How Jennifer Lopez Turned Into An Empowered Pole Dancing Master For ‘Hustlers’

Jennifer Lopez plays Ramona in the new movie “Hustlers,” where she and her gang of strippers band together to outsmart Wall Street execs. Lopez spills on how she achieved a “pole dancing master” level just for the movie.

While J.Lo is a known dancer, the star admits that pole dancing isn’t as easy as dancing. The methods she did and the training she had to undergo were necessary so she can play her role as best as she could.

“I have danced all my life and I work out every single day,” Lopez said. “And I can say without hesitation that learning to pole dance was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done.”

The pop star had to put in the hours for training and research. She went directly to the source and met with strippers. She talked to them about their careers as dancers and what it was like fulfilling their roles in society while trying to get by in a world that doesn’t offer them a lot of opportunities.

“Women are constantly sexualized,” Lopez said. “But when they find a way to profit from it, suddenly it’s a problem,” the star added.

Lopez went to a stripper boot camp and worked with coach and choreographer Johanna Sapakie. The dancing star admitted that it was tough, and the new skill required her to “use an entirely new group of muscles.”

Even Sapakie shares that J.Lo garnered battle scars during the process. “Jennifer definitely got some bumps and bruises,” Sapakie shares. “But she wanted to look like an absolute master,” the choreographer added.

The star even took on a 10-day no-carb-and-no-sugar challenge. She did this to supplement her training and in the process define her totally chiseled abs even more.

“Hustlers” is set during the financial crash in 2008. It is based on a 2015 New York Magazine article that talked about the real lives of Manhattan-based strippers who scammed their wealthy clientele from Wall Street.

“Hustlers” director and writer Lorene Scafaria explained her adaptation of the strip club scene. According to the director, she “wanted to show a different side of the scene as compared to its usual portrayals in TV and films.”

“I was fascinated by what this story represents: gender as it relates to money, the American Dream, the fact that people rarely think of women as ‘blue collar,’” Scafaria said in an interview with Vulture. “It’s certainly a period piece also, about 2007 and 2008 and the financial crisis, and how it changed this industry — and these women,” the director added.