Jewel nixes the idea that she would try DWTS Season 9 – she and hubby Ty Murray (Season 8 – 4th place) are trying to have a baby.  Numerous websites are reporting this, but I’ve linked to Star Magazine.

We won’t be seeing this anytime soon, if the Star is correct.

Copyright 2009 Craig Sjodin / ABC

Cheryl Burke is telling anyone and everyone about her relationship – and hey, I don’t blame her. The guy is HOT and a health nut.

According to People and StarTraks Photos    Cheryl also threw a 4th of July party in Malibu. If the pictures are anything to go by, she and Derek (at least) had a great time. There are a couple more larger pictures of Derek and Cheryl at Pure Derek Hough.

I think all true DWTS addicts probably know by now that Louis Van Amstel, a professional dancer who was on several early seasons paired with Lisa Rinna (among others), has moved over to So You Think You Can Dance as a choreographer. And from what I’ve seen he’s doing a very good job. But that isn’t DWTS only connection to SYTYCD! DWTS Judge Carrie Ann Inaba has teamed up with the executive producer of SYTYCD, Nigel Lithgow, Katie Holmes and Director Adam Shankman to create Dizzy Feet Foundation. The steering committee of the foundation also boasts Paula Abdul, Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Lopez. The foundation’s Mission Statement includes providing scholarships and grants to talented dancers and choreographers working at or through accredited studios and to provide dance education programs to underpriviledged children.

You can see Katie Holmes dance to promote the foundation on So You Think You Can Dance’s 100th episode on July 23rd. Apparently, Katie dances very well. I would expect as much because, although I’ve never been a big fan, I did see her sing and dance on defunct show Eli Stone and she was surprisingly good.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was by far one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. Plus, it is some of the best music to dance to ever. So, I was really excited that they were invited to perform on Dancing with the Stars. Below you’ll find the list of all the music from the DWTS results show.

Special Musical Guests
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performed the song “Calloway Boogie” with professionals Mark Ballas, Cheryl Burke, Tony Dovolani, Lacey Schwimmer, Derek Hough, and Julianne Hough dancing
Buy Calloway Boogie on Amazon
Buy Calloway Boogie CD on Amazon

Jewel performed the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” while Dmitry Chaplin and Chelsie Hightower danced

Macy’s Stars of Dance Music for March 17, 2009 was Michael Rooney – “The Golden Age of Musicals”

The following dances were performed again:
Steve & Karina danced a Quickstep to the song “Oh Boy” —Buddy Holly
Download MP3 on Amazon
Buy CD on Amazon

Belinda & Jonathan danced a Salsa to the song “Higher” —Gloria Estefan
Download MP3 on Amazon

Also, take a look back at all the music from previous episodes of Dancing with the Stars.

Jewel and Ty decided to turn the tables on Dmitry and Chelsie and teach them a little something new. Neither Chelsie or Dmitry had ridden horses before and so it’s kind of neat that Ty and Jewel could introduce them to something new.

Check out this short video that Jewel made of Dmitry and Chelsie riding a horse for the first time:

You can read more about the horse riding, target shooting, four-wheel riding, fishing and eating BBQ that happened with Jewel and Ty in between Dancing with the Stars practice sessions on Jewel’s blog.

I’m still really sad that Jewel is injured and out of Dancing with the Stars. I was really looking forward to her on the show after seeing her as a judge on Nashville Star. Plus, the husband wife dynamic would have been interesting as well.

I’d been reading rumors about Nancy O’Dell and Jewel being out of Dancing with the Stars. I even posted about Jewel’s injury previously, but it’s now official that both Nancy and Jewel are out of Dancing with the Stars.

Let’s take a look at a number of quotes I found around the web from Jewel and Nancy O’Dell about not being able to compete on Dancing with the Stars.

First a quote from Jewel about her injury and Jewel’s ongoing participation on DWTS.

“I originally thought it was tendinitis or ligament strains,” Jewel said before a concert appearance Thursday night in Highland, Calif. — which she would do sitting down. “It was painful enough for a doctor to put me on cortisone. When I went in for an MRI, it turned out to be something else. I had no idea something like this was possible.”

Jewel’s stress fractures are just below her knees, which had been swelling from a practice regimen of up to eight hours a day. They’ll heal in six to nine weeks, says Jewel, who is using crutches to get around.

“Hopefully I’ll get to sing on the show and come back and (compete) again,” Jewel says.

Now, a quote describing Nancy O’Dell’s injury:

“Beyond disappointment doesn’t even being to describe how I feel about not being able to continue on ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ It has been one of my favorite shows since season one!” O’Dell revealed. “But I have torn the meniscus in my knee in two places, which requires surgery. According to the doctor, one is a ‘significant’ tear and it will require my getting knee surgery within the next couple of weeks.”

Looks like Nancy O’Dell might return to another season of Dancing with the Stars and still enjoyed the short time she did have with Tony:

“DWTS’ was a great experience. I’ll miss working with my partner, Tony Dovolani, and all the other wonderful people on the amazing production that is ‘Dancing With the Stars,’” O’Dell added. “Tony has been an amazing teacher and dance partner and I feel horrible I can’t continue for him… Although short, it was a great experience. I challenged myself to take risk at doing something I had never done before!”

And don’t rule out a possible return to the show somewhere down the line.

“After I have surgery and eight weeks of rehab, my doctor tells me my knee will be back to how it was,” O’Dell said. “So that means if I have the opportunity to go back, I could!”

Dancing with the Stars executive producer Conrad Green said the following about injuries on Dancing with the Stars:

“We’ll re-look next season to limit the training in the early weeks, because I don’t want people to get injured,” he says. The 15-week-long show “is a marathon, not a sprint.”

There have been a number of injuries to stars and the professionals on Dancing with the stars. Among DWTS celebrities injured in previous seasons: Olympic volleyball player Misty May-Treanor (torn Achilles tendon); comic Jeffrey Ross (eye injury); actress Susan Lucci (fractured foot); and actor Cristián de la Fuente (torn arm tendon). Also, Julianne Hough had an operation, Derek Hough was taken to the hospital and Karina Smirnoff had some ankle or back issues if I’m remembering correctly. Seems like there was one other I’m leaving out.

Reports are saying that Holly Madison from Girls Next Door will be one of the replacements, but producers of the show are keeping quiet until the DWTS premiere on Monday. The report says that Bridget Marquardt (Holly’s costar on Girls Next Door) let it slip on live TV. This is what Bridget Marquardt had to say about it:

“I’m so excited for her,” Marquardt — who next stars in a Travel Channel show called Bridget’s Sexiest Beaches — told FOX’s Strategy Room Wednesday.

“She’s wanted to do it for so long,” Marquardt added. “It just never worked with her schedule and Hef was always like ‘I don’t want you to do that,’ and now it’s her time, so I’m really happy for her.”

Jewel and Nancy O’Dell are suppose to be at the premiere. Should be an exciting premiere, but I’ll admit that I’m personally sad that these 2 are off the show. They were 2 of the stars I was most excited to see on the show. They’ll definitely be missed. It will also be interesting to see how the judges score the 2 replacements who will have had less time to practice their dances for the show.

The Dancing with the Stars Premiere’s on Monday!

UPDATE: Jewel won’t be competing on DWTS due to injury. Read more details about Jewel’s injury.

Copyright 2009 Craig Sjodin / ABC

Jewel is paired with Dmitry Chaplin on Dancing with the Stars 2009. Jewel is such an interesting character. I’m not exactly sure how many fans she has since she made the switch to country (kind of). I’m not sure if that ticked off her old fans or if they didn’t care and still love Jewel. I personally don’t really like to hear her talk, but she does have a number of hits that I really love.

Jewel has really made a resurgence lately in the country music and so I think she has a rather vibrant fan base that will vote for her. She has beautiful long legs and should look great on the dance floor and get good scores with the judges. I see her dancing skills landing somewhere between Brooke Burke’s amazing lines and dance ability and Jane Seymour’s nice lines and grace on the dance floor.

Dmitry Chaplin is going to be a fan (at least girls) favorite. Being his first season on Dancing with the Stars will be quite the challenge for him to learn how to do all the dances and how to choreograph for a star who is not a dancer. The ladies loved him on So You Think You Can Dance and they’re going to love him on Dancing with the Stars.

Dmitry has also been on So You Think You Can Dance a number of times as a choreographer and so choreographing the routine won’t be new for him. Jewel and Dmitry will really be one of the most stunning looking couples that Dancing with the Stars has had on the show. Right up there with Derek and Brooke from last season or even Derek and Shannon Elizabeth who looked great together.

I’m interested to see how much dance skill Jewel has on the dance floor. So, I reserve the right to change my mind after seeing Jewel do her thing on the premiere. However, assuming she can move her hips, Dmitry and Jewel will be a really powerful couple.

I’m sure I’m missing a ton of things that are happening with all the various stars and professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars 8.  However, the traditional Hollywood media always covers every little bit of Dancing with the Stars.  I just can’t reasonably keep up.

Despite this major backup, I figured I’d cover a couple things I’d read recently that I thought were interesting about the coming season of Dancing with the Stars.

Let’s start with this video of the handsome actor Gilles Marini and 2 time winner Cheryl Burke on ET:

I love that Cheryl Burke basically rips Gilles Marini for having a bad memory. Kind of surprising since actors should have a good memory after memorizing all those scripts.

Cheryl and Gilles also reveal that Cha Cha is their first dance.

On to Jewel…

I think one of the best reads throughout this season of Dancing with the Stars is going to be Jewel’s blog. I only wish that it was a real blog and not some custom thing, but I’ll leave the tech for my other blog.

Check out a couple recent posts about Jewel’s pain in her knee:

I guess I really over did it on the rehearsal front! My knees have been hurting so badly that I finally broke down and talked to Ty’s knee doctor yesterday. He said I have tendonitis in my knees and that I have to start a course of medicine to try and bring the swelling down. Yuck! It’s mainly my left knee, and I can’t believe I hurt it so badly… Ty warned me I was over doing it, and now he got a big ol’ ‘I told you so’ in. The worst part is that I can’t rehearse for the next couple days. It was just so fun to dance 8 hours a day- especially considering I only had 3 weeks to cram not only for my first dance- cha cha, but to learn the fundamentals of about 6 other dances that I will have to know. But now I’m just worried I won’t even be able to dance! Hopefully these steroids will really do the trick and I can keep bad flare ups at a bay in the future.

Looks like Jewel will be dancing a Cha Cha at the DWTS premiere. I wonder if she’ll have to be tested for performance enhancing drugs (steroids) before she can compete.

You’ll also love this tidbit where Jewel says she’d happily lose Dancing with the Stars in return for being pregnant.

yesterday on the Billy Bush show, Ty said that he thinks his best chance of beating me is if I get pregnant during the show so I would be too tired to dance! Talk about a strategy! Haha… Of course, that would be fine with me if it did happen, so either way would be a win!

Belind Carlisle is comparing herself to Marie Osmond’s experience on DWTS:

Belinda is also taking a page from former “Dancing with the Stars” competitor Marie Osmond in that she has the same partner, is on the NutriSystem diet and will be juggling concert dates at the same time she is on the hit ABC series.

“I figure if Marie can do this and shows at the same time so can I. She’s my role model right now,” she says. Then she jokes, “I can eat a lot more NutriSystem snacks now. It all helps and I love to eat.”

I wonder if Belinda will decide to faint like Marie as well.

Finally, a few quick hits about Shawn Johnson on DWTS.

