Photo Courtesy of Disney.
Nov. 26, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, marked the last episode of Season 33 of Dancing With The Stars. This reality TV series is an established program in which professional dancers are partnered with guest celebrities who they must teach how to dance.
Each week, a dancing couple gets eliminated, until the finals where one duo wins the competition.
Among the five finalists this year, there were two women, U.S. rugby player Ilona Maher and actress Chandler Kinney. While these two exquisite dancers did not win the competition, they both broke barriers and brought new forms of representation to the show.
Maher, who won a bronze medal with her team at this year’s Paris Olympics, exceeded everyone’s expectations as a dancer. Despite the criticism she received in early episodes, Maher’s dancing skills developed extensively and she placed second in the competition.
Maher is loved by many Dancing With The Stars fans for her fun TikToks and bright personality, but she is also well-known as a vocal advocate for body positivity.
As an extremely athletic, muscular woman, Maher speaks out about how people assume she is not feminine because of her body. Many times on the show, she was vulnerable about this, saying she was trying to win for all the women who are considered too masculine by society to be pretty.
By performing several elegant dances in the show, Maher proves this point, and in an interview said, “I am strong and powerful, but I also can be graceful.”
Along with speaking out about feminine stereotypes, Maher changed the game for gender roles in dance. She was the first woman on the show to pick up her male dance partner, Alan Burston. They did this often in their dances, which added to their uniqueness.
Kinney placed third, after Maher. As an actress for the Disney film, Zombies 2, she came onto the show with dance experience.
While this was an advantage for her in terms of skill, her background meant the judges were much harder on her than most. Specifically, Dancing With The Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba was strict on Kinney, and often gave her lower scores than the other judges for minor mistakes.
Inaba has received backlash from fans in recent years for being an insincere judge and for targeting female contestants more than males.
Despite the intense pressure on Kinney, she persisted and consistently performed well with an incredible stage presence.
Like Maher, she also made a significant mark on Dancing With The Stars. Kinney and her partner, Brandon Armstrong, were the first Black couple on the show to make it to the finale.
To recognize this achievement, Kinney performed her final dance in honor of Black dancers of the past who did not have the same privileges at the time to be properly recognized.
Kinney said to US Magazine, “It was a celebration of everyone [who’s] come before us to allow us to be in this space, to have this conversation.” The performance brought many to tears and highlighted the importance of Black representation in dance.
Both Maher and Kinney broke boundaries on this season of Dancing With The Stars, despite many obstacles thrown at them. They were major forces of attraction for fans and by being “firsts,” they changed the game for future seasons to come.
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