‘Dancing With the Stars’: Hayley Erbert Hough makes emotional return to the ballroom as dancers deliver powerful tributes on Dedication Night

And then there were nine! Dancing With the Stars was an emotional rollercoaster on Tuesday as contestants took to the ballroom to dedicate their performances to the people who have impacted their lives.

It was especially personal for actress Chandler Kinney, who performed a contemporary routine to Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” with partner Brandon Armstrong.

“I am dedicating tonight’s performance to my mom,” Chandler told Yahoo Entertainment before she took the floor. “She has sacrificed so much for me just so [that] I would have a chance at pursuing my dreams.”

Describing her dance as “the purest physical manifestation of thought and feeling,” Kinney said each movement mirrored her deep bond with her mother.

“She is always there to catch me when I fall, uplift me and move through life side by side,” she said.

As judge Carrie Ann Inaba said during the show, “Dance is all about communication,” and the stars took it to heart.

Brooks Nader and partner Gleb Savchenko were sent home at the end of the night, but before they did, they turned up the heat with a salsa tribute to the model’s three younger sisters — who made a fun cameo on the ballroom floor.

Family was a central theme of the evening, with Phaedra Parks delivering a heartfelt rumba dedicated to her mother, Regina, set to Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me” and NBA champion Dwight Howard honoring his children with his own rumba.

Joey Graziadei dazzled with his Viennese waltz, dedicated to his fiancée Kelsey Anderson, which earned him high praise from Bruno Tonioli, who crowned him the “King of Ballroom.”

Super Bowl champion Danny Amendola delivered a stirring contemporary performance dedicated to his late college football coach and mentor, Mike Leach.

Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik and partner Rylee Arnold scored their first “nine” with a powerful Argentine tango, a tribute to the pommel horse king’s U.S. men’s gymnastics team. Similarly, Olympian rugby player Ilona Maher performed a rumba dedicated to the U.S. women’s rugby team.

Perhaps the most emotional moment of the night came when judge Derek Hough and his wife, Hayley Erbert Hough, performed a dance to Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things.” The appearance marked Erbert Hough’s triumphant return to the ballroom after she was diagnosed with a cranial hematoma in Dec. 2023.

“You never know what you’re capable of until you go through something like this,” she said after the performance.

Dancer and choreographer Jenny Oehlwein told Yahoo Entertainment that dance has the ability to release emotions people often bury deep inside.

“There is no emotion that you cannot release through movement and song,” she said. “What we don’t release energetically, we store, and it manifests physically in your body.”

For Oehlwein, Hayley’s comeback was a testament to how dance often says what words cannot.

“Music makes you escape into a memory, whether it’s love, joy or anger,” Oehlwein said. “Finding that truth is what makes it the most authentic performance.”

Dancing With the Stars returns for its Disney-themed episode Tuesday, Oct. 22, on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.

How did the stars perform?

Judges: Carrie Ann Inaba, Mark Ballas (guest), Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli

Brooks Nader and pro Gleb Savchenko: ELIMINATED

• Dance: Salsa

• Song: “Mi Gente” by J Balvin and Willy William

• Dedication: Her 3 younger sisters

• Score: Carrie Ann 8, Mark 8, Derek 8, Bruno 8

• Total: 32/40

Joey Graziadei and pro Jenna Johnson: SAFE

• Dance: Viennese waltz

• Song: “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims

• Dedication: His fiancée Kelsey Anderson.

• Score: Carrie Ann 9, Mark 9, Derek 9, Bruno 9

• Total: 36/40

Danny Amendola and pro Witney Carson: SAFE

• Dance: Contemporary

• Song: “Unsteady (Erich Lee Gravity Remix)” by X Ambassadors

• Dedication: His late NCAA head football coach Mike Leach.

• Score: Carrie Ann 9, Mark 9, Derek 9, Bruno 9

• Total: 36/40

Stephen Nedoroscik and pro Rylee Arnold

• Dance: Argentine Tango

• Song: Song: “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes

• Dedication: U.S. men’s gymnastics team

• Score: Carrie Ann 8, Mark 9, Derek 8, Bruno 8

• Total: 33/40

Chandler Kinney and pro Brandon Armstrong: SAFE

• Dance: Contemporary

• Song: “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack

• Dedication: Her mother

• Score: Carrie Ann 8, Mark 8, Derek 8, Bruno 8

• Total: 32/40

Ilona Maher and pro Alan Bersten: SAFE

• Dance: Rumba

• Song: “My Way” by Yseult

• Dedication: U.S. women’s national rugby sevens team

• Score: Carrie Ann 8, Mark 8, Derek 8, Bruno 8

• Total: 32/40

Jenn Tran and pro Sasha Farber: SAFE

• Dance: Foxtrot

• Song: “The Archer” by Taylor Swift

• Dedication: Taylor Swift

• Score: Carrie Ann 8, Mark 8, Derek 8, Bruno 8

• Total: 32/40

Phaedra Parks and pro Val Chmerkovskiy: SAFE

• Dance: Rumba

• Song: “Because You Loved Me” by Celine Dion

• Dedication: Her mother

• Score: Carrie Ann 8, Mark 8, Derek 8, Bruno 8

• Total: 32/40

Dwight Howard and pro Daniella Karagach: SAFE

• Dance: Rumba

• Song: “Shoot For The Stars” by Dwight Howard

• Dedication: His children

• Score: Carrie Ann 7, Mark 7, Derek 8, Bruno 7

• Total: 29/40

Who’s been eliminated so far?

• Week 2: Anna Delvey and Tori Spelling

• Week 4: Reginald VelJohnson and Eric Roberts

• Week 5: Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko