"Dancing With the Stars" has announced its batch of professional dancers for Season 21, a lineup that includes defending champion Val Chmerkovskiy and the return of Karina Smirnoff.
E! Online reported Wednesday that, in all, four male professional dancers and five female professional dancers are slated to return.
The male dancers joining Chmerkovskiy are Derek Hough, Artem Chigvintsev, and Mark Ballas. Along with Smirnoff will be Peta Murgatroyd, Allison Holker, Sharna Burgess, and Witney Carson.
"Dancing With the Stars" will kick off its new season on Sept. 14.
Chmerkovskiy is the reigning champion, after winning last season's coveted Mirror Ball Trophy with partner Rumer Willis, the daughter of actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.
Smirnoff, meanwhile, took a break during Season 20 so she could promote her book "We're Just Not That Into You: Dating Disasters from the Trenches." She also starred in the independent film "Tango Shalom" with
Lainie Kazan, according to Entertainment Weekly.
"I was a little nervous about not dancing on the show at all last season," Smirnoff told EW earlier this week. "I was doing it for the last 10 years. I had other things to do in my life, but not going back to the show felt like trying to see if I can walk on my own two feet! I’ve had obvious moments when I missed it."
The 37-year-old won the Season 13 Mirror Ball Trophy with partner and soap opera star J.R. Martinez.
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