'Dancing with the Stars' Alum Lindsay Arnold Shares Her Wish List for the 2024 Cast

In the past, late August would see Lindsay Arnold Cusick getting back into dance mode as she was assigned a celebrity partner for the new season of Dancing with the Stars, but this year, motherhood to daughters Sage, 3, and June, 15 months, has her twirling in a new direction: social influencer.

“My fall seasons look a lot different than they used to,” Lindsay tells Parade in this exclusive interview. “I would say still stressful, still hectic and crazy and lots going on, but just a totally different direction. Obviously, as a mom, heading into fall means transitioning to back-to-school season, and honestly, my family’s schedule has been turning into a balancing act.”

That said, the winner of the Mirrorball Trophy in Season 25 doesn’t ignore DWTS by any means. First, she’s hoping that sister Rylee Arnold, who was paired last season with Harry Jowsey, will return for another season of the hit dance competition, and she does have a wish list of celebrities who she’d like to see take to the ballroom floor.

Parade spoke to Lindsay prior to the announcement that Stephen Nedoroscik would be joining the cast of Season 33 of DWTS, but he was on her wish list, saying, “I think people would fall in love with him,” but he wasn’t the only Olympian.

Related: Dancing with the Stars Reveals Its First Celebrity Contestant for 2024

“Sage and I were so locked in on the Olympics this season that I feel like Sage has some favorites that she wants to see out there, especially from gymnastics,” Lindsay says. “She was glued to the gymnastics. I think seeing Jordan Chiles would be so cool. And then another Olympian that I think would be amazing, I love following her on social media, is Ilona Maher. She was the rugby player. I just love her whole energy.”

And no recent season of DWTS has been complete without a representative from The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, so we asked Lindsay for her pick from that franchise, too.

“I actually didn’t watch The Bachelor or Bachelorette. I’m so disappointed in myself,” she says. “I used to be die-hard every single week. Obviously, because life is crazy, I don’t get to watch TV very much anymore. But I think Joey Graziadei, from what I hear, a lot of people really loved Joey, so I think he could be really fun on the show.”

If Rylee does get the nod to be a pro on the new season of DWTS, Lindsay will be making the trip to Los Angeles on Tuesday nights to cheer her on, bringing both of her girls along, especially since Sage has begun taking dance lessons, and that will be sufficient for Lindsay, because she is getting a lot of satisfaction from the new role in her life now that she’s semi-retired from dancing.

“The satisfaction that I get is the fact that I get to be a part of every little moment here with my family, at my home, but I also get to pursue what I love, and my passions, and try new things, and make a career for myself,” she says. “I think it’s so special that I don’t ever feel like I miss out on those motherhood moments.”

Being able to combine marriage, motherhood and still have a career—and one that she’s creating on her own—is source of pride for Lindsay, who says that’s the best thing moving into this new chapter of her life.

“At the end of the day, I’m someone who likes to set goals, work hard, and be creative, and I’m really grateful that I can still maintain my passions and my drive while also being here and present as a mom.”

Related: Lindsay Arnold Cusick on Her Pivot from Dancing with the Stars to Social Media Influencer

In her role as a social influencer, Parade spoke to Lindsay, who is supporting the Juicy Juice Pledge to Play Outside, but also spoke more about Dancing with the Stars, Sage starting dance class, and the expansion of The Movement Club into recipes.

Without Dancing with the Stars on your schedule, how is your fall shaping up?

I was going over the week earlier today and I’m like, “There’s just so much going on.” Sage has a lot of activities that she’s in. She’s in preschool. She’s in dance, gymnastics, soccer. We have her in all the things. And then I also have June, who has just grown so much. She’s so much more active, wants to be out doing things. So, it’s pretty crazy.

There’s a lot going on, and I’m just really trying to prioritize one simple goal though, heading into this fall. Coming out of summer, I realized how much being outdoors helped both me and my girls. So, we’re really trying to get outside as a family. I think that’s something that parents forget, and it’s hard to remember to do that. But that’s why I’m taking the Juicy Juice Pledge to Play Outside, just committing to prioritizing outdoor family fun, and I encourage all parents to do it with me. It’s so fun and it’s so easy to do this.

All you have to do is visit juicyjuiceplayoutside.com to sign the pledge, and by taking the Juicy Juice Pledge to Play Outside, parents will have a chance to win a brand-new backyard play set, plus a year’s worth of Juicy Juice 100% Juice. So, I’m super excited to do this because not only is it going to help me, but I know whoever wins this awesome pledge is going to have an easier time. I think Juicy Juice 100% Juice just does such a good job of making outdoor play and snack time so much easier.

When you come in from outdoors, is Juicy Juice something that is part of a snack time for your kids?

Oh, 100 percent. And honestly, we do snack time outside. My absolute favorite thing to do, especially while we still have sun is pack a little snack that I’ll have ready as soon as we pick up Sage from school. So, we get home from school. We don’t even come inside. I take our little bag of treats, and snacks, and all the things, bring it outside, and that’s where we have our Juicy Juice 100% Juice.

Then we’ll do some veggies, fruit snacks, crackers and cheese, and just get that extra bit of playtime outside. Because I feel like when there’s snacks and stuff for them to be outside with, then they’re going to spend more time in the sun playing.

Sage is old enough now that she could be dancing. Is she following in mom’s footsteps?

Totally. If music is playing, both of my girls are dancing their little hearts out. It’s actually the cutest thing. June has just started doing that. When music comes on, she’s bobbing her head. But it’s funny you should ask–literally today, I’m taking Sage to her first day of her dance team. So, it’s happening. She is on the dance train as of now. We’ll see how it goes.