At 4 feet, 10 inches, Shawn Johnson, who turned 17 in January, was sure that her height would keep her from competing on the hit ABC series, so she says she was honored and surprised when they came to her with an offer.

She has been paired with Mark Ballas, who won the competition with Kristi Yamaguchi — also an Olympic gold medalist, but says that he had to ask her to wear three-inch heels in order for them to partner up.
“I am used to being barefoot [to perform gymnastics], so it is awkward,” she admits.

Shawn admits that she’s used to long hours in the gym and so that helps when doing the long hours on the dance floor. She also said that her first dance will be a Viennese Waltz.

Finally, don’t expect Shawn Johnson to be sharing any outfits with Edyta.

“They’ve actually said that since I’m younger I have to be a little more covered up than usual, just to make sure it’s age appropriate, which I don’t have a problem with, I’m used to being in a leotard, that’s pretty revealing,” she says.

“Dancing with the Stars” premieres Monday, March 9 at 8 p.m. on ABC.

I’ve been fascinated with the interaction of dancers between Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance for a while now. Not only do I have a website that covers So You Think You Can Dance, but my regular readers might remember my previous post that contained a video of Nigel Lythgoe talking about Chelsie Hightower possibly being on Dancing with the Stars. My favorite line from Nigel in that video was when he said, “these kids have to work, so yeah I’m ok with her being on Dancing with the Stars.”

Well, it looks like Nigel Lythgoe (producer of So You Think You Can Dance) wasn’t just saying that off hand. Now Chelsie Hightower and Dmitry Chaplin were both announced as part of the latest Dancing with the Stars professionals. You can check out what I’ve written about Chelsie on So You Think You Can Dance and of course Dmitry on So You Think You Can Dance.

Funny thing is I remember them both very well. Dmitry Chaplin was most well known for taking his shirt off. Cat Deeley (host of So You Think You Can Dance) always liked to point out his either lack of shirt or wide open shirt. I have a feeling that Dancing with the Stars will make the most of that feature as well. However, Dmitry has actually been back on So You Think You Can Dance (including the Canadian version I believe) as a choreographer. So, Dmitry knows how to choreograph as well as he knows how to dance. Dmitry and Jewel will make a fantastic looking pair that will be stunningly beautiful to watch with amazing lines.

Chelsie Hightower on the other hand was a really odd character on So You Think You Can Dance. No one can argue that she was stunningly beautiful with some of the most distinct moves I’ve seen on the dance floor. When she was on the dance floor she was incredible to watch. However, back stage she was quite a bit of a tom boy and if I remember right she loved to burp all the time. I might have to go back and watch the video to make sure, but I’m pretty confident it was her. I believe her partner described her as one of the guys backstage and then this sexy fireball on stage (definitely not an exact quote, but you get the idea). Chelsie and Ty Murray will be an interesting partnership. Ty better hope that Chelsie’s fame from So You Think You Can Dance helps him get some votes, because I’m not sure many rodeo fans are going to be on the phones voting for him.

I’m very excited to see Chelsie and Dmitry on Dancing with the Stars. They are great additions to the show. Alongside Lacey Schwimmer, So You Think You Can Dance ballroom dancers are taking over as the professionals on Dancing with the Stars. Makes sense that the producers would want to do this. So You Think You Can Dance contestants bring their own base of fans with them and that can’t do anything but help Dancing with the Stars be that much bigger.

I previously made my DWTS Season 8 Couples suggestions. Today they made the official announcement of the couples for season 8 of Dancing with the Stars. Check out the pairings below and then go vote for your favorite DWTS star.

