A familiar face from Dancing with the Stars: Juniors is stepping up to the main stage. Kamri Peterson, who competed as a pro on the short-lived juniors spin-off, has been named the first troupe dancer for Dancing with the Stars Season 35 — meaning she'll join the rotating group of professional dancers who perform in group numbers and fill in when the schedule demands it.

The announcement came on Sunday at DWTS Con in Palm Springs, the fan convention built around the long-running ballroom competition. The show's Instagram page marked the moment with a post calling it "a full circle moment" for the young dancer, who appeared on DWTS: Juniors alongside celebrity kids and their pint-sized pro partners back in 2018. Deadline

Peterson is the first troupe addition confirmed for Season 35, but she joins a celebrity cast already taking shape. Jimmy Kimmel Live! sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez is on board, as are reality TV personalities Maura Higgins and Ciara Miller. The lineup also includes Jackson Olson, second baseman for the Savannah Bananas — the barnstorming baseball exhibition team that packs stadiums across the United States with a comedy-infused take on the sport.

The full cast of celebrities and their professional partners is expected to be unveiled on Good Morning America on 2 September, continuing a tradition the show has used for years to roll out its pairings in a single morning broadcast. Season 35 will air on ABC and simulcast on Disney+ in the fall, though no exact premiere date has been announced yet.

The show arrives with real momentum. The Season 34 finale drew the programme's highest-rated finale in nearly a decade, according to Deadline. Fans cast 72 million votes for that finale, with nearly half a billion votes tallied across the entire season — numbers that put the long-running competition firmly back in the ratings conversation.

For Peterson, the promotion closes a loop that started when she was a kid dancing on a spin-off most viewers have forgotten. For the show, it is another building block in a season that is already stacking names from across the entertainment map — late-night television, reality TV, and novelty baseball — before the full cast is even official. The ballroom floor is filling up, and September's reveal will put the last pieces in place.