Longtime Dancing With the Stars pro Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy spoke to PopCulture.com about the emotional tribute to late judge Len Goodman, which is nominated for Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming at the 2024 Emmy Awards. The dance was part of Season 32’s “Most Memorable Year” theme in 2023 and included numerous pros, both current and past, as they danced the waltz to “Moon River.” Goodman had announced his retirement at the end of Season 31, but unfortunately, passed away in April 2023.
Johnson Chmerkovskiy choreographed the dance with her husband, fellow pro Val Chmerkovskiy. With the dance in contention for an Emmy and this being her first nomination, it’s certainly an emotional time. The dancer told PopCulture all about the dance, how it came about, her favorite memory with Goodman, and more. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
PopCulture: I want to start by congratulating you on your first Emmy nomination. What was your reaction when you found out you were nominated, especially for such an emotional, moving tribute to Len Goodman?
Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy: Oh, thank you. I feel like it’s been a bucket list item for myself and also for my husband Val. And so when we found out that we were nominated, it’s really hard to describe the moment, but it’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime feelings. But I just will never forget it was, I don’t want to say relief, but it was such a validation of our work and of that moment and all of the effort that we put into making that tribute so memorable and magical for Len Goodman. And so it just was such a beautiful moment that we were able to share and we cannot be more excited to be nominated and with all of the incredible choreographers in our category, it’s so surreal.
PC: What was the process like for you and Val choreographing the dance and making sure that it was a fitting tribute for Len?
Johnson Chmerkovskiy: It was a lot of pressure, that is for sure. I think jwe always had the question of, “What are our intentions with this piece?” And ultimately it was to honor the great Len Goodman. And so I think we really just tried to stay focused on that intention and not get distracted by other things and to always lead with emotion.
And I think just all of the different elements, including the past pros coming back and joining us on the dance floor, to the song, to the costumes being very classic, something that Len would’ve loved. All of that, in combination, led to this moment. I think that just captured the essence of our love for him and our love for what he did for the ballroom community, as well as our show Dancing With the Stars. So there was a lot of thought, there was a lot of emotion involved, but I think our intention was clear and it was to honor him.
PC: How has it been seeing the response of the dance has gone and how emotional people were when watching it? I mean, I was moved to tears as soon as the music started up.
Johnson Chmerkovskiy: Thank you. Thank you. I think we were so stressed out about making sure the piece was perfect that we forgot about even people’s reactions. And so after the piece was aired and we started to just get flooded with so many beautiful messages and reading people’s comments and memories of Len or what this piece meant to them, it was so sweet. And again, it really validated us as choreographers that we did that piece justice, and yeah, it was really awesome.
PC: Do you have a favorite memory with Len at all?
Johnson Chmerkovskiy: Oh man. You don’t get to see the judges often. And we each get a week where, I think it’s the semi-finals, you’re assigned a judge if you make it there, and they come in and work with you on a specific piece that they’ve picked for you that they want to see you do better at. And I had a really awesome experience where he worked with myself and JoJo Siwa when we were partnered together. We worked on this Argentine Tango moment that it was just so awesome to have him in the room and with us.
But I think just in general in ballroom, you have a strict coach. You just do, and it represents a person that you want to hold yourself accountable for. And I think for me, really, Len was that. He wasn’t my personal coach, but every week, I wanted to show up for him, and I was held accountable by his standards, and I loved showing up for him. I really wanted to please him and to make him proud and to show him traditional ballroom moves, and to get his approval. And so I think that that’s something that I admired about him so much is every week, even though you were stressed to face him or face his comments, you knew that he was holding you to a certain standard that you wanted to show up for. And I think that’s such a powerful thing that someone can have for so many different pros on the show; I think he represented that.
Tune into the 2024 Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC to see if Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy and Val Chmerkovskiy take home the Emmy for the beautiful tribute to Len Goodman.