Belinda Carlisle is paired with Jonathan Roberts
Singer and Band Member of The Go-Go’s

David Alan Grier is paired with Kym Johnson
Actor and Comedian

Jewel is paired with Dmitry Chaplin
Singer-Songwriter

Shawn Johnson is paired with Mark Ballas
2008 Gold Medalist Olympic Gymnast

Lil’ Kim is paired with Derek Hough
Grammy Award Winning Rapper

Gilles Marini is paired with Cheryl Burke
Sex and the City Actor

Ty Murray is paired with Chelsie Hightower
Rodeo Champion

Steve-O is paired with Lacey Schwimmer
Jackass and Wildboyz Reality Star

Nancy O’Dell is paired with Tony Dovolani
Access Hollywood Co-Anchor

Denise Richards is paired with Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Television and Film Actress

Lawrence Taylor is paired with Edyta Sliwinska
Retired NFL Linebacker

Chuck Wicks is paired with Julianne Hough
Country Singer

Steve Wozniak is paired with Karina Smirnoff
Apple Co-Founder and Philanthropist

UPDATE: Vote for the Dancing with the Stars 2009 finale couples.

Now that we know the full Dancing with the Stars cast, it’s time to see which of the stars are your favorite. Vote for your favorite Dancing with the Stars star in the poll below. You can only vote for one DWTS star. I wonder which star will garner the most votes.

Let us know why they’re your favorite in the comments. Also, I’d love to hear who you think will be their professional partner.

Tonight, they announced the official Dancing with the Stars cast. They still haven’t announced the couples that will be dancing on Dancing with the Stars 2009. Until we hear the official announcement of couples, here’s my take on who might be good partners for the stars on Dancing with the Stars 2009. To make things simple, I just used the professionals from last season even though I’m pretty sure that at least a couple of the professional dancers will be different this season as well.

Chuck Wicks and Lacey Schwimmer just because just think how jealous Julianne would be if this happens. Actually I’ll be surprised if Chuck dances with anyone other than Julianne Hough. I know if I were Julianne I wouldn’t let Chuck dance on the show without me. However, that pick was too easy so I took Lacey to replace Julianne.

Denise Richards and Alec Mazo because Alec always seems to get really attractive stars for his partners. I wonder if that’s just to make Edyta jealous.

Gilles Marini and Inna Brayer because people barely know Gilles Marini and they barely know Inna Brayer. Sounds like a perfect match for failure to me.

Lawrence Taylor and Karina Smirnoff because she deserves to be with a popular football player. Too bad Lawrence Taylor isn’t really all that popular and is way past his prime. He’s definitely not Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice or Jason Taylor. Too bad Karina, another year of not doing very well.

Lil’ Kim and Corky Ballas just because it would be the funniest looking couple. Actually, I’m guessing Corky won’t be back for this season, but just imagine him and Lil’ Kim together and you’ll realize that Dancing with the Stars is actually a comedy.

Nancy O’Dell and Maks Chmerkovskiy because they would just make the best couple. 2 beautiful and tall dancers would be great to watch.

Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas Jr. since Shawn is really short and Mark is probably the shortest professional dancer.

Steve-O and Edyta Sliwinska because Edyta always loves to make the oddest faces when her partners do something weird. Just wait to see her reactions after being around Steve-O.

Steve Wozniak and Kym Johnson because Kym always gets screwed by having a partner that can’t dance. Plus, just having Woz and Kym together would make nerds all over the world proud to be a nerd.

Belinda Carlisle and Tony Dovolani because Tony always seems to get stuck with the old ladies. Not that Belinda’s that old, but this group is relatively young.

David Alan Grier and Cheryl Burke because David is likely to come up with something like “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” and Cheryl will wonder how she went from winning so many mirror ball trophies to this. Plus, the producers won’t want Cheryl to win too many times and so this would pretty much guarantee she won’t.

Ty Murray and Julianne Hough since Ty seems to like country singers.

Jewel and Derek Hough because 2 beautiful blonds provide an interesting story. Blonds might be stupid, but I’m guessing that Derek and Jewel would prove that blonds can dance!

As you can tell, this was a real scientific method for selecting the possibly Dancing with the Stars season 8 couples.