Ryan Seacrest Courting Julianne Hough For New E! Dance Show

Ryan Seacrest is wooing DWTS sweetheart Julianne Hough for a leading role on his new TV dance show, National Enquirer spies squeal on the pages of the tab’s July 26 edition.

Seacrest — who is quietly dating the Footloose star/country songbird — will be adding the E! Network’s first reality dance competition to his list of producing credits later this year and he’s hopeful that Julianne, 22, will give ABC’s Dancing With The Stars the boot and bring her fancy footwork to basic cable instead.

The Enquirer writes: “‘Ryan hasn’t fallen this hard for a woman in a long time.’ The American Idol host is teaming up with Lady Gaga choreographer Laurie Ann Gibson for the new dancing series, and he thinks Julianne — the two-time DWTS winner and country singer — would be the perfect addition to the cast.”

The as-yet-titled project will revolve around choreographers and dancers in Los Angeles.

Seacrest’s production studio has a long history with the E!. Other Seacrest-produced series which have been greelighted by the network include Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami, Denise Richards: It’s Complicated, and Bank of Hollywood.