The troupe for Season 34 of Dancing With the Stars has been confirmed! ABC introduced the 4 dancers who shall be acting on the present this fall. Whereas they received’t have celeb companions, they are going to be utilized in varied routines and carry out in different capacities all through the season.
The 4 troupe members are: Hailey Payments, Onye Stevenson, Carter Williams, and Jaxon Willard. Notably, Payments’ aunt is Jenna Johnson, who was beforehand a troupe member and is now one of many professional dancers (she’s partnered with Corey Feldman this season). By way of marriage, Payments’ uncle is Johnson’s husband, Valentin Chmerkovskiy, who’s a longtime professional on the present, partnered with Alix Earle this season.
Johnson posted a video of herself discovering out the thrilling information. She captioned the clip, “POV: It’s 2am in Paris and you discover out that you just and your niece are going to share the stage on DWTS this season!!!!!! So past pleased with you @hailey.payments 🥹😭✨💘 You’re past deserving of this second. Can’t await the world to see you SHINE .”
Scroll all the way down to be taught extra about Payments, together with her dance background and the way she’s associated to Johnson!
Who’s Hailey Payments?
Followers of Dancing With the Stars might acknowledge Payments in the event that they watched Dancing With the Stars: Juniors again in 2018. Payments was partnered with Tripp Johnston Palin and mentored by Johnson. Nevertheless, they have been the primary crew eradicated.
“After I found out [Johnson] was my mentor, I used to be simply so excited as a result of I can simply act regular in entrance of her,” Payments instructed Entry Hollywood. “The primary time I noticed her, I didn’t have to fulfill her and all the pieces.”
Now, Payments is a Professional Assistant for Ovation Dance, Derek Hough and Julianne Hough‘s dance competitors. She can also be a scholar at Brigham Younger College, the place she is a member of the dance crew and anticipated to graduate in 2028 (it’s unclear whether or not her new job on DWTS will change her timeline).
Payments has received Mini Greatest Dancer and Teen Greatest Dancer at The Dance Awards and has been dancing since she was 6 years outdated.
How outdated is Hailey Payments?
Throughout her first season on DWTS, Payments shall be 19 years outdated. She was born on Could 18, 2006, and turned 19 earlier this 12 months.
How is Hailey Payments associated to Jenna Johnson?
Johnson’s sister, Stacy, is Payments’ mom, which is how Johnson is her aunt. Hailey is Stacy’s oldest youngster. Per Stacy’s latest Instagram submit, she has 4 different kids: Gracie (1st grade), Kade (fifth grade), and Jake and Luke (tenth grade).
“To the one who made me a mother…Thanks for being my finest good friend, for instructing me a lot about myself, for being wonderful at all the pieces you do and permitting me to be alongside for the trip,” Stacy wrote on Instagram in honor of her daughter’s nineteenth birthday. “I am keen on you. My greatest praise is when somebody tells me that I remind them of her. Happiest Birthday!!!”
Dancing With the Stars, Season 34 Premiere, Tuesday, September 16, 8/7c, ABC
For a extra prolonged celebration of twenty years of Dancing With the Stars, from unique interviews to retrospectives and must-see images, choose up a duplicate of TV Information Journal’s Dancing With the Stars twentieth Anniversary particular challenge, accessible for buy on-line at DWTS.TVGM2025.com and on newsstands August 29.