Amanda Kloots is one of the four finalists on Dancing with the Stars this season.
To make it to the finals, Kloots did one of the hardest things she said she ever had to do.
She danced to a song that her late husband, Nick Cordero, wrote, and she did it in a contemporary dance where she played out the story from the song and earned Perfect 10s from all the judges.
Kloots said that the dance and her experience on Dancing with the Stars had helped her more than almost anything.
Amanda Kloots on Dancing with the Stars helping her heal
This wasn’t the first time that Amanda Kloots used her dancing to help her deal with the death of her husband.
Nick Cordero, a Broadway star, died in 2020 after contracting COVID-19. He was only 41 at the time of his death and it left Amanda, 39, as a single mother to a baby.
In the second week of the season, Amanda Kloots and her partner Alan Bersten danced the foxtrot to It Had to Be You, which was also the song she danced to with Nick at their wedding.
Amanda received a week-high score of 32 for the performance.
“We chose it because it was the song he sang to book the job Bullets Over Broadway, which is the show that we met in,” Kloots said at the time. “It’ll be great to dance to it again.”
“This song holds such a special place in my heart, and our wedding will always remain in my mind as one of the happiest times of my life.”
Things were harder in the semifinals when she danced to a song that Nick wrote.
She took to Instagram to reveal how important this was.
“:I have received so many kind messages that have really touched by heart,” Amanda wrote on her IG Stories. “Expressing this grief through dance has unexpectedly brought me so much healing. It’s amazing what dance can do.”
Broadway designer responds to Amanda’s DWTS performance
David Korins, who has designed more than 20 Broadway shows, including Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, posted that he was incredibly touched by Amanda’s performance to Nick’s song.
“I’ve never met @amandakloots, but I met Nick once in nyc after a show. I, like many people have been following their journey every single moment since March of 2022.”
“Now, as I sit here crying my eyes out watching this stunning dance in my kitchen, I am once again blown away by the power of what this family is going through & how they are working through it all.”
“Elvis is lucky to have a mom like that & we are lucky to be here as part of the community holding them up.”
Dancing with the Stars airs on Monday nights at 8/7c. The Season 30 finale takes place on Monday night, November 22.