Channing Tatum ‘Never Took a Dance Class’ — He Learned to Dance ‘In the Club’

Channing Tatum’s connection to the dance world is nothing new to anyone who’s followed his work in Step Up or the Magic Mike saga. Tatum, who famously worked as an exotic dancer before his Hollywood break, started as a heartthrob but quickly became something more, in part, due to his dance skills. However, Tatum’s career as a part-time dancer wasn’t a mistake. According to him, it may have been the precursor of everything that came to him after. 

How Did Channing Tatum learn to dance? 

Tatum participated in an AMA on Reddit. There, he answered questions about his life and career. When asked about his love for dancing, he said it all came at an early age. According to Tatum, he wasn’t forced into the dancing life against his will. Quite the opposite. From emulating movies as a kid to testing out his moves at the club, later on, Tatum received a top-notch dance education on the fly. 

“To be completely honest, clubbing,” the actor wrote;

“I straight learned how to dance in the club. I don’t know how to describe it any other way. I never took a dance class or anything when I was really, really young.”

While Tatum later received several different dance lessons – especially when it bled into his acting career, his love came from the purest place a passion for something can – his desire to have fun. When he saw dancing done well on screen, however, Tatum knew he wanted to emulate the moves he saw on screen;

“I remember going to the theater with my mom and my sister, so me and my mom sat in the theater away from my sister and her friends, it was Breakin’ 1, and my mom said after the movie, I started trying to do headstands. My mom said I mortified my sister. But I think I was always fascinated by physical things. But I can’t tell you I had any training other than going out to Florida clubs and getting sweaty.”

Now, he’s shown his dance skills off in ways beyond the club, and fans can thank those early days. 

Channing Tatum showed off his moves

Step Up was Tatum’s big break as a leading man. The film was a part of a mid-2000s dance craze that brought street moves to the big screen. Before long, Tatum was a star. Step Up showed the breakdancing that Tatum tried to emulate as a kid, but it was years later that he showed his sensual dance moves in Magic Mike. 

Magic Mike tells the story of an exotic dancer and helps to humanize an often stigmatized group. According to The Mirror, the film was based, in part, on Tatum’s life as an exotic dancer. The film helped show the audience that he was more than a dancer. He was an actor, too. Tatum later went on to dance to old-time Hollywood tunes in the Coen Brothers Hail Caesar, and with a new film on big screens right now, his ever-evolving career keeps getting bigger. 

What is Channing Tatum up to? 

Tatum made his directorial debut earlier this year with Dog. The Washington Post notes how early on in his career, people pegged him as another Hollywood pretty boy whose acting didn’t match up to his looks or talents. Now, he’s a well-respected actor with several heavily acclaimed roles across several genres. He’s worked with some of the biggest directors in the game and built a long career. 

Audiences can now see Tatum alongside Sandra Bullock and Brad Pitt in The Lost City. While the film is not a dance movie, it shows how far Tatum had come since those early days as an aspiring dancer and all the opportunities when Tatum picked up his feet and danced his way to superstardom.