ABC Announces “Dancing With the Stars” Pairings: Palin Gets Two-Time champ Mark Ballas

Posted Sep 1, 2010 by Walt Belcher

Updated Sep 1, 2010 at 12:51 PM

  ABC announced the “Dancing With the Stars” cast on Monday and today the pairings for Season 11 were revealed.

Sarah Palin’s daughter: Bristol, billed by ABC as “teen advocate and Alaska’s first daughter,”  teams up with two-time champ Mark Ballas. He is back for his seventh season.

  Also, singer Brandy gets Maksim Chmerkovsky who was teamed with Tampa’s Erin Andrews last time.

In alphabetical order, and with their professional partners, the other stars making their dancing debut are:

Michael Bolton, Grammy Award-winning singer, teams up with Chelsie Hightower, who returns for her fourth season.

Margaret Cho, comedienne and actress, partners with Louis Van Amstel, who returns for his seventh season.

Rick Fox, former NBA champion, teams up with two-time champ Cheryl Burke, who is back for her 10th season.

Jennifer Grey, beloved film and television actress, joins two-time mirror ball champion Derek Hough for his seventh season.

David Hasselhoff, international superstar, teams up with Season 9 champion Kym Johnson, who returns to “Dancing with the Stars” for her eighth season.

Florence Henderson, America’s favorite mom, joins Corky Ballas for his second season on the show.

Kyle Massey, television teen star, partners up with Lacey Schwimmer, who is back for her third season.

Audrina Patridge, MTV reality star, joins Tony Dovolani, who is back for his 10th season.

Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino, Jersey Shore ab-man, teams up with Karina Smirnoff, who returns for her eighth season of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Kurt Warner, former pro-NFL quarterback, joins Anna Trebunskaya, who returns for her sixth season.

All 12 teams will showcase their footwork for the first time on Sept. at 8 p.m. The first elimination will take place in week one with a two-hour show, Sept. 21 on the season premiere of “Dancing with the Stars the Results Show.”

Santana and rock band Daughtry are set to perform.