteps and sizzling cha-chas. Professional partners will craft choreography that balances crowd-pleasing moves with technical elements the judges will be looking for, such as posture, timing, partnering and connection.
VOTING
Voting for the two-night premiere is episode-specific. Couples compete on only one of the two premiere nights, and voting is open only for the pairs performing that night: male contestants on Tuesday and female contestants on Wednesday. Fans in the Eastern and Central time zones can vote during the live simulcast. Online voting will be available during the live broadcast for viewers in U.S. time zones, U.S. territories and Canada via dwtsvote.abc.com, and participating U.S. wireless carriers will offer SMS/text voting (SMS/text is not available for voters in Canada). Judges’ scores will be combined with live viewer votes from each night to determine who will be in jeopardy of elimination at the end of that episode.
Because each night ends with an elimination, the premiere carries a higher immediate pressure: a strong first live performance is crucial for safety. Fans should plan to watch live and cast votes during the broadcast window to have the greatest impact on the outcome. The two-night opener also offers a unique viewing dynamic, with the men and women debuting separately and the competition effectively narrowing from both sides at the outset.
Dancing with the Stars Season 35 brings familiar faces to the judges’ desk and new celebrity talent to the ballroom. With knockout songs tied to each performer’s birth year, diverse dance styles and instant eliminations, the two-night premiere is set to be an attention-grabbing start to the season. Tune in on Tuesday, Sept. 15 and Wednesday, Sept. 16 to see which couples shine, which will be pushed to the brink, and which two celebrities will exit the competition before Week 2.
Dancing with the Stars is co-hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough, with judging from Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough.