Former DWTS Pro Reveals What It Will Take to Get Her Back in the Ballroom

Lindsay Arnold revealed what it would take for her to return to “Dancing With the Stars”.

The pro dancer competed in 10 seasons of the ABC celebrity ballroom competition before stepping back after season 30 in 2021 to focus on her family. Arnold, 31, shares two young daughters, Sage and June, with her husband Sam Cusick.

In January 2025, Arnold told People magazine she was not “waiting” for any particular offer in order to return to the DWTS ballroom. “It’s not like there’s like, ‘Oh, I’m waiting for them to say they’ll do this or they’ll give me this partner,’ or something,” the Utah native said. “It’s really just a mindset, it’s a feeling like me, and my girls, and my husband, we’re all in a place where the sacrifices that it takes to do the show, uprooting our family, moving to a different state, feel worth it to us.”

“There isn’t a checklist that I’m waiting for,” Arnold continued. “It’s just honestly just an intuition thing of feeling like, ‘Oh, okay, I feel like we could make this work right now in our phase of life.’”

Lindsay Arnold Said She’s Not ‘Dying’ to Go Back to DWTS, Even With Her Sister Rylee on the Show

For the past two seasons, Arnold has been a cheerleader for her younger sister, Rylee. The teen joined DWTS as a pro dancer in season 32.

In a  2024 interview with She Knows Soaps, Arnold admitted that it would be “cool” to compete against her baby sister. But in the People interview she also admitted that her sister’s casting doesn’t actually have her “dying to be on the show.”

 “To be honest, it’s funny, because with Rylee being on the show, I feel like I’m getting a perfect glimpse and taste of it in my life without having to actually move to California, do the whole thing,” she said. “It’s actually maybe done the opposite a little bit. Yes, of course, there’s part of me that’s like, ‘I want to be on the show with Rylee. I think that would be so cool and such a moment.’ But then it’s been really nice to feel like it’s still part of my life through Rylee in a way, but I can still be here where I feel like I’m meant to be.” 

 Lindsay Arnold Said She Is Not Retired From DWTS

Arnold has insisted that she is in no way “retired” from being a professional dancer. In January 2024, she told the “Off the Vine” podcast, “I’ve never really said, like, I’m done forever, and that’s still my answer.”

“Like, I’m not done forever, but I also don’t have a set, like, ‘in one year, I will start doing ‘Dancing With the Stars’ again,” she added. “I’m just going to have to take it a year at a time,” she added.

She elaborated in a May 2024 interview with Parade. “I wouldn’t ever use the word retired because I don’t feel like I ever want to close that door,” she said. “So, I would say more I’m on a break. It’s something that I would love, love, love to bring back into my life in some aspect if possible.”