‘Dancing With The Stars’ Honors Dolly Parton With Emotional Dedication Night Performance
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Dancing With the Stars brought back a fan-favorite theme night for Week 6 of Season 35. Dedication Night brings a lot of emotion to the dance floor as celebrities honor someone who has had a profound impact on their life with a special dance.
This season’s Dedication Night was no different, except that it also included a special dedication to country music icon Dolly Parton. Dolly died on August 25, 2026, at the age of 80, following a brief battle with cancer.
Dolly’s impact reached far beyond country music. She influenced entertainers across all genres of music and all avenues of entertainment.
Dancing With the Stars‘ Dolly Parton Tribute
Dancing With the Stars honored Dolly Parton in their own way with a beautiful dance performed by professional members of their dance troupe.
Dancers Alan Genkin and Adele Zaikman teased the tribute on social media ahead of the performance, saying, “We have some exciting news! This Tuesday, we’ll be performing together on Dancing With the Stars as part of a beautiful tribute to Dolly Parton.”
Genkin and Zaikman, who are a real-life couple, met while both were competing on Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro.
For their Dolly tribute, the couple performed a short, but stunning routine set to the tune of “Here You Come Again.” They performed on a dimly lit stage with a colorful backdrop and large floral arrangements on the sides.
As the song came to a close, a beautiful photo of Dolly appeared on the stage behind the dancers. They gestured toward the photo as host Julianne Hough spoke about the upcoming CMA tribute special in Dolly’s honor, which airs on ABC on October 21 (the same channel as DWTS).
Earlier this season, actress Julia Stiles and her pro partner Ezra Sosa delivered a Quickstep to Dolly’s iconic hit, “9 to 5.” They revealed at the time that Dolly had personally granted permission for them to use the song prior to her death.
“It was only a couple weeks before Dolly passed that she approved this song specifically for me,” Stiles said. “I’m so honored to be dancing to her music. I’m honoring her legacy and I want to make her proud.”
Following her dance, Julia shared that she hoped their routine “embodied [Dolly’s] joy.”
See Dancing With the Stars’ emotional tribute to Dolly Parton from Dedication Night in the video below.
