Jenna Johnson’s Niece Hailey Bills Makes Dancing With the Stars Debut

Originally appeared on E! Online

Dancing With the Stars is a family affair for Jenna Johnson.

Not only is the 31-year-old competing against her husband and fellow pro dancer Val Chmerkovskiy, but her niece Hailey Bills is also on the season 34 lineup.

During the ABC dance competition’s Sept. 16 premiere, Hailey, 19, made her debut as a troupe dancer, a professional dancer who performs in the background and is not partnered with a celebrity contestant.

Jenna even remarked how she and the teen looked alike when they were wearing the same outfit in a big group number, quipping on TikTok Sept. 17, “#Twins.”

“You’re not seeing double,” she mouthed along to an audio track, as Hailey shimmied in their matching black leotards. “You’re seeing trouble!”

But this isn’t Hailey’s first time on the DWTS dancefloor. During the show’s 27th season in 2018, she appeared alongside the Dancing With the Stars: Juniors cast with her celebrity partner, Bristol Palin‘s son Tripp Johnston, for a Disney-themed group number.

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At the time, Rylee Arnold, who is now competing with Pentatonix‘s Scott Hoying, was also part of the DWTS: Junior cast. (She graduated to a DWTS pro dancer in 2023.)

And many troupe dancers do eventually get partnered with a celeb as well. In addition to Jenna herself—a troupe member from 2014 to 2016—other notable pros who started out as a DWTS background dancer include Lindsay Arnold, Sharna Burgess, Artem Chigvintsev, Sasha Farber and Keo Motsepe.

Jenna Johnson, Dancing With the Stars, DWTS, Hailey Bills

Disney/Andrew Eccles; Disney/Eric McCandless

In fact, more than half of the pro dancers on this current season of DWTS were once troupe members as well, including Witney Carson, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater, Ezra Sosa, Alan Bersten and Britt Stewart.

And Jenna couldn’t be more proud of niece. As seen in a Sept. 11 TikTok video, she and Val—who share 2-year-old son Rome—broke the casting news to Hailey, who burst into happy tears after learning that she was joining the show.

“This day will always hold a special place in my heart,” Hailey wrote in the caption. “@jennajohnson & @Val I’m so happy we got this on film! Freaking love you guys.”

To see who’s competing on season 34 of DWTS, read on.

Baron Davis