Sydney Hackenberg | staff writer

A fun fact about me is I love “Dancing with the Stars.” Every Tuesday night from September to November, you can find me curled up in bed with my laptop and some kind of sweet treat to enjoy the show.

I was a casual viewer for most of my life. I watched reruns when they were on cable and stayed up to date on winners. But I was not as invested in the show as I am now. My “Dancing with the Stars” experience changed once I began taking ballroom classes at my dance studio about six years ago.

Ballroom was a completely foreign dance style to me, but I loved it. The styles are all so unique and require different techniques that guide the movements. I have learned ballroom and have a general understanding of each substyle from my couple of years of experience. With that being said, do I think I’m qualified to be a judge on the show? Absolutely not!

Currently, “Dancing with the Stars” puts a lot of emphasis on the importance of fan votes. Each week, the host Alfonso Ribeiro reminds fans to “vote to see their favorite couples next week.” I guess this concept makes sense. The fans want a say in the show so they have an incentive to come back each week, which makes the show more money. Taking away the fan vote would most likely tank viewership.

But fans do not know all the ins and outs of ballroom. Their focus is more on which dance is more exciting to watch, not which couple keeps their shoulders square and avoids leading with their heels throughout the dance. The show also limits time for judges to give critiques, which is the only way for couples to learn how to become better dancers.

The fan vote each week gives too much power to passive watchers and not enough to the judges. When there are record-breaking numbers of votes coming in each week, a 5-point difference between judges’ scores do not carry the weight they should. For a show that is built on how much dancers can improve each week, the decisive factor that determines who goes home each week should be given to the judges of the show — not the fans.

The past few seasons have been filled with “scandals” of stronger dancers being sent home before weaker dancers all because of popularity. Just this week, reality TV star Ciara Miller and pro Brandon Armstrong had scores placing them in the top half of scores, but TV personality Guillermo Rodriguez and pro Whitney Carson who scored the lowest points of the week were saved.

“Dancing with the Stars” is about dance. I understand we all have our favorite celebrities, but I think we are losing the plot of the show. There are not many other competition-based TV shows that operate like “Dancing with the Stars.” Maybe the show is unique or maybe it needs to return to its roots and treat the show like what it really is — a dance competition.

Sydney Hackenberg can be reached at hackenbergs@duq.edu