Meet the 7 Kids of the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Pros
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When they aren’t competing, the Dancing with the Stars pros are busy raising the next generation of skilled dancers.
Season 34 of the competition show begins in the ballroom on Sept. 16 and it’s a family affair. Spouses Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov as well as Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy will all compete against one another for the coveted Mirror Ball Trophy, alongside 10 other pros and their partners.
However, one of the show’s more special moments has been watching many of the pros become parents since joining the cast. Johnson and Chmerkovsky, whose love story began on DWTS, are now parents to a son. Meanwhile, Karagach and Pashkov’s daughter bonded with the whole DWTS crew when she recently accompanied her parents on tour.
Speaking to PEOPLE in June 2025, Karagach said the DWTS family made them “feel at home at all times,” and it was wonderful watching them foster “such a special bond” with their daughter.
Here’s everything to know about the kids of the Dancing With the Stars pro cast.
Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov’s Daughter
Daniella Karagach/Instagram
Karagach married fellow DWTS pro Pashkov in 2014. The couple welcomed daughter Nikita on May 30, 2023.
“I cannot wait to watch Pasha become a dad because he is unreal with kids. There’s no anxiety, there’s no stress. I feel a sense of calmness. The baby is going to change our life only for the better,” Karagach told PEOPLE at the time.
Nikita has already gotten a taste of tour life. At 2 years old, she joined her parents on the Dancing with the Stars tour.
After returning from the road, Karagach told PEOPLE, “It always felt like she was the highlight of people’s day, which is so rewarding and so beautiful to see.”
Gleb Savchenko’s 2 Daughters
Gleb Savchenko/Instagram
Gleb Savchenko is a proud girl dad: He shares daughters Olivia and Zlata with ex-wife Elena Samodanova.
Savchenko and Samodanova welcomed Olivia on Nov. 1, 2010, and Zlata on Aug. 1, 2017. After 14 years of marriage, the couple finalized their divorce in 2021 and shifted their focus to co-parenting.
“We’re trying to move on, we’re friends, we’re co-parenting together, we’re on great terms,” Savchenko told Entertainment Tonight in March 2021. “Co-parenting is fun. We made it a lot of fun for the kids.”
That same June, he said on the Whine Down with Jana Kramer podcast, “My kids are priority for me. They’re everything.”
Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy’s Son
Jenna Johnson/Instagram
Johnson and Chmerkovskiy first crossed paths on DWTS in 2014 when she joined the show as a troupe member. After dating off and on for four years, the pro dancers wed in April 2019. They welcomed their son, Rome, on Jan. 10, 2023.
“It is the absolute best getting to raise him,” Johnson told PEOPLE in February 2025.
Apparently, Rome has happy feet just like his mom and dad. “He loves to dance, loves to sing. He is a performer,” Chmerkovskiy revealed.
“What’s fun is he loves watching us dance,” Johnson added. “If we ever have a video of us dancing, he loves watching it over and over and over again. So we’ll see what he wants to do.”
Mark Ballas’ Son
Paul Archuleta/Getty; BC Jean/Instagram
Mark Ballas and his wife BC Jean welcomed son Banksi on Nov. 5, 2023.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to do some really amazing things in my life — be on the show [DWTS], be on Broadway, tour the country, and play music, and do all this different roles and entertainment — but this has been my favorite,” the proud dad said during a November 2024 appearance on the Lightweights Podcast with Joe Vulpis. “He’s so cute and I love him.”
The couple’s whirlwind romance began at a singer-songwriter’s event in 2012. Ballas proposed to Jean in January 2016, and they wed that November.
Witney Carson’s 2 Sons
Witney Carson/Instagram
Witney Carson and husband Carson McAllister have two sons: Kevin Leo, born on Jan. 3, 2021, and Jet, born on May 14, 2023.
The couple relocated their family from Utah to Florida in 2023. Later that year, Carson announced she would not be returning for DWTS season 32, so she could focus on her family.
“You guys know that family is the most important thing to me, and we just really felt that moving our entire family across the country right now was not for us,” she said in a TikTok video. “I also feel like I’m not quite mentally and physically ready for what the show calls for.”
Carson made her DWTS return in 2024 for the show’s 33rd season.
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
