Run to the nearest fainting couch everybody, because last night, Dancing With the Stars merrily went where the LGBTQ+ community has been forever, and allowed a same sex couple to dance together. (Oh my!)
Watch: JoJo Siwa Bring Unfiltered LGBTQ Joy to ‘Dancing With the Stars’
JoJo Siwa, performing on the Season 30 premiere of 'Dancing With the Stars'. (YouTube/ Dancing With the Stars)
JoJo Siwa—who came out via Twitter in January—performed a glitter-laden quickstep with Jenna Johnson during the Season 30 premiere. The routine, set to Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” (wink!) was a slice of kicky, hypercolor glee, with Siwa wearing one of her trademark giant bows across her chest. The judges gave the routine the highest score of the night (29 out of 40) which, given Siwa’s extensive dance training, wasn’t all that surprising. (Spice Girl Mel C only got 27 out of 40 for a damn-near-perfect cha cha though, so we’ll have to assume it was all that gay joy that propelled Siwa and Johnson to the top.)
“There’s a lot of barriers that we’re going to have to break through,” Siwa said of the upcoming season, speaking at a Television Critics Association event in August. “Who leads, how do you dress, what shoes do you wear? But I think it’s all something that I’m looking forward to. It’s going to be tricky, but it’s going to give so much to people out there—people of the LGBTQ community, people who feel just a little different. It’s going to give them a sense of happiness.”
You can see JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson’s routine in full below.
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Dancing With the Stars’ British equivalent, Strictly Come Dancing, introduced its first same-sex couple last year when boxer Nicola Adams was paired up with Katya Jones. This year, Strictly will feature its first male couple, Great British Bake Off winner John Whaite dancing with Johannes Radebe. (Whaite declared “I want to have hips like Shakira!” at the partners’ first meeting.) Don’t be surprised if Dancing With the Stars follows suit next year.
