“Dancing with the Stars” dancer-turned-judge Derek Hough dances with his wife, professional dancer Hayley Erbert Hough, during a May 2024 performance of Derek Hough: Symphony of Dance. The show goes on in Symphony of Dance: Encore, which dances into San Antonio on Aug. 11.
Corine Solberg/Getty Images
How does Derek Hough do it?
Seriously, the 41-year-old “Dancing with the Stars” dynamo spins more gigs than he does chainé and spot turns.
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He’s dedicated nearly half his life to the hit ABC reality TV series — first as a professional dancer from 2007 to 2016 and then as a judge beginning in 2020. Just this summer, he dropped some more dance moves and knowledge on the spin-off, “Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro.” That show will add a new hoofer to the original show, which returns 7 p.m. Sept. 15 with a live two-night premiere on ABC and Disney+.
“Dancing with the Stars” dancer-turned-judge Derek Hough made his regular season debut on the show in 2007 with actress Jennie Garth for his celebrity partner.
Carol Kaelson/Associated Press/ABC
“Dancing with the Stars” capped off a record-breaking season in November 2025, which wowed audiences as well as the show’s judges, from left, Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli.
Eric McCandless/Disney via Getty Images
Meanwhile, Hough also hosts “Extra,” the entertainment news show that’s been dishing on the stars since the ’90s. And did we mention he’s a new dad who shares the stage and diaper duties with pro-dancer wife Hayley Erbert Hough? Just a few years ago, while the couple toured as newlyweds, Erbert Hough overcame a life-threatening health scare.
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Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert Hough.
Courtesy Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert Hough.
Courtesy Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
Pro dancers and parents Hayley Erbert Hough and Derek Hough take their family on the road for Derek Hough: Symphony of Dance: Encore.
Courtesy Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
Hough brings all those worlds together in Derek Hough: Symphony of Dance: Encore, a ballroom blitz of dance, song and heart that follows in the footwork of his successful 2023 tour of the same name.
Encore bows Tuesday in San Antonio at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, H-E-B Performance Hall, 100 Auditorium Circle
Tickets: $73-$152, VIP packages $261.50-$831.50
Details: DerekHough.com and tobincenter.org/derekhough
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How Hough can headline a tour at such a busy time in his life is a complex choreography of talent, fitness and family support. But why he’s back on the road for this Encore is simple.
“Because that’s what I really fell in love with, it was performing with an audience,” Hough said. “Having that live relationship, that in-person experience. It’s the best thing.”
Encore is part follow-up but mostly a brand-new production in the spirit of his original Symphony of Dance tour. As its dapper maestro, Hough conducts an evening of floor-scorching dance numbers and equally lit stage design, featuring live music and, of course, costume changes galore.
“The show is high-energy,” he said. “I mean, live band, the most incredible cast of dancers…. We’ve got the wardrobe, the lighting, the music. We do rock ‘n’ roll, big band music, Latin music, contemporary, every genre you can think about. It’s just a show for the whole family.”
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Derek Hough, center, and the Symphony of Dance backup dancers shown in 2024. Hough takes the stage — and the mic — once again for Symphony of Dance: Encore.
Corine Solberg/Getty Images
Hough also works the mic as well as the floorboards, performing classic tunes such as “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and “Singin’ in the Rain.” (Shock: Gene Kelly is his hero.) He also performs a humorous number he wrote about being a judge on “Dancing with the Stars” and dances a moving routine with Erbert Hough dedicated to their baby girl, Everley.
Encore likewise celebrates the return of Hough’s wife dancing by his side.
Professional dancers Hayley Erbert Hough and Derek Hough are back on tour together in Derek Hough: Symphony of Dance: Encore. The new show is inspired by the original Symphony of Dance tour, which Erbert Hough briefly left after undergoing emergency brain surgery for an intracranial hematoma or bleeding in the brain.
Courtesy Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
During the original Symphony of Dance tour in December 2023, Erbert Hough suffered a cranial hematoma or brain bleed that required emergency surgery. Ever the determined dancer, Erbert Hough wrapped the tour with her husband just five months later.
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The couple chronicled the incident and recovery in the documentary “The Symphony of Dance,” which debuted in June at the Tribeca Festival in New York City.
Hayley Erbert Hough and Derek Hough perform onstage at “The Symphony of Dance” documentary premiere in June at the 2026 Tribeca Festival at Spring Studios in New York City.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Tribeca Festiva
San Antonio is somewhat of a homecoming for Hough. He and his sister, pro dancer and “Dancing with the Stars” co-host Julianne Hough, have performed in the Alamo City before. And Erbert Hough’s grandparents live in San Antonio.
“We’ll have a whole family affair,” Derek Hough said.
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That especially goes for touring with his wife and child. The doting dad credits young Everley’s “extraordinary mother” for making Encore possible.
The trio even have their own Encore routine. Well, backstage, anyway.
“(We) come off the first act sweaty and come in the dressing room and there she is waiting for us with her little smile,” Derek Hough said. “She plays with Hayley’s little fringe on her dress (and) it just gives you this burst of energy and excitement. And then you do the second act of the show, and you come back. You find your routine and it’s amazing.”
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Derek Hough fell in love with dance at age 11 in his hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah. His grandparents were dancers, while his parents met on their college ballroom dancing team.
When Hough was 12, he, and later Julianne, moved to London to live and train with world-renown dance coaches Corky and Shirley Ballas. Derek would spend the next 10 years honing his Latin dance skills and competing around the world. He landed several Under-21 world championships and the lead in London’s West End stage production of “Footloose: The Musical.”
Dance siblings Derek and Julianne Hough. The brother and sister have been with “Dancing with the Stars” for nearly 20 years, first as dancers and now as a judge and a co-host, respectively.
Brian Bowen Smith
Then along came “Dancing with the Stars.”
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Julianne Hough joined the show in early 2007 for Season 4 and won her debut with her partner, Olympic speed skater Anton Apolo Ohno. Derek Hough made a guest instructor appearance that season, then joined the show as a pro dancer later that year in Season 5.
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Derek Hough won the first of his record-setting six “Dancing with the Stars” championships in 2008 with celebrity partner Brooke Burke.
Kelsey McNeal/Associated Press/ABC
During his competitive days on the show, Hough cha-cha’d and samba’d his way to a record six Mirrorball Trophies with his celebrity partners. He also has won a record-tying four Emmys for Outstanding Choreography.
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His days on the show’s glitzy tribunal have seen their luster, too. Last year, he and fellow judges Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli raised their score paddles to the highest-rated season in nearly a decade.
That season’s winner, wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin, son of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, went on to host “The Next Pro.” One of “The Next Pro’s” dancers will join Hough and Co. for Encore.
Hough sees Encore as a culmination of his life in dance, what he calls lots of experience with lots of humility. It’s likewise an expression of his love for the process of dance, the meticulous choreography and the fine-tuned footwork.
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Which all adds up to doing what he loves most, next to his family. Specifically, next to his family.
“I get to live out my dreams on this tour,” Hough said. “It’s pretty great.”