Chandler Kinney quickly became a name to watch on this season of “Dancing With the Stars.”
The actor, who has appeared in Disney’s “Zombies” movie series and “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” made a splash with dancing pro Brandon Armstrong in the season premiere. Their tango to Chappell Roan’s “Hot to Go” earned the pair a 23/30 from the judges, the highest score of the night.
While the two have remained toward the top of the leaderboard throughout the season, they are still chasing the coveted perfect judges’ score, falling just one point short during the latest episode with their Viennese waltz to the “Pretty Little Liars” theme song.
“I think people don’t realize ballroom is its own beast,” the actor told HuffPost, adding that learning dances for the show “could not be more different” than things she’s done in the past. “The first couple of weeks was, for us, breaking habits of any past experience I had as a kid.”
Having acted in musical projects like “Zombies” that involve big dance numbers doesn’t automatically translate to an environment like “DWTS,” she said.
“You know, on set, you have a million takes — maybe not a million, but you have a few. The live performance aspect of this show has been so scary for me because you only get the one opportunity,” she said.
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Still, Armstrong acknowledged that there are “huge pros” that come with being paired with a star who has danced before: “knowing how to count music, knowing how to hold yourself, certain things like with your feet and legs.”
But Kinney’s experience, Armstrong said, is “why we’ve been able to push the bar so high for her.”
Coming in with some dance background can be a divisive prospect for the show’s fans, some of whom enjoy watching a total newcomer evolve as the weeks go on.
“I think that people love that or hate that, or whatever, but you can’t help but appreciate the value and quality that she does bring to the floor,” Armstrong, who is in his seventh season of dancing as a pro, added. “I think it’s even hard for her to understand how much of a treat it is when you get someone like this.”
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While the pair have delivered strong performances each week, the judges’ critiques have occasionally fallen flat for them. During Week 4, judge Carrie Ann Inaba asked Kinney to “dig a little deeper” while commenting on a contemporary dance she had dedicated to her mother. Then, two weeks later, Inaba held off on giving Kinney a perfect 10 on her Viennese waltz, saying, “I wouldn’t call this one perfection just because of what the dance demanded,” eliciting boos from the audience.
“I realized, specifically after Dedication Week, which — this isn’t something that I necessarily was specifically critiqued on, it was more my conclusion on the critiques that I did get — was that I think dance, in a lot of ways, is kind of like a representation of a thing,” Kinney said. “And that, I think, requires an extra level of externalization of emotions that I typically just never think about as a TV and film actor. You never think about the perception of the story you’re telling. You’re just living in the moment.”
“With dance, you want the person who’s sitting right there on the floor next to the performance to have the same experience as someone up in the rafters,” she added. “That is, I think, one of the greatest gems that I’ve taken from these last couple weeks.”
“Dancing With the Stars” airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m.