Dancing with the Stars: Julia Stiles Honors Heath Ledger as Dedication Night Brings Tributes and a Partner Change
Ten couples will perform on October 20, with Kym Johnson joining the judging panel. Jenna Dewan will dance with Alan Bersten following Val Chmerkovskiy's suspension.
A song Heath Ledger turned into a teenage declaration of love will return to television tonight, this time as a remembrance. Julia Stiles will dedicate her Dancing with the Stars performance to her 10 Things I Hate About You co-star, dancing a contemporary routine to “Can't Take My Eyes Off You.” It will be one of the tributes on Dedication Night, the Tuesday, October 20 episode in which ten couples will bring personal stories to the dance floor.
The evening also brings a significant change: Jenna Dewan will compete with Alan Bersten, who is stepping in for Val Chmerkovskiy. The anticipated emotion will share the stage with the fallout from an off-camera controversy, while the competition continues to hinge on judges' scores and viewers' votes.
Stiles Returns to a Song Closely Tied to Ledger
In the 1999 romantic comedy, Ledger's character, Patrick Verona, sings the Frankie Valli hit to win over Kat Stratford, played by Stiles. He performs from the school stadium's bleachers, accompanied by the marching band, before being chased by security. The scene combines bravado and vulnerability: a boy who seemed immune to embarrassment chooses to put himself on the line in front of everyone.
Stiles and her professional partner, Ezra Sosa, will translate that memory into a different form. Their announced performance is a contemporary dance; it has not been billed as a literal recreation of the serenade. Ledger died in January 2008 at 28, and the tribute turns attention back to a performance many viewers discovered long before his most acclaimed roles.
Stiles told Variety she had cried during rehearsals. She thought the years that had passed would give her some emotional distance, but footage from the film and the sound of their voices brought back memories she had not anticipated. Her account places the performance on a more intimate footing than nostalgia used simply as a television draw.
Speaking to People, Stiles also emphasized how surprised she had been by the emotional intensity of preparing the routine. For her, remembering Ledger means acknowledging the lasting impact of his work. The number follows another look back at her career: a Save the Last Dance-inspired performance featuring an appearance by her co-star in that film, Sean Patrick Thomas.
The Stories Behind the Dances
The lineup brings together family memories, romantic relationships and a sense of belonging. Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson are preparing a foxtrot to John Mayer's “Stop This Train,” dedicated to Shum's wife, Shelby. Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas have chosen a paso doble to “I'm Shipping Up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys as a tribute to Ireland.
There will also be a nod to television history. Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik will perform a Viennese waltz to Nancy Wilson's “(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am,” dedicated to Ali's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star James Avery. The show thus connects two generations of familiar characters with the people who played them and the relationships that endured after their series or films ended.
The dedications do not remove the challenge of creating a dance. A personal story can explain a musical choice; the couple must then turn it into movement, maintain the rhythm and convey its meaning to viewers unfamiliar with the background. That is part of this episode's appeal: audiences tune in for a familiar face and discover the story that person wants to tell.
Jenna Dewan Has a Different Partner This Week
The substitution changes one of the pairings in ABC's initial announcement. Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Bersten will replace Chmerkovskiy, who was suspended for one episode after comments about Carrie Ann Inaba. BBC Studios deemed his social media post, which alluded to Will Smith's slap at the Oscars, inappropriate. The dancer apologized.
Dewan is scheduled to perform a Viennese waltz to “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers, dedicated to her mother, Nancy. Her dance partner is changing, but she remains in the competition. Dewan should not be confused with Jenna Johnson, Shum's professional partner and Chmerkovskiy's wife.
Kym Johnson Returns to the Judging Panel
Kym Johnson, a two-time winner of the competition, will appear as a guest judge. Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough host the show, whose regular judges include Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough.
ABC has announced an 8 p.m. Eastern broadcast alongside Disney+, with the episode available the next day on Hulu. Voting will open during the live broadcast in the Eastern and Central time zones, and viewers' votes will be combined with the judges' scores. Producers have not announced that the dedications will protect contestants from elimination.
As of Tuesday morning, these tributes have yet to be performed. Stiles and Ledger's story offers the most recognizable memory, but it is on the dance floor that each couple will show how they can tell their own.
