Ezra Frech made an unforgettable first impression during the Season 35 premiere of “Dancing With the Stars.” The 21-year-old Paralympic champion performed a tango with professional partner Daniella Karagach and quickly emerged as one of Night One’s standout contestants.
Frech was born with congenital limb differences affecting his left leg and left hand. He underwent major surgery as a young child, including an above-the-knee amputation, and has used prosthetics throughout much of his life.
Long before entering the ballroom, Frech had already built an extraordinary athletic career. At the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, he won gold medals in both the men’s 100-meter T63 and high jump T63 events.
For “Dancing With the Stars,” Frech was paired with Karagach, an experienced professional known for creative choreography. Their first assignment was a tango to Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone,” but adapting traditional tango technique to Frech’s prosthetic leg required considerable experimentation.
One challenge was especially significant because tango traditionally requires the male dancer to lead heavily from his left side. That is Frech’s prosthetic side, so the pair had to develop movements that worked with his mechanical knee while still maintaining the recognizable character of the dance.
Frech even described some of what they were attempting as “revolutionary.” Instead of trying to hide his prosthesis, he and Karagach incorporated its movement into their choreography and worked to discover what was physically possible in a competitive ballroom routine.
When they finally performed live, the work paid off. Frech danced using a running-blade prosthetic and later explained that making carbon fiber and metal appear smooth during a tango was particularly difficult because such prosthetics are designed primarily for function rather than ballroom movement.
The judges were visibly impressed. Bruno Tonioli praised Frech for appearing strong, focused and in control, while Carrie Ann Inaba celebrated the performance for demonstrating new possibilities in movement and credited Karagach for adapting the choreography.
Derek Hough became emotional because the performance reminded him of competing alongside Paralympian Amy Purdy during Season 18. Purdy was actually in the ballroom supporting Frech, creating a meaningful connection between two generations of adaptive athletes on the show.
Frech and Karagach received 20 out of 30, with scores of 7 from Inaba, 6 from Hough and 7 from Tonioli. That placed them second on Night One’s leaderboard, only one point behind Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson.
Frech’s fellow contestants were impressed too. Harry Shum Jr. expressed amazement at how controlled Frech appeared, while Connor Wood called his performance “phenomenal.” Frech credited Karagach’s teaching and their teamwork for helping him adapt to an entirely unfamiliar form of movement.
For Frech, however, joining “Dancing With the Stars” represents more than chasing a Mirrorball Trophy. He has spoken about how much it means to represent the disabled community on such a visible platform, and his opening tango demonstrated exactly why that representation matters—showing viewers both the technical challenges of adaptive dance and the possibilities that can emerge when choreography is redesigned around the individual dancer.
