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Lacey-Mae Schwimmer (born June 28, 1988) is an American competitive ballroom dancer, and the winner of multiple youth championship awards. She is best known as one of the Top 4 Finalists on the 2007 season of So You Think You Can Dance. She is the daughter of noted dancer, Buddy Schwimmer, the cousin of Friends star David Schwimmer, as well as the cousin of Heidi Groskreutz, 4th place on the second season of So You Think You Can Dance. She is also the sister of Benji Schwimmer, the winner of the 2006 season of So You Think You Can Dance. She participated in the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars as a professional dancer paired with Lance Bass of 'N Sync, in the eighth season of the show paired with Jackass star Steve-O and in the ninth season paired with actor and Iron Chef America host Mark Dacascos.

Biography

Schwimmer was born into a family with very strong dancing genes. She grew up in a Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) household in Redlands, California. Her parents are Laurie Kauffman and noted West Coast Swing dancer, Buddy Schwimmer. She is the younger sister of Benji Schwimmer, winner of the second season of So You Think You Can Dance.

Schwimmer has been training and dancing competitively since a young age. At age seven, she and partner Brian Cordoba danced in the 1995 U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships. At age ten, she and partner Blace Thompson placed 1st in the Young America Division at the 1998 U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships. Schwimmer went on to have annual top rankings at the U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships and has won numerous U.S. titles. In January 2003, Schwimmer was paired with Jared Murillo, and the two began competing at a junior level. They were upgraded to the youth level in August 2003 and have competed in dozens of competitions. They received the U.S. title in the Young Adult Division of the 2004 U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships. They were also awarded the U.S. National Youth Latin Championship in 2006. Lacey also appeared in Christina Aguilera's "Candyman" music video as a jitterbugger.

Schwimmer and Murillo also have a cameo appearance in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody in the episode, "Loosely Ballroom". She is in the background of the scene during which a ballroom competition takes place. On December 12, 2007, Lacey had surgery on her left knee to repair a torn meniscus she suffered during the So You Think You Can Dance's 2007 dance tour. She made an appearance in Jon Chu and Adam Sevani's "Biggest Online Dance Battle" against M&M and was credited as a member of ACDC with Hok, another So You Think You Can Dance competitor. She made an appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show.

Schwimmer danced at the MTV Movie Awards 2008 alongside Adam Sandler.

She is currently part of the iHollywood Dance faculty. She has also taught master classes in Norway.

Schwimmer has her own line of tube socks as well as a dancewear line designed by Sugar and Bruno Dancewear collection.

Lacey joined the cast of Dancing With The Stars for Season 7 as Lance Bass' partner. On October 30, 2008, TV Guide reported that Schwimmer has endometriosis but was still be able to continue on the show as her condition did not require surgery. ^[1] She returned for Season 8 partnering former *** star Steve-O.

She appeared in the video of the song Rainbow, by Elisa^[2] with singer songwriter Vinnie Ferra.

So You Think You Can Dance

Schwimmer describes her dance style as West Coast Swing and International Latin.^[3]

She auditioned with her brother Benji Schwimmer.

After becoming a top 20 finalist on season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance, Schwimmer was paired up with contemporary/hip hop dancer, Kameron Bink. The two danced together for five weeks and had much success, with the judges praising their chemistry and ease with which they danced together. They were also the only couple to never get placed in the bottom three couples. At Week 6, the couples were assigned new partners and Schwimmer was then partnered with Danny Tidwell. She was also partnered with Neil Haskell and Pasha Kovalev before being named a Top 4 Finalist on the show.

Schwimmer, her brother Benji Schwimmer, Donyelle Jones, Katee Shean, Jakob Karr, Ashleigh Di Lello, Joshua Allen, and Evan Kasprzak are the only contestants in all six seasons of the show to have never been in the bottom three couples or bottom four dancers.

After making it to the top 10 finalists, Schwimmer joined her fellow contestants in the So You Think You Can Dance's 2007 dance tour, starting in Albany, New York.^[4]

She also appeared in season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance to assist her brother, Benji Schwimmer, to choreograph a West Coast Swing routine for Katee Shean and Joshua Allen.

Note: Results highlighted in red indicate that contestants placed in the bottom dancers or couples, but may not have necessarily been eliminated.

Dancing with the Stars

On the morning of August 25, 2008 on Good Morning America Schwimmer was announced as one of the professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 7) partnered with Lance Bass. At that point, she was the only So You Think You Can Dance former participant who has performed as a regular on Dancing with the Stars. On November 25, 2008 Schwimmer and her celebrity partner, Lance Bass, finished in 3rd place.

Lacey was on the Dancing with the Stars tour this winter along with her partner Lance Bass. The tour ended on February 8, 2009. Lacey returned for season 8 of Dancing with the stars, and she was partnered with reality television star Steve-O. They were eliminated in Week 6 on April 14, 2009.

On August 24th 2009, it was announced on GMA that Lacey would be partnering Mark Dacascos for DWTS Season 9 [1]

Lacey announced via her Twitter account that she was not selected to participate in Season 10.

With Lance Bass

With Steve-O

With Mark Dacascos

Awards

• 2009 - 6th Place: Dancing With The Stars Season 9; Partner: Mark Dacascos
• 2009 - 8th Place: Dancing With The Stars Season 8; Partner: Steve-O
• 2008 - 3rd Place: Dancing With The Stars Season 7; Partner: Lance Bass
• 2007 - 1st Place: World Swing Dance Championships, Classic Division; Partner: Benji Schwimmer
• 2007 - Top 4 Finalist: Season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance ^[5]
• 2006 - 1st Place: U.S. National Youth Latin Championships; Partner: Jared Murillo ^[6]
• 2005 - 3rd Place: U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships; Young Adult Division (14–17 years); Partner: Jared Murillo ^[7]
• 2004 - 1st Place: U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships; Young Adult Division (14–17 years); Partner: Jared Murillo ^[8]
• 2003 - 2nd Place: U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships; Young Adult Division (14–17 years); Partner: Jared Murillo ^[9]
• 2002 - 1st Place: U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships; Young Adult Division (14–17 years); Partner: Jamie Bayard ^[10]
• 2001 - 2nd Place: U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships; Young Adult Division (14–17 years); Partner: Jamie Bayard ^[11]
• 2000 - 1st Place: U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships; Young America Division (6–14 years); Partner: Jamie Bayard ^[12]
• 1998 - 1st Place: U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships; Young America Division (6–12 years); Partner: Blace Thompson ^[13]

References