Courtney Act made history yesterday with their Dancing With The Stars performance, in which they abandoned their usual drag persona to dance alongside her partner as their masculine self, Shane Jenek.
The two performed a stunning routine to Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic,’ marking the first time ever that two people presenting as men have danced together in an English-language edition of the franchise.
Act, a former Celebrity Big Brother winner and RuPaul’s Drag Race runner-up, already had an incredible track record on Dancing With The Stars. They have sailed through the show with their drag performances, topping the leaderboard eight out of nine times.
Even among such achievements, though, this week’s Dancing With The Stars performance was an outstanding success. Act and their partner Joshua Keefe scored 29 out of a possible 30 points.
The two will move on to the finals next week and are in with a good chance of winning. They have the highest total score of any pair, with 56 points. Constance Hall and Gustavo Viglio have 45, while Samuel Johnson and Jorja Freeman have 46.
Act shared a video of the performance on Instagram, where they wrote “Two boys dancing together on Dancing With The Stars. First time in the Anglosphere! So honoured to have the opportunity and amazing to do it with @joshuakeefedancer! Hope you all enjoyed and pretty please vote for us!”
Meanwhile Strictly Come Dancing, the UK’s answer to Dancing With The Stars, has yet to feature a same-sex couple. Professional dancer Oti Mabuse has said in an interview with Metro that she believes it might happen this year, given that the show has a new series producer.
“You never know,” she said. “You never know what could happen. I don’t wanna say anything and jinx it and then people get excited.”
Yesterday’s performance by Courtney Act is, we hope, an example that other shows will choose to follow. Take a look at the dance below.
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