Julia Stiles has said she quit “serious” dance lessons after ‘Save the Last Dance’ because she feared people would judge the star based on her performance in the 2001 movie.
Julia Stiles quit “serious” dance lessons after ‘Save the Last Dance’ because the film made her “self-conscious” about performing.
The 44-year-old actress played Sara in the 2001 romance flick, which saw her alter ego bond with an African American teenager called Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas) and go on to “share a love for dance” while they tackle the “challenges of being an interracial couple”.
Julia’s love for dance “has not gone away” and she boogies in her house and in virtual classes, but she is reluctant to attend a “serious” session because the star fears she will be “judged based on that movie”.
The ’10 Things I Hate About You’ star explained to Elizabeth Day on the ‘How to Fail With Elizabeth Day’ podcast: “Dancers are a judgmental group. They can be. They’re also a very supportive group.
“Yeah, it sounds stupid when I say it out loud now because, like, who cares? But I think that if I went to, like, a serious – whether it’s ballet or hip-hop, kind of, dance class, I would feel like I was being judged based on that movie. And, like, I’m supposed to be a professional dancer.
“But yeah, f*** it, I’m going to put my leggings on and find a class. I just have to find the right class, the one that would be, like, really fun for me.”
Julia took part in “virtual dance classes” during the Covid-19 pandemic, and she liked it because people could not “see what your body is doing” as she was performing in the “privacy of my own home”.
The ‘Jason Bourne’ actress explained: “I dance all the time in my house, in my living room.
“I’ll even dance on the sidewalk. I don’t care. Like, I walk down a New York City street with my headphones on, and I will catch myself, like shimmying a little bit, and then I have to go, oh my God, I’m in public, you can’t do that.
“So, my love of dance has not gone away. But, I haven’t been to a formal class at all. There was a period of time during the pandemic where I would do, like, virtual dance classes.
“There were studios online that would post, like – there were great teachers that would post their own, like, dance class. And I would do that in the privacy of my own home.
“And it’s because, you know – am I lazy? Maybe. But it’s also the self-consciousness of, like, dancing in front of … I’ve done aqua zumba, which is like zumba inside a pool so nobody can see what your body is doing.”
And Julie is determined to overcome her self-consciousness.
She said: “I guess it’s just being, yeah, being self-conscious, which is such a shame. I should get over that. And I will.”
Julia Stiles ‘quit’ ‘serious’ dance lessons after ‘Save the Last Dance’ made her feel ‘self-conscious’
