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Hayley and Derek Hough pose near Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom. (Olga Thompson/Walt Disney Co.)
Hayley and Derek Hough pose near Tree of Life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. (Olga Thompson/Walt Disney Co.)
Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel staff portrait in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, July 19, 2022. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)
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Derek Hough, dancer/judge/six-time champion of “Dancing With the Stars,” and his wife Hayley Erbert Hough visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park recently as they kicked off another leg of the Symphony of Dance tour.

The couple, along with the rest of the tour’s dance cast and crew, went to Animal Kingdom on the day before their performance at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, one of four stops in Florida.

An earlier performance in Melbourne marked the return to the stage by Hayley Hough, who had an emergency craniectomy in December after a tour performance.  She was diagnosed with a cranial hematoma due to a burst blood vessel. She has since had a cranioplasty, surgery to replace part of her skull. (People magazine reported a standing ovation for her Melbourne performance.)

The couple made a red carpet-appearance at a Disney+ event and also announced her return to the tour earlier this month. The cities on this leg of the tour were originally scheduled for late last year but were postponed by the surgery.

The couple married in August. They met in 2014 during Derek Hough’s tour with his sister Julianne Hough.  Derek Hough has four Emmys for his choreography. Hayley Hough appeared as a contestant on “So You Think You Can Dance” and as a member of the troupe in multiple seasons of “Dancing With the Stars.”

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com

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