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There is hope for a rematch though. The duo are currently working on a dance-competition reality series for NBC. While the details are still under wraps, she says the goal is to“ make it one giant party every week,” and adds,“ I’ m going to be dancing. I’ m sure I’ m going to make Chan dance at some point.”( All together now, yaaas!!!) For a peek into Jenna’ s world, read on.
COSMOPOLITAN: To be fair, I can see why Abby thought you were“ the Maddie.”
JENNA: Yeah, I was a studio kid. Jazz and lyrical were my favorites. I was really dramatic. Channing looks at the videos and has the biggest laugh. But I thank dance all the time because I’ m such a partier. I like to get down. I would have been a little too wild in high school if it hadn’ t been for dance. I was a cheerleader and into that, but if anything was going to interfere with my dance career, it wasn’ t happening.
You didn’ t party at all?
I had a couple nights of partying. One night, I got so drunk. We drank Everclear, and I ended up throwing up.“ Pony” was popular then, and you know that background— bluch bluch bluch. For that year, every time it would come on, everyone would say,“ That’ s Jenna’ s song!”
That song haunts you!
Yeah, I actually suggested it for Magic Mike. I was like,“ Who better to strip to than Ginuwine? Come on!” Now, it’ s obviously the calling card to that movie. When it came out, we’ d be at a restaurant and they’ d start
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playing it because Chan was there. Then Lip Sync Battle happened, and now it happens to me too!
Let’ s talk about how being a backup dancer on tour seems like the best job ever.
I had the time of my life. Your hotels are taken care of. You’ re going on private jets. But you’ re living a life that’ s not real. And there’ s always drama. People get sick of each other. Friendships and alliances change. There’ s an underlying darkness. It’ s literally like Game of Thrones. Then the tour ends, you go back to your apartment, and you’ re like, What do I do now?
There were rumors that you and Justin Timberlake hooked up back in the day— true or nah?
I wouldn’ t say we were romantically a couple, but we definitely had an awesome connection. You know those people who you feel like you’ ve known forever? That was us. He’ s one of the nicest Southern boys you’ ll meet. We’ re still friends.
Take us through the whole Step Up Jenna and Channing origin story.
My manager called and said they’ re doing a dance movie with this new hottie, Tatum Channing. She said it backward!“ Oh you know, Tatum! He’ s in Coach Carter, look him up!” Anyway, I went in to read for the part with Channing but showed up late with the wrong scenes. Then I opened the door on the poor girl who was auditioning before me right as they were leaning in for a kiss. I was horrified. But he was so sweet. He came out and worked the scenes with me.
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Were you instantly attracted to him?
Obviously, he’ s super hot. I was like,“ All right! Okay!” So we did the scenes. After, they were like,“ Just stand next to each other on camera.” There’ s a video of this, and we’ re completely flirting in it. I’ m looking at him going,“ You’ re so big! You’ re so tall!” And he’ s like,“ You dance really good.” I sound like Minnie Mouse, and he’ s talking so deep. Then it ends on us just looking at each other being like,“ Hi.” We’ ve kept that. We’ ve gotta show Evie one day.
Who made the first move?
We went out one night and danced at a club, and there was that feeling. Then we started hanging out. But he had just gotten out of a relationship, so I said,“ You know what? You are probably not ready to jump into another one. Why don’ t you take time and figure out what you want?” I told him,“ I always know what I want. I’ m more of a monogamous relationship person. So that’ s where I would go with this, but I totally understand.” I was smart enough not to get my feelings wrapped up in it. I figured we might just be into each other because we’ re shooting a movie. I said,“ While you’ re figuring that out, I’ m not just going to hang out and watch movies and flirt. I’ ll see you on-set.”
Nice. You played it cool.
It was two nights of being weird. We hadn’ t even kissed. And then he went out partying with a bunch of dancers. His room was right above mine, and he came down drunk with a sombrero on, banging on
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my door. He was like,“ I couldn’ t stop thinking about you. Let’ s do this. I just want to be with you.” From that point forward, we were together.
And the sex— how was it?
That was one of our biggest connections. It’ s just always been there. We’ re not those people who can just say, screw it, let’ s be sexual. We have to be connected in the right way. But I’ ve always been a very sexual person. We definitely have a very happy and healthy [ sex life ]. Something about being a dancer connects you to your physical body. It’ s primal, earthy, sexual
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