‘Battlefield’ beauty Jordin Sparks is battling to be crowned victor of season 31 of ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ which premiered on Disney+ Monday (September 19).
Hitting the floor to perform a cha-cha via her debut dance on the Tyra Banks and Alfonso Ribeiro-hosted program, Sparks strutted her stuff alongside pro partner, Brandon Armstrong, to one of late icon Whitney Houston‘s greatest hits: ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).’
Look inside to see how she fared.
While commenters flooded social media with praise for the singer-actress’ showing she received a score of 26/40 from judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough.
The performance came as a tribute of sorts for Jordin, who not only starred opposite Houston in her last movie, 2012’s ‘Sparkle,’ but has also never been shy about sharing her adulation of the Pop superstar.
During a post-show chat with the press, Jordin revealed what she thinks Whitney would’ve said about her cha-cha.
“I am still loving and admiring her all these years later. I know she would be really, really proud,” the GRAMMY nominee shared. “And if she was in that audience, she would’ve been standing up. She would’ve been screaming just like all of us. She was so supportive.”
The ‘DWTS’ season 31 premiere came just days after the first trailer of Houston’s long-awaited big screen biopic, also titled ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody,’ danced onto the net.
Click here to check out the sneak peek of the Naomi Ackie-led film.