Dancing With The Stars pro dancer, Jenna Johnson, revealed that she was childhood friends with fellow pros, Lindsay Arnold, Witney Carson, and Brandon Armstrong when they danced together in Utah at a prestigious dance studio. Although Jenna was born in California, she moved to Utah at a very young age because of her dad’s job. Jenna’s parents were always very supportive of her dancing, and encouraged her to move to Los Angeles when she was 18. She began her television dance career on So You Think You Can Dance and has since participated in the last 12 out of 13 seasons of Dancing With The Stars. Jenna has had much success with the show, as she won in 2018 with her partner, Adam Rippon, and placed second with both Nev Schulman in 2020 and JoJo Siwa in 2021.
Dancing With The Stars season 30 brought success for Jenna’s childhood friends as well, as they all danced in the competition. Lindsay Arnold was paired with Matt James, and she received much praise for helping Matt, an inexperienced dancer, to deliver strong routines. They were the 4th couple eliminated on the show. Brandon Armstrong mentored Kenya Moore, a contestant the judges repeatedly saved from elimination because of her progress. They were the 6th couple to leave the competition. The next week, Witney Carson and her partner, Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, went home, but not without much praise for their commitment to excellence throughout the season. They all then cheered on Jenna and JoJo as they made it all the way to finals and took second place to winners, Iman Shumpert and Daniella Karagach.
On the Conversations with Olivia Jade podcast, hosted by Olivia Jade who was partnered with Jenna’s husband Val Chmerkovskiy this past season, Jenna revealed that many of her co-stars were her childhood friends. She said that “in Utah, there, for some reason, is this massive dance hub.” There are thousands of dance studios in the state, but Jenna explained that she attended the one that “breeds dancers.” Jenna was referring to the Center Stage Performing Arts Studio whose alumni include Dancing With The Stars pro dancers and judges Julianne Hough and Derek Hough. Jenna started dancing there when she was three years old and she didn’t want to do anything else. At this dance studio, Jenna met her fellow pro dancers and shared, “So I actually grew up dancing with Lindsay and Witney and Brandon. We’re all the same age, and they were my best friends growing up.”
Jenna also shared that she devoted her life to dance when she was growing up. She said that she had no other hobbies and never participated in sports because she devoted all of her time to dancing. Jenna explained that she danced competitively in ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, and was then introduced to ballroom dancing when she was about eight. She said that she “never wanted to choose one or the other, so I did all of them.” She joked that she had no social life throughout high school because she was always at competitions on the weekends, but “it was amazing.” Jenna marveled, “And I always knew I wanted to pursue dance, but I never knew that I could actually have a career or make a living for myself dancing.”
Fans of Dancing With The Stars enjoy watching the pro dancers support each other, but many people do not know that these friendships go all the way back to their childhoods. It is fun and inspiring to imagine a group of beginner dance students attending dancing school together with dreams of becoming professionals, and then later achieving those goals by appearing on the same television show together. Jenna’s relationships with Witney, Lindsay, and Brandon surely make her feel confident and loved in the ballroom. Those friendships are worth more than any Mirrorball Trophy.
