Julia Stiles Honors Dolly Parton With a '9 to 5' Quickstep on DWTS

The ballroom felt a little different Wednesday night — warmer, shinier, tinged with something bittersweet. Julia Stiles stepped onto the Dancing With the Stars floor not just to compete, but to celebrate a legend the world is still learning to live without.

A Debut With Deep Meaning

Stiles, best known for her breakout role in Save the Last Dance, made her long-awaited DWTS Season 35 premiere alongside pro partner Ezra Sosa, and the two came out swinging — literally. Their Quickstep, set to Dolly Parton's timeless anthem "9 to 5," crackled with energy and genuine emotion, transforming a competitive dance floor into something closer to a memorial stage.

Parton, who passed away at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer, died on August 25 at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, surrounded by family. According to Page Six, her representatives described a woman who spent every decade of her life pouring joy, hope, and generosity into the world — from her Imagination Library book donation program to research funding that contributed to a life-saving vaccine.

Dolly Gave Her Blessing

What made Stiles's performance land with extra weight was a detail she shared on air: just weeks before Parton's death, the country icon personally approved the song selection for Stiles's debut. That kind of grace — ensuring her music would be used with intention even as her own time grew short — is pure Dolly. Stiles called her "such a powerhouse" and said she wanted nothing more than to make her proud.

The song itself carries decades of cultural weight. Originally written and performed by Parton for the 1980 workplace comedy film 9 to 5 — in which she starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin — the track became an instant anthem for anyone who's ever clocked in somewhere they'd rather not be. It still sounds like rebellion wrapped in rhinestones.

The Judges Were Sold

Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli weren't handing out charity scores — all three judges gushed over Stiles's command of the floor, describing her as beautiful, graceful, and fully in character from the first beat to the last. The panel awarded Stiles and Sosa a combined 18 out of 30, landing them near the top of the leaderboard for the night.

Derek Hough, of course, has his own connection to this particular song. Back in 2007, Parton appeared on DWTS as a guest performer, delivering "9 to 5" live in the ballroom alongside then-pro dancers Derek, his sister Julianne Hough, Cheryl Burke, and Mark Ballas. It was a moment that clearly never left any of them. Julianne, speaking earlier this month on Good Morning America, called Dolly the ultimate embodiment of authenticity — someone who never censored herself and never pretended to be anything other than exactly who she was.

A Legacy That Keeps Dancing

Parton's influence doesn't dim. It reverberates — through tributes like Stiles's Quickstep, through the countless artists she inspired, through the Broadway production set to bring her life story to the stage, and through the secret track she reportedly recorded to be released in 2046. Even in death, she's planning surprises.

Meanwhile, Season 35 of DWTS is just getting started. The two-night premiere wrapped with an elimination — Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Conner Leavitt and pro Adele Zaikman were the first pair sent home — and a second elimination will follow at the close of Wednesday's episode. Starting next week, the show returns to its regular Tuesday-night slot at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, with next-day streaming on Hulu.

But for one night, none of that competitive noise quite mattered. What mattered was a woman in a ballroom, dancing her heart out for Dolly Parton — and doing her proud.

Related on Ni4o: Dolly Parton Brings Her Life Story to Broadway This December · Dolly Parton’s Brother Coy ‘Denver’ Parton Passes Away at 82 · Dolly Parton Shares Health Update After Missing Dollywood Event