The latest batch of Dancing with the Stars celebrities – a group that includes a former tween star, a former Olympian, a former majority leader, and a lot of people who were famous a long time ago – is rehearsing as we speak, and now that the partner announcements are out, we can pretty much figure out how the ninth season of the ABC dancing competition will look. Dancing with the Stars season 9 also features, very notably, the show’s largest cast ever.

Now judging from the first batch of rehearsal photos, singer Aaron Carter and feisty professional partner Karina Smirnoff looks like they’re jiving well. Carter looks very grown up (they all grow up so fast) and like he intends to give it all. It also helps that Smirnoff hasn’t won Dancing with the Stars, despite appearing for 6 seasons already. Well, she dated Mario Lopez for more than a year, but that hardly counts as a prize, does it? And she’s now engaged to fellow DWTS pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

ANYWAY, the other pairings for this season are:

Natalie Coughlin with Alec Mazo
Mark Dacascos with Lacey Schwimmer
Tom DeLay with Cheryl Burke
Macy Gray with Jonathan Roberts
Ashley Hamilton with Edyta Sliwinska
Melissa Joan Hart with Mark Ballas
Kathy Ireland with Tony Dovolani
Michael Irvin with Anna Demidova
Joanna Krupa with Derek Hough
Chuck Liddell with Anna Trebunskaya
Debi Mazar with Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Mya with Dmitry Chaplin
Kelly Osbourne with Louis van Amstel
Donny Osmond with Kym Johnson
Louie Vito with Chelsie Hightower

As for other details, Dancing with the Stars season 9 kicks off September 21 with a three-night premiere. It had also been confirmed that there will be three double-eliminations halfway through the season.  To accommodate the large cast, there will also be four new dances: the Bolero, Lambada, Two-Step, and the Charleston. I don’t know about you, but it looks like it’s the start of a kick-ass season.

Looking at the list, which tandems work for you? Which doesn’t? Sound off below!

– Glenn Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: ABC
(Image courtesy of ABC)

 

Glenn Diaz

Staff Writer, BuddyTV