From The Wocester Telegram and Gazette:
Julianne Hough
Burke hasn’t had one minute of vacation since she signed on with the show in 2005. There are two TV seasons each year, a fall one and a spring one, and then the live tours in between. Burke has done them all and while dancers don’t yet know who will be called back for season 6, if Burke does gets the call she will go straight into rehearsals after the live tour wraps up Feb. 10 in Philadelphia. The first episode of the new season airs March 17.
“I’ve had no vacations, but this is really like a huge vacation for me,” she said. “I meet such great people. You get to experience things that you never would have dreamed of as a kid growing up and it’s really a lot of fun. I’m doing what I love to do and dancing is my passion so this is not even work.”
So, after so much time on the road, does the cast become friends?
“We’re more than friends. We’re a huge family,” she said. What about Julianne Hough, the pro dancer who has won the TV crown the past two years, with Olympian speed skater Apolo Anton Ono, then last season with race car driver Helio Castroneves. Is there a rivalry?
“I don’t think so,” Burke said. “I think we’re just happy for each other. I know what it takes and she knows what it takes and she’s worked hard. It takes an awful lot of work to get there and I think if anything we can both relate to that and we’re proud of each other.”