Chelsie Hightower

As announced by ABC, in alphabetical order, here are the stars making their ballroom dancing debut in 2009 on Dancing with the Stars:

BELINDA CARLISLE
80's pop singer Belinda Carlisle
-- The lead singer of the Go-Go's, the most successful all-female band of all time.








DAVID ALAN GRIER
TV actor David Alan "DAG" Grier
-- TV actor from In Living Color, Life with Bonnie, and Chocolate News for Comedy Central.










SHAWN JOHNSON
Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson
-- Olympic gold medalist in balance beam at the 2008 Summer Olympics.








LIL' KIM
Female Rapper Lil' Kim
-- Grammy Award winning multi-platinum rapper.









GILLES MARINI
Sex and the City actor Gilles Marini
-- An actor from the movie Sex and the City.










TY MURRAY
Rodeo ringer Ty Murray
-- The most accomplished rodeo athlete in the century-long history of the sport.








STEVE-O
Comedian and producer Steve-O
-- Starred in his own show for MTV - Wildboyz.










DENISE RICHARDS
Actress Denise Richards
-- Actress known for her roles in films such as Wild Things and Starship Troopers.








LAWRENCE TAYLOR
Football great Lawrence Taylor
-- Widely regarded as the greatest defensive player in the history of the National Football League.








CHUCK WICKS
Singer Chuck Wicks
-- A gifted songwriter and vocalist.









STEVE WOZNIAK
Computer guy Steve Wozniak
-- A Silicon Valley icon and philanthropist.

Dancing has been a major part of Chelsie's life from a very young age. Being trained in all styles of dance. Chelsie's specialty is ballroom, where she has had the opportunity to receive thorough and extensive training from current and former world champions such as: Corky and Shirley Ballas, Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova, Karina Sminoff, Paul Green, Vibeka Taus, Goran Nordin, Louis VanAmstel and others. Chelsie has traveled around the world competing for many years now. In 2005, she was asked to be one of the four couples in the country to be on Team USA, in Blackpool, England, which holds the most prestigious competition in the world. She represented USA in Latin style, where Team USA took 3rd place behind Ukraine and Russia. That same year Chelsie had the opportunity to be one of the two couples from USA to represent the United States in the worlds at Lavita for the Standard style of ballroom. Chelsie spent the summer of 2006, teaching in North Carolina and training in New York. In September of 2006, at the age of 17 she became an international finalist, being the only American couple to make it that far. Ballroom has been a passion and opportunity for Chelsie to use her natural talents in dance. Ever since Chelsie began competing at a high level in ballroom, she has been in the finals and ranked as one of the top three couples in the country.

Source: ChelsieHightowerDance.com