Dancing's Derek Hough on New Routine: "We Can Barely Do It to Music"

Hey guys!

Thanks for your votes!

This week has been insane! It's our first full week with Dancing and Spring Spectacular going on, so we're trying to get the hang of everything.

We have the Argentine tango and it's a bit more physically demanding with lifts. It's one thing to do lifts, but when you're teaching them, you get injuries and hurt your back and stuff. Nastia's doing well and I think this could be a really great dance for her. The thing is the music we have doesn't really lend itself to lines if that makes sense; it has a different feeling to it. It's gonna be good, but we've got to get it down now. We can barely do it to music. I've kind of just now finished it and it's still not really fully finished! We normally have to complete a routine on a Friday because she leaves on a Friday, so we have to have it done no matter what. Luckily, this week, she's gonna be here Saturday morning, so that's good because otherwise we'd be screwed! It's gonna be tough because I do two shows a day on Spring Spectacular. And it's dark on Mondays and Tuesdays, but Nastia has school on Tuesdays, so that's just tough luck for us. I took advantage this week of having Tuesday off and stayed in L.A. to work with Julianne and NappyTabs on our upcoming MOVE Live on Tour. We're heading out on the road again this summer. New show, bigger venues. We're in the creation stages, but I'm excited about touring the country again this summer. We really get to connect with audiences and get them up out of their seats and moving!

I thought Nastia was fantastic in our rumba. It was a perfect dance for her. Unfortunately her thumb is still hurting. It's pretty jammed up and now her ribs are hurting too. When I see her wincing in pain and holding her ribs, you know it's pretty bad because she's a tough cookie. She's an amazing athlete and pushes on and doesn't complain, but it's hard. When you're hurting, you can't really dance it out and you can't feel it and the creativity. She hasn't seen a doctor yet, so fingers crossed it might be anything too serious. We're adjusting and adapting as we go. It's been kind of a tough week, but hopefully in the end it will pay off.

Charlotte was working really hard to improve, so it was sad to see her leave. I think it might have stung a bit more with the judges' comments. I don't think I'm gonna win a Nobel Prize either, but I think the judges try to say things to be clever and sometimes it comes out wrong. It's happened to Julianne. She's trying to get her point across in a brief amount of time and gets flustered and it comes out wrong, or it can be misconstrued. We've all had that happen. I've learned not to take the judges' comments personally now, but I feel bad for the celebrities who are not used to that. They're putting themselves out there, doing something they've never done and are working really hard only to get crushed by a sound bite.

Spring Spectacular is going well. I've got a lot of family in town the past week for opening night, so it's been pretty chaotic, but fun. My co-star Laura Benanti is sick, so she's not on right now, but hopefully she's getting better. I haven't caught anything yet (knock on wood) and my voice is holding up so far too. There's a part in the show when I get drenched in 500 gallons of water. It's crazy. The water's recycled and purified and also slightly heated, so hopefully we won't get pneumonia! Thanks to everyone who's come to the show so far!

See you Monday!

Derek