"Dancing With the Stars" has been good for professional dancer Derek Hough. He and his celebrity partner Brooke Burke won the most recent competition.

Since then, life has been a whirlwind, said Hough, who was born in Utah but raised in London and Las Vegas. Not only is he rehearsing for the "Dancing With the Stars" tour, but he is also rehearsing with his band, the Ballas Hough Band, which features fellow dancer Mark Ballas.

"The band is planning to play live gigs in the cities where the 'Dancing With the Stars' tour performs," said Hough during a call from Los Angeles. "So it's been pretty crazy. I'd go to dance rehearsals from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then go to band rehearsals from 5 p.m. to midnight and start over the next day. Lately, it's been 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. dancing and then 6 p.m. to midnight rehearsing with the band. But I'm so excited to be able to do this."

Hough and Ballas have played acoustic gigs in the past during other "Dancing With the Stars" tours, but this year — which marks the fourth tour — the two are looking forward to playing with the full band which includes drummer Harry Sullivan, bassist Sam Marder and background vocalist/keyboardist Emily Grace.

"It's been great playing cities where we dance," Hough said.

The band's debut album will be released in March. More news can be found on www.myspace.com/ballashoughband. The band is scheduled to perform at the Murray Theater, 4969 S. State, on Tuesday night. See www.24tix.com for more information.

As for the actual "Dancing With the Stars" tour, Hough said this is the first time it will make a stop in Salt Lake City.

"I was surprised it hasn't ever been scheduled for Salt Lake in the past," he said. "And I, for one, am very excited to perform in front of family and friends."

The tour's professional cast is Hough, Ballas, Maksim Chmerkovskliy, Kym Johnson, Alec Mazo, Lacey Schwimmer, Edyta Sliwinska, Kareina Smimoff, Fabien Sanchez and Cheryl Burke. The dancing stars are Lance Bass, Toni Braxton, Maurice Greene and Marlee Matlin.

Hough said the tour dances are all new.

"While some dances that couples will perform have been performed on the show," he said, "when we all get together, all the dancing is new. And there will be some new routines with the couples."

In addition, there will be a live band accompanying the dancers.

"The band is hot," he said. "They are so good, and they make it easy for us to dance."

Hough said he appears in a total of 14 dances at a performance and he wants to be particularly healthy for the Salt Lake City performance.

"I've had some things that have happened to me," he said with a laugh. "My body is strong, but I've had problems with my shoulder and I sliced up my foot and I just had Lasik five days ago. However, I'm going to be healthy when I get to Salt Lake."

If you go

What: "Dancing With the Stars" tour

Where: E Center, 3200 S. Decker Lake Drive

When: Tuesday, Dec. 30, 7:30 p.m.

How much: $52.50-$195

Phone: 325-7328

Web: www.ticketmaster.com

E-mail: scott@desnews.com