It was October 2023 when four-time Emmy winner Derek Hough stepped on the stage of the Rosemont Theatre with his wife Hayley Erbert, and they dazzled the “Symphony of Dance” audience with their talent, energy and outright passion for one another.
Not long after, during a December stop on the tour, Erbert collapsed backstage from a cranial hematoma that doctors thought would leave her a shell of the person she once was. After months filled with resilience and rehabilitation, though, she is back and dancing alongside her husband once again.
“She’s absolutely fearless,” Hough said from a tour stop in New York. “She’s just unbelievable. And me? I’m the worrier. I find myself worrying about, ‘Should we do that?’ Or ‘Should we make this dance a little easier?’ And she’s, like, ‘I got this.’ ”
That tenacity will be on display when the couple returns to the Rosemont Theatre on Thursday as part of Hough’s holiday dance tour “Derek Hough — Dance For The Holidays.”
“For me, it was really just about this original concept of miracles, which I’m experiencing in my own life,” he said of the premise of the show. “To do something that feels differen, but at the same similar, as far as just what I do and we create, has been incredible.”
And while the show will have Hough and his gifted cast of dancers doing a salsa to “Winter Wonderland,” an Argentine tango to “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and a Samba to “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” it will also serve as a way for him to thank his most loyal of fans for their endless support and encouragement over the past year, he says.
Derek Hough performs during “Derek Hough — Dance for the Holidays” at the Mohegan Sun Resort.
Khoi Ton/Mohegan Sun
“There was a little apprehension of even doing the show, but, at the same time, there was a lot of excitement because it would give us the chance to see people and really thank them for their love and support,” explained Hough. “You sort of live in a bubble when you are going through something, but we could feel the love of support from everybody from afar. So, to see them face to face and say, ‘thank you’ and ‘we felt you’ and ‘we appreciate you’ — for us, that’s what sort of intention is there.”
Hough said the show has benefitted Erbert physically and mentally.
“I think dancing is healing in a lot of ways,” he said. “We talked to the doctors, and dancing is great for neuro health, and it’s one of the best things you can do. I think part of [Erbert’s] recovery has been because of the dancing.”
But Hough said the show has had its share of challenges.
“As soon as I started thinking about a Christmas show, I started thinking it would be an easier show and a bit more relaxed and a bit more fun, but this is so full out,” Hough said. “I can’t wait for people to see it. They’re just going to be in such awe of these phenomenal dancers.”
The show will also shine the spotlight on Hough’s equally impressive vocal talents.
“I went in with musicians and an orchestra and singers and recreated a lot of these songs from scratch,” said Hough, who began work on the music for “Dance for the Holidays” in June. “I kind of did an album essentially without putting it out. There are so many songs that you know, but you’ve never heard them like this.”
Once the show at Rosemont Theatre is through, Hough will be back to the judges table on “Dancing With the Stars.”
“Being in the show for so long and being a part of just that whole dance movement really from 2008, it’s just been amazing to see the show thriving more than ever,” he said. “We’ve been a lot more gracious with the scoring though. There’s been some dances where I was, like, ‘Oh, man, Len would’ve destroyed that.’ “
Hough laughs when he speakds of his dear friend, mentor and co-judge Len Goodman, who died in April 2023 at 78. “The show has definitely evolved, but Len would still be loving it.”