Former Dancing With The Stars Pro Chelsie Hightower Shares Her Story
What a cool read on former Dancing With The Stars Pro Chelsie Hightower from the Desert News on how her dancing story began. Here are a couple of takes from the link. I wish they’d ask her back to do Dancing With The Stars.
While I am admittedly biased one year later, I wasn’t then. I was not a fan of “Dancing With the Stars,” and I didn’t know she had also been on Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Two weeks after our first visit, she hosted a ward activity in her home on a Sunday night.
She and I talked for two hours afterward and have been friends ever since. I listened that night as she talked about realizing that she couldn’t handle the demands of her career on her own and how she came to understand that the Savior’s “yoke is easy” and his “burden is light,” as it says in Matthew 11:30.
Hightower’s dance career began when she was 9 and her family moved into the boundaries of the only elementary school in the United States with a ballroom dance program.
“I think I realized at a young age … that I was meant to be in that ballroom program, and I was meant to find dance,” Hightower said. “I felt like … the Lord was opening doors for me and guiding my path, and I’ve felt like dance was a part of that path since I was 9 years old.”
With the transition to Los Angeles and the pressure of the show, she found herself having anxiety and panic attacks, but she poured herself into dance.
During her time on “Dancing With the Stars,” she was nominated for an Emmy. She coached world champion rodeo cowboy Ty Murray to a fourth-place finish during her first season, and singer-songwriter Micheal Bolton called her “his light” during their time as partners on the show in 2010. She remembers these friendships as the most rewarding part of the experience.
Still, she knew where her strength came from.
To read the complete story, see the Desert News.
Thanks for posting! She’s always been my favourite and I’ve always wondered why she was just cut, especially when she was nominated for an emmy and won the design a dance. Good to here it was more of her doing but I hope we get to see her one more time.
What a beautiful and inspiring story…truly touching, powerful, and moving. I respect and admire Chelsie for her strength in staying true to her values and religious beliefs and for following her heart and the Lord in making decisions for her life. I’m so glad she found true peace and happiness, and I hope she continues to be blessed throughout her life.
I don’t think it was exactly her doing. She was unexpectedly fired from the show.
Yeah, Jamie, I was going to comment on that earlier. And she was nominated for an Emmy and won Design a Dance WITH DEREK. Not like it was a solo effort. Derek already had at least one nomination by that point. I think that was the year he got a nom with Chelsie and a solo one.
I loved Chelsie Hightower and missed her when she was gone.
Does anyone know why she was fired from the show? It seemed at the time that the show was grooming her to fill the spot left by Julianne’s departure.
I loved seeing her on the show. She had a special relationship with Shirley, Corky and Mark. She’s a lovely girl. I wish her well.
Definitely sounds like her contract wasn’t renewed, but that it was a blessing she’d been praying for (ie. “God, please take this from me if you want me to do something else.”) A twist on Garth Brooks’ “Unsanswered Prayers.” Love me some Chelsie. I need to find a way to interview her.
Ironically, I went to the singles ward (long time ago since I’m quite a bit older) they mention she’s attending now. Small world.