Jenna Dewan has pushed back at criticism from Dancing With the Stars fans after she was announced as a contestant for the show's 35th season.
The 45-year-old actress, who was previously a backup dancer for American singer Janet Jackson, faced backlash for joining the ABC reality television programme because of her extensive professional experience.
But Dewan, who specialises in hip-hop and contemporary dance styles, told Entertainment Weekly that the ballroom competition will require an entirely different set of skills.
"I do not know how to ballroom dance," she said. "Let's be clear. It's two different languages."
She added: "There's parts of my dance training that's helpful, obviously. I've learned choreography, I can perform, but there is a certain sense of unlearning for me."
New techniques
Dewan stressed that what is ahead for her on Dancing With The Stars is "a new technique, brand new technique" that she is not familiar with.
Dancing With The Stars is a long-running television series that pairs celebrity contestants with professional dancers. The couples learn and perform complex ballroom and Latin routines each week, which are then scored by a panel of judges and voted on by the viewing public.
Ballroom dancing demands rigid posture, specific frame holds, and precise footwork that differ significantly from the grounded, freestyle movements of hip-hop or the fluid expressions of contemporary dance.
Dewan said she has had to make considerable adjustments in preparing for the televised competition.
"It almost threw me off initially because I had to unlearn a lot of, I don't want to say bad habits, but just habits of the style that I'm used to," she told Entertainment Weekly.
"It's not like you're giving me a style that I've done; I can go out there and do that," she said. "It has its advantages, but it also has its challenges."
The actress first gained widespread recognition for her role as a dancer in the 2006 film Step Up, a romantic drama where she shared the screen with her ex-husband Channing Tatum.
Despite the difficulty of changing styles, Dewan said the challenge was the main appeal of joining the cast.
"But that was part of why I wanted to do it," she said. "I really wanted to challenge myself."
The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Dewan for further comment on the story.
Partner's defence
Dewan's professional dance partner for the season, Val Chmerkovskiy, said there are other factors that lessen the perceived advantage she has with her background.
Chmerkovskiy, a veteran professional on the series, explained that while Dewan "comes in with incredible talent," the expectations for her are exponentially higher than they might be for other contestants.
"First of all, it's naive to think that this show is just about dance," he said. "It's about the human experience and the human journey and how much you're willing to reveal yourself."
He added: "Dance is a vehicle for us to find out more about these people, and I think that's our advantage."
Chmerkovskiy said he was putting together a game plan to properly position Dewan for success on the show.
"The way I approach things is that you're only as good as the thing that you've never done, so I'm going to push her and push us to showcase to the world something they haven't seen from her yet," he said.
Viewer complaints
The pair's comments come after a number of the show's viewers took to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, to suggest the programme had made a misstep in casting Dewan against celebrities with no background in performance.
"You're a dancer, how is this even remotely fair to the other contestants?" one person wrote on the platform. "You should've passed on the opportunity."
Another user questioned the fairness of the competition, asking: "How is this even a fair chance? Technically Jenna will be the best dancer… I mean she's danced with Janet Jackson."
One fan declared: "If Jenna Dewan wins #DWTS Season 35, I'm calling RIGGED. It's completely unfair to the other contestants when Jenna is a professional dancer."
