‘Dancing with the Stars’ Pro Ezra Sosa Says “My Dream” Is For Same-Sex Dance Partner: “I’m Working My Magic!”
Ezra Sosa says he hopes to be paired with a male celebrity on a future season of Dancing with the Stars, calling it a long-held dream and saying he has raised the idea with the show’s casting director. He says same-sex dancing and queer representation matter to him as an openly gay professional dancer.
JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson formed the programme’s first same-sex pairing in 2021, followed by Shangela and Gleb Savchenko in 2022. This season’s third pairing, Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills, left in Week 1. Sosa is currently dancing with Julia Stiles: they have a combined score of 62 going into Week 8, while Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson lead with 76.
In short
- Ezra Sosa hopes for a male partner on a future season.
- He says he has raised the idea with the casting director.
- This season’s same-sex pairing was eliminated in Week 1.
Explained simply
Dancing with the Stars pairs celebrities with professional dancers to perform ballroom and Latin routines, which are scored by judges and voted on by viewers. The professional dancers guide their partners through rehearsals and performances over the course of the competition.
The US programme has featured same-sex celebrity and professional dancer pairings, including JoJo Siwa with Jenna Johnson in 2021 and Shangela with Gleb Savchenko in 2022. Such pairings bring queer representation to a show where most couples have traditionally been made up of a man and a woman.
Ezra Sosa is a professional dancer on the programme and is openly gay. His hope for a male celebrity partner connects to the show’s casting choices and to wider questions of who gets to see themselves represented on television.
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