DANCING QUEEN: CARRIE ANN INABA
Nevada Ballet Theater’s Woman of the Year is back in the ballroom.
“I predict that this season is going to be my favorite season ever!”
And with that, Carrie Ann Inaba is off and judging on her 33rd season with Dancing With the Stars. Only a couple of episodes in and she’s already obsessed with this season’s cast.
“They are all superstars if you ask me,” Inaba says in an Instagram post.
Inaba adds that this ballroom bunch seems to have a clear reason for taking on the “exciting and inspirational, yet often grueling journey” that is Dancing With the Stars.
“We should call this season Dancing with the SuperStars!” Inaba says. “I think the show was exactly what the world needed [now]…great entertainment, mirror balls, sequins, smiles and so much more.”
Inaba—who will also be reporting from the judge’s table for Entertainment Weekly—continues to be proud of the opportunities this show offers to both the celebrity contestants, as well as the professional dancers, who are now stars in their own right.
“What I love is that Dancing With the Stars has given all of these dancers platforms to do more, and I think that’s great because I have been given platforms to do more than just dance.”
This one-time Japanese pop singer (yes, that’s right!) from Honolulu quickly went from Madonna backup dancer and In Living Color “Fly Girl” to American Idol choreographer and Austin Powers film co-star, all before joining DWTS in 2005.
Since then, Inaba has become a Broadway producer, co-host of The Talk, a philanthropist, and a health and wellness advocate. And not only was she inducted into the Asian Hall of Fame, but Variety also named her one of the “Most Powerful Women on Reality TV.”
“Right now, I speak for a living; I’ve done hosting; I’ve been nominated for an Emmy,” Inaba adds. “Dance is the gift that never stops giving.”
In fact, this year, Nevada Ballet Theater recognized Carrie Ann Inaba with the 2024 “Women of the Year” award at its 40th Annual Black & White Ball inside Wynn Las Vegas.
Oscar producer Raj Kapoor and former dancer Vanessa Breitling both gave impassioned tributes to their good friend, while NBT board member Stella Roy presented her—not with a mirror ball—but with an original Richard MacDonald sculpture.
It is her “tenacity and a commitment to her craft,” that provided “a strong path for young artists to live out their dreams” that earned her the title.
Upon accepting, a grateful Inaba said she would never forget this amazing moment. “What’s beautiful about [this] is Nevada Ballet Theater. What they are doing, and the way they are giving back…it makes the honor like tenfold.”
Now, the dance diva takes center stage in an elite club alongside Olivia Newton-John, Celine Dion, Rita Moreno and Bette Midler, to name a few.
“I’ve always felt like an outsider. I never felt like I fit in anywhere except in the world of dance, and to be bestowed this type of honor and to be named your ‘Woman of the Year,’ I want you to know I don’t take it lightly,” Inaba told the audience. “I will take this honor, spread it forward and make sure I make all of you proud.”
Inaba says as an Asian American woman from Hawaii, she is grateful to Nevada Ballet “for seeing me and for taking a chance to honor someone who looks like me, and who’s had a career … which is a little bit different.”
As a three-year-old learning creative movement, dancing became simply a way of life for Inaba.
“Dance was never about technique; it was always about self-expression and freedom, and then it became cultural,” Inaba says. “It was…how we shared the stories of the Hawaiian people of our past and the heritage.”
While ballet was never her forte, Inaba says that’s what makes receiving this honor so special.
“When I did take ballet, I had a teacher who was very strict and scared me, so ballet was never something that I, as a young child, felt close to,” Inaba admits. “I had already been given the freedom and I felt that that teacher was taking it away. I think that’s what’s given me a unique voice on Dancing with the Stars. All dance forms have beautiful technique…[but] I want to see the expression; I want to see how you, the person, use it. We’re not making professional dancers on Dancing With the Stars; we’re having people break through, and dance for me has always been that.”
She remains very candid about her personal health struggles, likely an occupational hazard. She has chronic pain from arthritis, spinal stenosis, and autoimmune illnesses, and after a complicated year, Inaba recently shared on Instagram how she’s dealing with it:
“I had a lot of pain. My chronic illness acted up. I felt my age in new ways and I surrendered and made friends with all of it.”
Inaba no longer dances, but that hasn’t stopped her from sharing what she calls “this powerful art form” with the masses.
“Dance has always been my home. It’s where I come back to and it has probably kept me healthy for most of my life. It’s my safe space,” Inaba says. “I hope that I’ve helped people to watch dance with an eye to look for the outsider; to look at the one who may not have the perfect technique and to see their beauty.”
Those outsider days are behind her, especially now that Nevada Ballet has given her a perfect ten. But this Woman of the Year won’t be packing away her paddle anytime soon. Inaba thinks the ballroom will be open for many seasons to come.
“We are always adapting ourselves and adjusting, and in this modern world, if you don’t adapt, you’re not gonna last. That’s what makes me proud is that Dancing With the Stars keeps adapting,” Inaba says. “I mean, of course with glitter and sequins.”
