Matt Crockett
Channing Tatum has done so much for the world. From his iconic Lip Sync Battle performance to writing a series of children’s books and single-handedly attempting to save the studio comedy, he’s basically the man that Bonnie Tyler was describing in “Holding Out for a Hero” when she asked for a “Streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds.” But perhaps his greatest gift to humanity is this: inspiring a generation of men to dance.
Sitting in the auditorium of the London Hippodrome Casino—the UK home of Magic Mike Live—four of the show’s stars (Jack Manley, Jake Brewer, Joel Ekperigin, and Myles Harper) tell me they wouldn’t have even considered dancing as a career were it not for Tatum’s influence. “It’s crazy to think that the only reason I started dancing is because of Channing, and now he’s sort of my boss,” says Brewer, who’s been a part of Magic Mike Live since the London show opened in 2018.
“He’s the entire reason I started dancing,” agrees Manley, an original cast member who also stars in Magic Mike’s Last Dance alongside Tatum, as does Ekperigin. “I’d say there’s a major percentage of male dancers our age who got into it because of him. The Step Up movies are what made dance seem exciting and new for us.”