Hayley Erbert

Erbert was born in Topeka, Kansas, and began dancing at the age of three. She trained in multiple dance styles, with contemporary dance becoming her specialty, and also trained as a gymnast. She attended Washburn Rural High School.

Her parents are Jerry Erbert and Debbie Swartz. After their divorce, she was raised by Debbie Swartz and her stepfather, Jim Swartz, alongside her older brother, Collin Erbert. Erbert also competed in pageants and finished as first runner-up at Miss Kansas Teen USA in 2013.

Erbert gained national attention at 18 when she competed on the tenth season of So You Think You Can Dance in 2013. She reached the top three female contestants and performed with Paul Karmiryan on the program. Her television exposure helped launch her professional dance career.

In 2014 and 2015, Erbert toured with Derek Hough and Julianne Hough on Move Live on Tour. She later joined the troupe of Dancing with the Stars in 2015, performing regularly on the show without competing as a professional partner. She also appeared on multiple Dancing with the Stars: Live! tours, including Symphony of Dance and Dance for the Holidays.

Her dance credits include performances alongside Pitbull, Carrie Underwood, and Paula Abdul. She has also appeared in Ted 2, Rob Cantor: Shia LaBeouf Live, Nia Sioux: Star in Your Own Life, Step Into... The Movies, The Disney Family Singalong, and The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II.

In December 2023, Erbert suffered a cranial haematoma caused by a ruptured blood vessel after becoming disoriented at the end of a Symphony of Dance tour performance in Washington, D.C. She required an emergency craniectomy, during which part of her skull was removed to relieve pressure.

Erbert later underwent a second operation, a cranioplasty, to replace the removed portion of her skull. In a joint update in March 2024, she said she was doing better and expressed gratitude for the support she had received. Doctors cleared her to rejoin the tour in April 2024.

The following year, Erbert and Derek Hough returned to the Washington, D.C., stage during Hough’s Dance for the Holidays tour. The performance transformed the location associated with her medical emergency into a public return to performing.

Erbert first met Derek Hough in 2014, when she was hired for Move Live on Tour, which Derek and Julianne Hough headlined. Erbert and Derek began their romantic relationship in 2015 while appearing on Dancing with the Stars, and they announced their engagement on June 2, 2022.

They married on August 26, 2023, in an outdoor ceremony in Monterey County, California. The ceremony included guests such as Alfonso Ribeiro, Shaun White, and Nina Dobrev. In July 2025, Erbert and Hough announced that they were expecting their first child.