Burn The Floor to feature special guests Maksim Chmerkovskiy and KarinaSmirnoff of ABC�s Dancing with the Stars

The producers of Burn the Floor, the Latin and Ballroom dance show that�s has played around the globe, have announced the Broadway cast - featuring special guest stars Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff of ABC�s 'Dancing with the Stars.'

Burn the Floor offers the rare opportunity to see Maks & Karina dance together live for the first three weeks (25 Jul - 16 Aug 2009) of the 12-week Broadway engagement.

The production kicks off the the new Broadway season, opening at the Longacre Theatre on 2 Aug 2009, following previews from 25 Jul and running through to 18 Oct 2009.

In addition to being a cast member on ABC�s 'Dancing with the Stars,' Maksim Chmerkovskiy is also a world renowned choreographer and dance instructor. His most recent association teamed him with famed performance and film director Franco Dragone revamping and updating the popular performance show 'Le Reve' at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Maks owns and operates 'Dance with Me' and 'Rising Stars Dance Academy' with locations in New Jersey and New York, and he sits on the board of the non-profit organization DanceTeamUSA, which promotes DanceSport amongst the youth of America.

Karina Smirnoff is one of the professional dancers on 'Dancing with the Stars.' Born and raised in the Ukraine , she moved to New York at the age of 14 with her parents. She is a five time U.S. National Champion and also won titles at the U.S. Open, the Asian Open and the U.K. Open. At one time she was ranked the number two dancer in the world.

Collectively holding over 100 Latin and Ballroom titles, the cast of Burn the Floor is Henry Bayalikov (NBC�s Superstars of Dance), Sharna Burgess (Fox�s So You Think You Can Dance), Kevin Clifton (International IDSF Open Champion), Sasha Farber (three-time Junior & Youth Latin Australian Champion), Jeremy Garner (six-time Australian Amateur Latin finalist), Anya Garnis (Fox�s So You Think You Can Dance), Gordana Grandosek (Italian Open Champion), Patrick Helm (Welsh Open Champion), Sarah Hives (ABC�s Dancing with the Stars), Melanie Hooper (two-time Australian Professional Latin Champion), Peta Murgatroyd (ABC�s Dancing with the Stars), Giselle Peacock (four-time U.S Champion), Sarah Soriano (8th in the world, British Open Championship � Youth Latin American), Damon & Rebecca Sugden (three-time Asian Pacific Ballroom Champions), Damian Whitewood (Australasian Champion), Trent Widdon (Australia�s Dancing with the Stars) and Robin Windsor (Ballroom & Latin International finalist).

Burn the Floor is created and choreographed by Jason Gilkison who is connected to the shows 'So You Think You Can Dance' (both the US and the Australian versions) and 'Superstars of Dance' as the captain of the Australian team.

Burn the Floor was first performed at Sir Elton John�s 50th birthday celebrations at the Hammersmith Palais Ballroom, London in 1997, since then the production has gone on to be a worldwide success with tours in many countries including Austrailia, Canada, Japan and across Europe. It has been seen by 30 million people in 30 countries.

The show is produced by Joe Watson, Richard Levi, Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, and Marc Routh, in association with Dance Partner Inc/Harley Medcalf.