Former "Dancing With the Stars" pro Lindsay Arnold is weighing in on why so many people from the Mormon community in Utah become professional ballroom dancers. “I feel like in Utah, it’s very common, parents definitely want their kids to be doing an activity. That’s just kind of something that is, like, very prominent. Like, you put your kid in something and you really put them all in," Arnold, 31, said during a recent appearance on the “Hot Smart Rich” podcast. The Provo, Utah native, whose younger sister, Rylee Arnold, later made her own debut as a “DWTS" pro in 2023, said the pair's parents "loved pushing" them in their dancing "passions" when they were kids because it kept them "out of trouble." “If we weren’t at home for hours after school, just bored out of our minds looking for something to do, we weren’t getting in as much trouble," she explained. “The Mormon culture," she continued, "is very much, like, we want our kids to be good kids and to not get into trouble and to not explore different things that could lead them in troubled areas,” she said. “So I feel like a lot of parents put their kids in something and then push it hard," she added. Lindsay Arnold began ballroom dancing as a child and competed on “So You Think You Can Dance” in 2012 before appearing as a pro dancer on “DWTS” from 2013 until 2022. She described Utah’s dance culture as “very intense in the best way.” "There’s been so many of us (from Utah) that have kind of paved the way that these dancers and parents see what’s possible," she said. "So they’re more willing to put (in) money, time. Because dance is a full-on investment.” The Arnold sisters are just two of many "DWTS" dancers with connections to the Mormon community. The list also includes Witney Carson, Jenna Johnson, Ezra Sosa and siblings Julianna Hough and Derek Hough. During an appearance on the “Lightweights” podcast in October 2024, "DWTS" pro Brandon Armstrong, who was raised Mormon in Napa, California, before relocating to Utah as a tween, shared why he thinks young people in Utah flock to ballroom dancing. "There’s nothing else to do,” joked Armstrong. “What else do you do in Utah? Come on, our biggest cities, like Salt Lake, there ain’t nothing there. He added, "You play sports, go to school, date super young — these guys get married when they’re 19, 20 years old — and then you dance.”
