At last! We’ve been given the list of the dance partners for the new cast of celebrity dancers for the eighth season of Dancing With the Stars. I’m thrilled to see Lacey Schwimmer back this season. I’ve liked her since her time on SYTYCD. And maybe we’ll get treated to another fabulous dance with her and her SYTYCD season 2 champion brother Benji Schwimmer this season too.

There are two more fantastic new pro dancers who made their mark on our hearts when they were in the top 20 of their seasons of SYTYCD too. Chelsea Hightower is the cute little blonde who tears it up in the Latin dances from season 4. And the other is the handsome, totally hot Dmitri Chaplain who got screams from the girls in the audience whenever he would take off his shirt on season 2.

I just love that the stars from So You Think You Can Dance are now being seen and loved on other dance shows too. (Don’t forget the three SYTYCD veterans that are a part of America’s Best Dance Crew season 3 competitors, Quest Crew.) I guess it’s just a sign that dance is really coming into its own on TV. As far as I’m concerned, nothing could be better for dance lovers!

So without further elaboration, here are the teams for DWTS season 8:

• Lil Kim will be dancing with Derek Hough, who returns for his fourth season.
• Steve-O Lacey Schwimmer returns for her second season and is a finalist from So You Think You Can Dance season 3.
• Nancy O’Dell will be dancing with Tony Dovolani, who returns for his seventh season.
• Lawrence Taylor is partnered with Edyta Sliwinska, who is the only pro to compete in all eight seasons of “Dancing with the Stars.”
• Shawn Johnson is paired with Mark Ballas, who returns for his fourth season.
• Chuck Wicks is partnered with his actual girlfriend, Julianne Hough, who returns for her fifth season.
• Gilles Marini will be dancing with Cheryl Burke, who returns for her seventh season.
• Denise Richards will be partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who returns for his sixth season.
• Steve Wozniak is partnered with Karina Smirnoff, who returns for her sixth season.
• Belinda Carlisle is paired with Jonathan Roberts, who returns for his sixth season.
• David Alan Grier is paired with Kym Johnson, who returns for her sixth season.
• Ty Murray will be dancing with So You Think You Can Dance season 4 top 20 veteran, Chelsie Hightower, who makes her series debut.
• Jewel is paired with Dmitry Chaplin, who makes his “Dancing with the Stars” debut. Dmitri was one of the top 20 in So You Think You Can Dance season 2.

Here’s a cute photo of Nigel Lythgoe & Carrie Ann Inaba at the 4th Annual ‘A Fine Romance’ benefit recently. It’s good to see the stars of the top two dance reality TV shows getting along so well. Nigel, is of course the Executive Producer and judge for So You Think You Can Dance and Carrie Ann is a judge for Dancing With the Stars. Aren’t they cute together in this photo?

As is the tradition of the Dancing With the Stars partners, the season 7 couples have started making their public appearances to promote the show. In these photos, we see that Cloris Leachman and Corky Ballas were dancing on the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of The Women held at The Mann Village Theater.

(click on “Read More” for another phot of them)
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Here’s a wonderful preview of what we have in store for us in Dancing With the Stars 7. In this clip, the dance pros talk about the stars they’ve been paired with and give us some insight into what each of them will be like on the dance floor this season.

I may be the only person in the world who didn’t know who Brooke Burke was until she was the host of the hit reality shows Rock Star: INXS and Rock Star: Supernova. But now I find that she’s done much more than that! Here are some other things I hadn’t known about Brooke:

• She will dance this season with pro dancer Derek Hough
• Brooke Burke was born the oldest of nine children
• She was a model and appeared in prominent television commercials for Bally Fitness clubs, Coca-Cola, and Discover Card
• She was also a model for Venus Swimwear and Frederick’s of Hollywood
• She’s the mother of four children
• She hosted Wild On!, a popular travel series on the E! Entertainment channel
• She stars as a playable character in the Burger King advergaming title PocketBike Racer and in Big Bumpin’.
• She has appeared nude on the website BlueNudes.com, and in the May 2001 and November 2004 issues of Playboy

[Photo: courtesy of newscom.com]

OK, you’re right, If you are over the age of 15 and weren’t in a coma for the past 18 years, you most likely already know who Toni Braxton is. But just being a hit singer is not all she’s about. Here’s more that I’ll bet you may not know.

