J-Lo Dances Back into Spotlight with Slate of 2007 Projects

Posted January 15, 200718 yr

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J-Lo Dances Back into Spotlight with Slate of 2007 Projects

Jennifer breaks year-long semi-silence to bow two films, two records and a new TV series

HOLLYWOOD-CA (rushprnews)-- Jennifer Lopez had a first love - and it wasn't Marc Anthony or Ben Affleck. Truth be told, it was dancing that took the heart of the multi-talented Lopez.

Lopez spoke out about fame, dance and her 2007 plans in a rare interview session that ended what in J-Lo's world, is a year in convent-like seclusion. You know, just a magazine cover here, a TV appearance there, reports entertainment newsmagazine Hollywood Today (www.hollywoodtoday.net).

She said she'd been trying to keep a low profile for two or three years as the mega-watt spotlight she was in didn't hold the same charm it once did. "My life for me had become uncomfortable in the way it was affecting my personal life and the people in it, and so I decided that I needed to take a look at that and my own responsibility in that. And I realize there was a way to pull back from it in the way I lived. It was an adjustment and a compromise, but I found a way to do it."

Yet she wasn't just lying around but has a pair of records and films and a TV series to show for it."I chose to pull back on it a little bit, go a little bit underground, work on some things behind the scenes, and work on some passion projects of mine -- my two new albums and my two new movies that are coming out this year -- and produce a little bit more, and that's what I did. And this year, I'll be out there a little bit more since I have that stuff coming out now."

In film, she produced music-oriented film "Raggaeton," is set to play a female stock broker in New Line's "Bridge and Tunnel," produced and acts with hubby Anthony in the salsa flick "The Singer" and will play in "The Governess" for Columbia Pictures.

Her big year starts now with a reality TV series for MTV that gets her back to her dance roots. "Dance was my first love â€¦ I was in sweats all day with a big bag on my shoulder, you know, going from class to class, from audition to audition â€¦ and I loved it," Lopez, 36, said at the TV critics annual conference in Pasadena, Calif. on Thursday.

The show trails six gifted dancers all attempting to book dance jobs in concerts, music videos or commercials. During the course of their journey, the six will audition for such names as Ashlee Simpson, the Pussycat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, Mary J. Blige and Omarion,

Lopez's debut will be the next in a recent string of reality shows featuring dancing - including the sensation "Dancing With the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance?," the latter of which the celeb thinks is "a little bit better" than the former.

For Lopez, that responsibility included staying in more frequently and not attending commonly known celebrity hotspots.

Even dancing is more of a rarity for Lopez nowadays, who says she and husband Marc Anthony are "homebodies" who no longer frequent clubs.

"I had my days," she recalled.

The time underground also allowed her the opportunity to work on numerous projects all slated to release this year - including two new movies and two new albums in addition to "DanceLife," her most recent and passionate release.

Lopez can certainly relate to the six dancers' plight - she herself began as a struggling fly girl, subject to harsh auditions and infrequent fifty-dollar paychecks.

"I hope it's me this time," Lopez recalled pleading before each and every dance audition.

"'Don't ever let me catch you crying,'" Lopez's mother told her via an overseas phone call after the young hopeful didn't receive a solo in a Europe review show. Mrs. Lopez's tough-love approach stuck with the performer, who says the tidbit was the best piece of advice she ever received.

The struggle for a dream is at the heart of the series, according to Lopez, who acknowledged the difficulties of "loving something so much and â€¦ wanting to do it, and, at the same time, how hard a life like that can be."

"They will be starving. They will not have booked a gig for six months or a year, and they will keep doing it," Lopez told. "And that's one of the beautiful thing about dancers. They do it for the love of the dance."

The singer-actress-dancer's own experience has fueled her vested interest in the show. As a producer, Lopez even helped weed through a pile of audition tapes - a task normally relegated to the casting department - in the search for people "who we knew had dreams and aspiration," she said.

Despite her passion for the project, however, Lopez said she didn't "coach [the contestants] in any way." In fact, Lopez only appears in two of the show's eight episodes and says the aim of the program wasn't to highlight herself, but rather the "trials and tribulations" of the business.

The six newbies have all been trained in jazz and ballet dance, though on the show they will engage in a variety of styles of performance ranging from hip-hop to "Gap" commercials.

Lopez said she hasn't picked up on any noticeable changes in "attitude" since her days as a young dancer, though she acknowledged modern-day performers' propensity towards becoming "street-trained" rather than receiving professional ballet preparation.

The contestants include:

Staci - a former member of the Pussycat Dolls; 'Jersey' - or Michelle - previously a Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader and Las Vegas showgirl; Nolan - the L.A. transfer who moved to the city of dreams from Wyoming in search of his big break; Blake - who recently starred in "Rent" and has danced for Madonna; Kenny - once a baseball player from South Boston with a thick "Southey" accent who likes to party and Celestina - a Nigerian beauty who co-starred in Prince's recent "Black Sweat" music video.

"DanceLife" premieres on MTV on January 15th at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT

source: http://rushprnews.com/jennifer-lopez-press...e-01122007.html