Helio Castroneves and his professional dance partner, Chelsie Hightower, are ready for a dazzling performance on the premiere of "Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars" a 8 (ET) tonight on ABC. Are you ready?
Team Helio needs your assistance throughout the two-month run of the show if Castroneves is going to claim a second Mirror Ball Trophy -- a nice bookend to his three Indianapolis 500 trophies.
Watch the show each Monday and Tuesday and vote by phone (1-800-868-3404) and by texting VOTE to 3404 for AT&T customers from the start of the show to an hour afterward. You can vote as many times are there are contestants (i.e. 13 this week).
You also can vote online HERE (click JOIN at top of homepage, register an account and then verify on your email; there's not limit to the number of accounts you create using different emails) and at www.facebook.com/dancingwiththestars.
Voting is open from 8 p.m. (ET) Mondays to 11 a.m. (ET) Tuesdays for U.S. and Canadian residents. International fans also can vote (see instructions below).
"Viewer voting was a huge part of our success last time," said Castroneves, who won the celebrity dance title in 2007 with professional partner Julianne Hough. "Certainly we are going to need a lot of votes because it's going to be an amazing season. So I encourage everyone to vote every week and often."
The couple open Season 15 with the Foxtrot -- a smooth dance introduced to the public in 1913 by Harry Fox, noted for being the first dance to incorporate into the rhythm a combination of slow and quick movements. They will be the fourth couple to dance on the two-hour premiere.
Contestants include former "Dancing With the Stars" winners Apolo Ohno, Emmitt Smith, Kelly Monaco and Shawn Johnson along with Pamela Anderson, Kirstie Alley, Joey Fatone, Melissa Rycroft, Sabrina Bryan, Drew Lachey, Bristol Palin, and Gilles Marini.
"This is going to be a heck of a season," Castroneves added. "More than ever the racing community is going to be important. We have other athletes, other champions, great entertainers as well. That's one of the reasons that I think the racing community is going to play a big factor this year, more than actually Season 5."
International fans can vote for Team Helio online. Here's how: When you go to http://abc.go.com/ to click to join and register an account, enter a U.S. zip code. Click this link to find a zip code (http://www.mapsofworld.com/usa/zipcodes/). Remember to adjust your voting time to the deadline of 11 a.m. (ET) Tuesdays.
