Kerry Washington taught to dance by Jennifer Lopez
Kerry Washington's childhood dance teacher was Jennifer Lopez.
Jennifer Lopez taught Kerry Washington to dance.
The Scandal star and the Let's Get Loud hitmaker attended the same Boys + Girls Club in the Bronx area of New York City when they were children, and the 49-year-old actress recalled how Jennifer took over teaching her class when dance teacher Larry Maldonado was hospitalised due to illness.
Speaking on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast, Kerry said: “Jennifer is not that much older than me, but she’s a little bit older than me, so she was one of the big girls at the Club...
“She was teaching the little girls classes. If I was like eight, she was 16 or something like that. I learned hip-hop and flamenco. I learned to dance from Jennifer.”
But Kerry joked her moves didn't seem to have made a lasting impression on Jennifer, now 56.
She quipped: "She's never hired me to dance in any of her videos. I don't know what that says."
The Imperfect Woman actress recalled a memorable occasion when Jennifer showed off her own "risqué" dancing with Larry before she left the group to live in Los Angeles.
She said: “It was very risqué. We weren't supposed to watch it. The little girls were like, 'No, this is not for you.'
“It was like later on in the dance program, but we all hid in the wings cause we couldn't not watch it.
"It was beautiful. She was beautiful. She's always been a real inspiration for me."
In December, Kerry paid a heartfelt tribute to Jennifer when she presented the Hustlers star with the Equity in Entertainment Award at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment gala.
She said on stage: “When Jennifer left the Bronx to move out to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment, she taught me what creative courage looks like.
“And when she started to appear every Sunday night on our TV screens as a fly girl during In Living Color, she taught me the value of chasing my own unique dreams.
“When she blew audiences away in Selena and then in movie after movie after movie, she taught me to make room in my heart, and in my imagination for what to anyone else might seem impossible.”
If Kerry ever found herself struggling when she was trying to get her big break, she "would remember to think of Jennifer."
She added: ’I would say, ‘Jen does this. She was doing it. And I knew her.’ She was one of us.
“It might sound like hyperbole, but I am telling you: Without Jennifer Lopez, there is no Kerry Washington. But here’s the crazier reality: I am one of millions of people who feel that way.”
