Watch Ilona Maher on ‘DWTS’ impress viewers with her stunning lifts
Ilona Maher wowed the judges with her powerful performance on “Disney Night” of “Dancing with the Stars” on Oct. 22.
The Olympic rugby player, 28, and her pro partner, Alan Bersten, 30, performed a jazz dance set to “Surface Pressure,” a song from Disney’s 2021 movie, “Encanto.”
Maher channeled the character of Luisa Madrigal, known in the movie for her superhuman strength, with her powerful lifts.
She effortlessly lifted Bersten, who was dressed in a full donkey costume, over her shoulders, a reference to the way Luisa lifts donkeys in the animated film.
The rugby star also showed off her strength during a freestyle group number set to “I 2 I” from “A Goofy Movie” when she lifted and spun fellow contestant Chandler Kinney.
Before the performance, Maher shared a sweet message on X about what her “Encanto” dance meant to her.
“Doing this dance tonight for this little girl (me) who would have loved Luisa,” she wrote, sharing a throwback photo of herself posing with a “Snow White” character actor.
Maher and Bersten scored their first-ever 9 for the performance and came away from “Disney Night” with an overall score of 25/30, securing them a spot next week.
Fans were loving Maher’s strength and charisma on stage, both in her “Encanto” performance and her group number.
“I love a good 4 person tango section, and the LIFTS,” one person wrote on X. “YOUR HONOR, I SIMPLY LOVE ILONA MAHER.”
“ILONA THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE!” another person wrote on X.
A fan on Instagram also praised what Maher was modeling to young women with her performance.
“I loved this! My daughter was a competitive dancer until she hit high school and decided to do cheer and flag football,” the fan wrote. “She always was compared to the smaller girls but she’s perfect in our eyes and thriving more now. You are showing that there is so much beauty in every woman and young lady, I wished when I was younger we had the same young ladies to look up to.”