• She’ll be dancing with pro dance partner Alec Mazo
• Her father was a minister and she grew up in a religous family - her first public performances were in the church choir
• Along with her sisters Traci, Trina, Towanda, and Tamar she was part of the singing group The Braxtons early in her career
• Her sister Towanda was a graduate on season 2 of the TV Reality show Starting Over
• Her debut album, Toni Braxton was certified 8x Platinum and has sales of over 15 million worldwide
• The song Un-Break My Heart from her second album, Secrets, is her signature song and spent eleven weeks at number one on the Hot 100 and also topped the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart for eleven weeks and the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart for four weeks as well as reaching no 2 in the UK
• She was the first African American woman to play a Disney character leading role on Broadway as Belle in Beauty and the Beast
• She has two sons named Denham Cole Braxton-Lewis & Diezel Ky Braxton-Lewis
• She’s a spokeswoman for Autism Speaks & The American Heart Association
• Her Discography:
  • Studio albums
    • 1993: Toni Braxton
    • 1996: Secrets
    • 2000: The Heat
    • 2002: More Than a Woman
    • 2005: Libra
    • TBA: Toni Braxton’s 6th Studio Album
  • Compilation albums
    • 2003: Ultimate Toni Braxton
    • 2004: Platinum & Gold Collection
    • 2007: The Essential Toni Braxton
  • Christmas/remix albums
    • 2001: Snowflakes
    • 2005: Un-Break My Heart: The Remix Collection
• Her Awards:
  • She has been nominated for 11 American Music Awards, winning 7 times
  • She has won 5 Billboard Music Awards
  • She’s been nominated for 9 Grammy Awards, winning 6
  • She has won 7 Groovevolt Fashion and Music Awards
  • She has been nominated for an Image Award and a MOBO Award
  • She was nominated for 6 MTV Video Music Awards, but has never won
  • She won an NAACP Award
  • She has been nominated 5 times for a Soul Train Award, and won 4 times

[Photo: courtesy of newscom.com]

Another of this season’s celebrity dancers on Dancing With the Stars is Lance Bass. He was one of the members of the hit boy band ‘N Sync, but there’s so much more to Lance than that.

Did you know that Lance Bass is an officially trained cosmonaut? He trained for space and was originally going to be the subject of a documentary about a celebrity (Bass) who went through training and certification to go into space. Unfortunately, the deal fell through and even though he successfully completed the training, he has never been able to go into space (yet.)

[Photo: courtesy of newscom.com]

• Will dance with new pro dancer Lacey Schwimmer
• He is openly gay and dated Reichen Lehmkuhl, who was on the Amazing Race
• He wrote an autobiography called Out Of Sync
• He formed his own film production company called A Happy Place, that later changed its name to Bacon & Eggs - It made family-oriented films
• He formed a music management company named Free Lance Entertainment
• He has stated that he has Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD)
• He is a self-described “huge Dr. Seuss fan”
• He is the godfather of former bandmate Joey Fatone’s daughter, Briahna.
• He has appeared in these films:
  • Girl Camp (2007)
  • I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007)
  • Love Wrecked (2005)
  • Seek & Hide (2004)
  • “Higglytown Heroes”
  • “Kim Possible” (1 episode, 2004)
  • “The New Tom Green Show” (1 episode, 2003)
  • Kingdom Hearts (2002)
  • On the Line (2001)
  • “7th Heaven”(1 episode, 2000)
  • Longshot (2000)
  • “Touched by an Angel” (1 episode, 1999)
  • Women’s World Soccer Cup Opening Ceremony ‘99 (1999)- Singer

[Photo: courtesy of newscom.com]

To get us ready for the seventh season of Dancing With the Stars, I thought it might be a good thing if I gave you some information about the new cast of celebrities. It helps to know a bit about who is out there dancing when we decide who to root for this season.

First, there’s the paparazzi favorite, Kim Kardashian. Here are some things you may not know about her:

• Will dance this season with pro dancer Mark Ballas
• Her father was one of the attorneys who defended OJ Simpson in his murder trial
• Her step father is none other than Olympic champion Bruce Jenner
• Her step brother is reality TV star Brody Jenner
• She first came to fame when her private sex video with her then boyfriend Ray J
• She’s currently dating NFL player Reggie Bush
• She’s creating her own fragrance to be launched in 2009
• These are her television credits:
  • The Simple Life (2 episodes, 2006)
  • Beyond the Break (1 episode, 2006)
  • Sunset Tan (1 episode, 2007)
  • Más vale tarde (1 episode, 2007)
  • Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007-present)
  • WWE Raw (1 episode, 2008)
  • WrestleMania XXIV (2008)
  • Celebrity Family Feud (1 episode, 2008)

[Photo: courtesy of newscom.com]

Remember Robert Muraine, the crazy-good popper that was on So You Think You Can Dance? Well, thanks to my live blogging buddy on finale night, here’s the Canadian Ikea commercial Robert is in. This is the really long version. I’m sure they had to cut it considerably for air, but it’s wonderful. And check out the woman popper they found to work with him in it!

Here’s an interview that Joshua Allen, winner of this season of So You think You Can Dance, did with Hollywood 411. He says that really expected for Twitch to win, since he came into the season with such a large fan base. He talks about not being able to afford the classical training so he says that he would take out trash and other odd jobs in trade for some classes, but nothing like Will or the others.

He also lets us know that his high school coaches hated him for giving up traditional sports, after breaking records, etc., because he wanted to dance. He seems like a great guy. He’s truly an inspiration to anyone who has a dream, but thinks that they are held back by their circumstances.