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ShowsDancing with the StarsSeason 12
Aired spring 2011 · An athletic cast that kept the competitive floor high

Spring 2011

Season twelve leaned into athletic casting and got a competitive field that compressed the usual early-learning-curve gap. Eleven episodes gave the elimination arc room to develop, and the choreography in the back half reflected a cast with real physical credentials.

Filmed
Los Angeles, California
CBS Television City, Los Angeles
Premiered
Mar 21, 2011
ABC · March 2011
Episodes
11
Format
Celebrity ballroom · 11 episodes
Athletic and entertainment cast with varied celebrity backgrounds
Host
Tom Bergeron
twelfth season with Tom Bergeron at the helm
On this page
  1. 01The take
  2. 02The shape of the season
  3. 03Where it sits in the canon
  4. 05Adjacent in the canon
  5. 06Also appears in
01The take

Spring 2011.

Athletic casting raised the floor; the season never had a weak early episode because the cast didn't need one.
02The shape of the season

A rhythm worth tracking.

Season twelve assembled a spring cast with stronger athletic representation than the slot typically produced. That casting choice paid off in the early episodes, where the learning curve gap between competitors was narrower than usual. Eleven episodes gave the competitive arc room to develop, and the choreography in the back half reflected genuine improvement rather than spectacle filling. A reliable double-cycle entry that held its competitive shape across the full run.

03Where it sits in the canon

The #13 slot.

Slot #13 of 16 in the Dancing with the Stars Editor's Canon. The seasons on either side show what I ranked it against.

No spoilers. Every page is reviewed before it goes live.
06Also appears in

Cross-references.

Dancing with the Stars — Editor's CanonEditor's Canon · #13
Dancing with the Stars S12 — Spring 2011 — tiered.tv