Some of the best dancers in the country will dance their way to the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center Thursday for Dancing Pros: Live! The show will star “Dancing with the Stars” alumna Edyta Sliwinska and “So You Think You Can Dance” alumna Chelsie Hightower, and will be hosted by Alan Thicke.

The show will also feature other dancers from “SYTYCD,” “DWTS” and dance champions from around the world, competing with one another for the top prize.

Creators Alec Mazo and Sliwinska said the format of Dancing Pros: Live! is reminiscent of “DWTS.”

“We had the idea to marry two things: the art of dance, which we love, and audience interaction, which is so ‘in’ right now,” Sliwinska said in a press release. “What better way to engage the audience than to give everyone in the theater electronic devices and have them vote for their favorite couple.”

The similarities to “DWTS” exist, but the show is very distinct. While it does feature a host, a three-judge panel, video about the participants and competitive dancing, that is where the similarities end. All dancers are professionals. Each couple performs two different duets and the judges comment on the dances but do not give a numerical score. Voting is left strictly to the audience.

“The judges are there to guide the audience,” said Sliwinska in a press release, who serves as a judge along with actor and dancer Oscar Orosco and a local celebrity. “We give our opinions, but the audience drives the results. If the judges gave scores, I think they would influence the audience, even subliminally. It’s the power of suggestion: ‘Oh, this couple has the highest score, so maybe they are the best.’ We wanted to avoid that.”

Hightower said a show with this type of format allows the audience to have a different experience than if they were just watching the performance on television.

“I think that seeing this show live onstage will give audiences a really good look at how rigorous, intense and demanding dance is,” Hightower said in a press release. “We’re not taking camera breaks, we’re not taking commercial breaks. We go from one dance to the next, which requires a tremendous amount of stamina and endurance every night.”

Thicke said he thinks the dancers’ stamina is very impressive.

“What most impresses me is the dancers’ athleticism,” Thicke said in a press release. “I’m not what you’d call a dancer of note, but I’ve played every sport, and I know what goes into a two-minute shift in hockey. And I watch these people dance for two and three minutes at a time, then run out and change their costumes and come back and do it again. They’re really like professional athletes on the highest international level.”

Sliwinska said the audience experience of the show is different at every venue.

“The energy level is different from night to night,” Sliwinska said in a press release. “If you would watch each performance on tape, you wouldn’t see a difference. But when you’re in the room, and someone has an amazing day, the audience feels it.”

Tickets are available at the Marshall Artist Series Box Office, Monday-Friday, 12-5 p.m. or at ticketmaster.com.

Emily Rice can be contacted at [email protected].