Quick Facts
Biography
Alan Bersten (born 26 May 1994) is an American professional Latin and ballroom dancer. He was a contestant on the tenth season of So You Think You Can Dance and is currently a professional dancer and choreographer on Dancing With The Stars. He is the winner of season 28 of Dancing With The Stars with his celebrity partner, The Bachelorette star Hannah Brown.
Personal life
Bersten was born and raised in Minnesota. His family heritage is Russian. He started dancing at the age of 7.
In 2018, Bersten was on tour with Dancing With The Stars when he began to have severe stomach pain. A blood test showed he had symptoms of a tumor on one of his parathyroid glands called hyperparathyroidism. He got surgery the next day to remove his left parathyroid. Bersten then went right back to work after a week of recovery.
Dancing With The Stars
Performances
Bersten started working on Dancing With The Stars in season 20 as a member of the troupe. He remained in that role for four more seasons until he made his debut as a professional partner in season 25.
During the second week of season 22, Bersten danced a salsa with Paige VanZant, as VanZant's regular partner, Mark Ballas, suffered a back injury during rehearsals. Bersten learned the entire dance routine on one day's notice and performed the dance for the live show the following day. In season 24, Bersten danced with Heather Morris for four weeks while Morris's regular partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, was recovering from an injury.
Bersten was promoted to a professional partner in season 25, where he was partnered with 1980s singer-songwriter and Broadway actress Debbie Gibson. The couple was eliminated in the second week and took 12th place. Bersten was also featured on the official promotional poster for the show that season alongside fellow cast member Sharna Burgess.
For season 26, Bersten was partnered with Olympic figure skater Mirai Nagasu. The couple was eliminated in the third week of competition, tying for 4th place with Chris Mazdzer and partner Witney Carson and Jennie Finch Daigle and partner Keo Motsepe.
For season 27, Bersten was partnered with model and social media personality Alexis Ren.The couple reached the finals and took 4th place.
For season 28, Bersten was partnered with The Bachelorette star Hannah Brown. The couple reached the finals and were crowned the season's champions on November 25, 2019.
| Season | Partner | Place |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Debbie Gibson | 12th |
| 26 | Mirai Nagasu | 4th |
| 27 | Alexis Ren | 4th |
| 28 | Hannah Brown | 1st |
Season 25
With celebrity partner Debbie Gibson
| Week | Dance / Song | Judges' score | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inaba | Goodman | Tonioli | |||
| 1 | Foxtrot / "Lost in Your Eyes" | 6 | 5 | 6 | No Elimination |
| 2 | Quickstep / "This Is My Time" Argentine Tango / "Havana" | 7 7 | 6 7 | 7 7 | Eliminated |
Season 26
With celebrity partner Mirai Nagasu
| Week | Dance / Song | Judges' score | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inaba | Goodman | Tonioli | |||
| 1 | Salsa / "No Excuses" | 7 | 8 | 8 | Safe |
| 2 | Foxtrot / "It's a Small World" Team Freestyle / "Instant Replay" | 9 9 | 9/10 9/10 | 9 9 | Safe |
| 3 | Quickstep / "BO$$" | 9 | 8/9 | 9 | Eliminated |
Score given by guest judge Rashad Jennings
Score given by guest judgeDavid Ross.
Season 27
With celebrity partner Alexis Ren
| Week | Dance / Song | Judges' score | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inaba | Goodman | Tonioli | |||
| 1 | Jive/ "Good Golly, Miss Molly" Jive/ "Shake the Room" | 7 7 | 7 8 | 7 8 | Bottom five Safe |
| 2 | Argentine tango/ "Swan Lake Suite" Salsa/ "Booty" | 8 8 | 9 8 | 8 8 | Safe |
| 3 | Contemporary/ "How To Save A Life" | 9 | 8 | 9 | Safe |
| 4 | Trio Tango/ "Move Your Body" | 8 | 8 | 9 | Safe |
| 5 | Foxtrot/ "Just Around the Riverbend" | 10 | 9 | 10 | No elimination |
| 6 | Jazz/ "Candyman" | 9 | 9 | 9 | Last to be called safe |
| 7 | Samba/ "Ladies in the ’90s" Team Freestyle/ "Country Girl (Shake It for Me)" | 9 9 | 10 8 | 10 9 | Safe |
| 8 | Waltz/ "Water" Jive/ "Yes" | 9 10 | 9 10 | 10 10 | Last to be called safe |
| 9 | Argentine tango/ "Swan Lake Suite" Freestyle/ "Head Above Water" | 9 10 | 9 10 | 9 10 | Fourth place |
Season 28
With celebrity partner Hannah Brown
| Week | Dance / Song | Judges' score | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inaba | Goodman | Tonioli | |||
| 1 | Cha-cha-cha / "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" | 7 | 7 | 6 | No Elimination |
| 2 | Viennese Waltz / "Lover" | 8 | 8 | 8 | Safe |
| 3 | Rumba / "Hold On" | 7 | 7 | 7 | Safe |
| 4 | Paso Doble / "I Love It" | 8 | 8/8 | 8 | Safe |
| 5 | Foxtrot / "A Whole New World" | 9 | 7 | 9 | No Elimination |
| 6 | Samba / "Southbound" | 8 | 8 | 8 | Safe |
| 7 | Jazz / "Bad Girls" Team Freestyle / "Somebody's Watching Me" | 8 9 | 9 9 | 8 9 | Safe |
| 8 | Quickstep / "American Girl" Salsa Dance-Off / "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" | 10 Awarded | 9 2 | 10 Points | Safe |
| 9 | Salsa / "No Scrubs" Tango / "Boy with Luv" | 8 10 | 8/8 9/10 | 8 10 | Safe |
| 10 | Rumba / "Dancing with a Stranger" Contemporary / "Lose You to Love Me" | 9 9 | 9 9 | 9 9 | Safe |
| 11 | Viennese Waltz / "Lover" Freestyle / "Girl on Fire" & "Hollaback Girl" | 10 10 | 9 10 | 9 10 | Winners |
Score given by guest judge Leah Remini.
Score given by guest judge Joey Fatone.
Dancing With The Stars: Juniors
Bersten joined the first season of Dancing With The Stars spin-off series Dancing With The Stars: Juniors as a professional mentor. . He formed Team Alan with junior professional dancer JT Church and 10-year-old professional skateboarder Sky Brown. Team Alan ended up winning the first ever Dancing With The Stars: Juniors Mirror Star trophy on December 9, 2018.
| Week | Dance / Song | Judges' score | Results | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moore | Chmerkovskiy | Rippon | |||
| 1 | Salsa/ "Light It Up" | 7 | 8 | 8 | Safe |
| 2 | Cha-cha-cha/ "Just Dance" | 7 | 7 | 8 | Safe |
| 3 | Conrtemporary/ "How Far I'll Go" | 8 | 8 | 8 | Safe |
| 4 | Jive/ "Little Shop of Horrors" | 9 | 9 | 8 | Safe |
| 5 | Samba/ "The Greatest" | 8 | 8 | 7 | Safe |
| 6 | Foxtrot/ "Unconditionally" | 9 | 10 | 10 | Safe |
| 7 | Charleston/ "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)" | 9 | 9 | 9 | Safe |
| 8 | Argentine Tango/ "Thunder" Jive-Foxtrot Fusion/ "369" | 10 10 | 9 9 | 10 9 | Safe |
| 9 | Salsa/ "Light It Up" Freestyle/ "Underneath the Tree" | 10 10 | 10 10 | 10 10 | Winners |