'Dancing with the Stars' brings its 2024 live tour to Nashville's Opry House

Professional dancer and host of "Dancing with the Stars Live 2024," Emma Slater said she loves taking the show on the road so she can enjoy dancing without the pressures that come with the live show.

"My favorite thing is it feels more real when you get to see the people who watch the show," Slater told The Tennessean from a tour stop in Boston. "When you perform on a TV show you are performing for the camera and a studio audience and you are trying to get those 10 paddles. Your energy is geared toward getting further in the competition. The tour allows us to be able to perform and do what we love to do without trying to get a certain score from the judges and without the pressure of choreographing every week."

The 2024 tour, arriving at the Opry House in Nashville next week, marks the 11th time the popular dance competition has toured the country bringing celebrity guests and dancers from the show performing all sorts of dance styles.

Expect a storyline and Broadway musical feel

Slater said this tour feels more like a Broadway musical with numbers woven together by a storyline.

"People coming to see this show can expect to see a lot of storytelling," she said. "I’m super excited about this tour. There is a massive sense of a through line in the show. It feels very much like a Broadway musical. There’s high energy and we have some beautiful storytelling pieces. Our choreographer Mandy Moore is a genius in putting together a show that seamlessly goes together and really takes the audience on a journey. It goes by pretty fast. It really does flow into great storytelling as well as high impact dancing."

A little bit scripted, a little bit funny and a whole lot of fun

Slater said in addition to this year's tour having a storyline that weaves all the dances together, she loves the variety from high-energy dance numbers to more comical pieces.

"My favorite number is called 'Science of Dance' and the cast of 'Dancing with the Stars' creates a laboratory of dance where we find out the elements that make the perfect dancer," she said. "So it's a little bit scripted and it's quite funny. Then it goes into a section that closes act one called 'MGM' that is a swing-type musical section where everybody has a character and we all dance together to old wing music and it feels really fun."

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Slater not only dances in this year's tour, but she's the host again this year. She said hosting is a direction she'd like to move in her career.

"When you get to a certain age as a female dancer you don’t have too many years left that you will be kick ball changing before you’ll be replaced," she said, laughing. "Hosting is something I’d like to move into. It brings me so much joy. When I was younger I wanted to be an actress and I think connecting with people is the common thread that makes dancing, acting and hosting feel very comfortable for me and I love to do it."

Dancer and co-host of "Dancing with the Stars" Julianne Hough, was originally scheduled to appear at the Nashville performance, but has had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict.

Melonee Hurt covers music and music business at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Reach Melonee at mhurt@tennessean.com, on X @HurtMelonee or Instagram at @MelHurtWrites.

If you go:

What: "Dancing with the Stars Live 2024"

When: Thurs., Feb. 15, 8 p.m.

Where: Opry House

Tickets: https://www.axs.com/events/505892/dancing-with-the-stars-live-tickets?skin=opryhouse

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 'Dancing with the Stars' brings 2024 live tour to Nashville's Opry House