I’m not going to lie. I feel a little nervous because this could either be she loves it or maybe she doesn’t love it, and we find something else for her to do. But either way, I’m happy with whatever she wants to do. I just want to help her pursue things that she loves and that make her happy. So, we’ll see how it goes. Wish us luck.

And at her age, it’s also a social activity because it’s a class with other kids her age, and she can make friends, so it’s a bigger experience, not just focused on dancing.

Totally. I know it’s so good for them to learn how to listen to adults, to respect, to have teamwork, to learn about working with other people. I know she’s young, but those things start at this age, so I’m excited to be doing this.

What about you? I was talking to Derek Hough yesterday, and he was saying how yes, he does other kinds of exercise, but there’s nothing like dance to prepare you for dance. Are you in dance shape or not so much?

I don’t know, honestly. Literally, I will second Derek. You could probably be in the best shape of your life, and dance will still challenge you. There’s just so many muscles and endurance that comes with dancing. It’s body parts and muscles that you don’t use in a typical workout but I will say because I am a dancer, I feel like I definitely construct my workouts.

I have a workout program called The Movement Club, and within that program, I construct those workouts with dance in mind. I’m thinking of how to keep those muscles fired up and ready to go so that if I ever needed it, I’d be ready. But I will say, I would definitely be out of shape. It would take me a second to get back into it, especially the head whips. I feel like my neck always gets me when I start dancing again. My neck is so sore for a couple weeks until it’s ready to do all the hair whips and hairography again.

What’s new with The Movement Club?

We are expanding into so many different areas. We just introduced recipes onto the program. So, being able to give a little bit more of wellness—and honestly, just my important thing, which is why I’m so excited about the Juicy Juice Pledge to Play Outside, is I think it’s so important to move your body. Genuinely, whatever way it is, even if it’s five minutes a day.

So, giving more people more caveats into wellness and instead of it being like, “I’ve got to work out to stay in shape,” it’s, “I’ve got to work out and move my body so that I feel good and confident in my own skin.” And so, moving into so many different areas that encompass wellness as a whole is where we’re shifting this program.

Dancing with the Stars has announced the judges and the hosts coming back, but not the professional dancers. Does Rylee have her fingers crossed that she’s going to be returning?

Oh, always. If it was my vote, she’d be on 100 percent. But, of course, she definitely wants to be there. She had so much fun during her first season, and I know she’s just so excited to get out there and do it again. I think it’s so cool because that first season is crazy. It’s a whirlwind. Everything’s new. So, then stepping into a second season, you feel this sense of a little bit more calm because you’re like, “I’ve been here before. I’ve got this.” She did so good on her first season, so we’re all hoping that she gets to have another whack at it.

Related: Here's the Rumored Cast for Dancing with the Stars Season 33

Right, and you’ll be coming down if she does, because you were there a lot last season.

I will definitely be there to support her. That was one of my favorite things that we got to do last fall. Like I said, this time [of the year] is crazy, but we will definitely still make time to get down there, especially because Sage loved it so much. And I’m excited because June’s older this time around. So, I think June will also enjoy being there and be a little bit more aware. Last time, she was a baby sleeping on my chest pretty much the whole time, so I’m excited for her to experience it.

As someone who has been a pro, what do you think is the hardest part for people learning to dance, who are not natural dancers?

I think the hardest part is understanding the correlation between your brain and your body. I think as humans, most of the time we’re just going about our day. But I’m not thinking, “Move my arms up. Take a step forward, take a step backward, sit down, stand up.” Those things just happen. They fire off super quick. But when it comes to somebody who’s never learned choreography before, getting those motions to fire quickly is one of the hardest things.

Remembering choreography, getting your body to do what your brain is telling it to do, but in a fast enough pace where you can perform a dance is typically, I find, the hardest thing for someone who’s never done something that like before. And it makes sense. Learning to learn choreography, to remember dance steps, to do it to music, to do it fast, to do it slow, to remember tempo, that’s something that you have to train yourself to do. So, trying to do that in a quick amount of time is something that’s, I think, one of the most difficult things to do.

What I have a problem with the most is the lack of gracefulness. I keep thinking, “You should have taken a ballet class.”

I know. I think every person should take a ballet class at some point. But the funny thing is you could train someone day in, day out, but natural ability is something that is very real. Yes, anybody can learn how to do dance steps. I genuinely believe that. Anybody can learn a piece of choreography and do it to music, but the way it looks is not something that everybody can do.

Gracefulness and elegance, that’s something that I think is sometimes a natural ability, and that’s extremely hard to teach to somebody where it’s not natural for them. So, it’s kind of funny how I always say anyone can learn a dance and do it, but the level at which it looks and the ease of watching it and being like, “Oh, they look comfortable doing that.” That’s something that is very, very difficult to accomplish.

With The Movement Club, do you teach gracefulness as part of your exercises?

To be honest, not really. I hope that that comes, but I don’t want it to be a program where you’re having to think too hard about the way you look. I want people to come as they are, good dancer, bad dancer, never danced in their life, medium OK dancer, and just let loose and have fun. Because like on Dancing with the Stars, there is something to be said about those celebrities who come on, have no experience, honestly, aren’t that great at dancing, but you’re watching them, knowing that they’re having so much fun.

And that creates this ease and makes you enjoy it even more. So, there is that part of it where dance should be fun. It should feel good. Even if you’re not amazing, even if you maybe look a little goofy, at the end of the day, it should be fun and should bring out happiness. So, within my program, I don’t put too much pressure on how people look when they’re doing it. I just want them to enjoy themselves and have fun, because at the end of the day, that’s important, too.

Dancing with the Stars will be returning to ABC and Disney+ on Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Next, Everything to Know About Dancing with the Stars Season 33