Interview & Video: Jessica Biel’s Stripper Coach

It was supposed to be one of the most challenging roles of her career – learning to play a burlesque stripper who can twist and bend her body like a circus acrobat. But for Jessica Biel, training to play feisty dancer Rose Johnny in her new flick Powder Blue was a breeze. Her French trainer Cati Jean, 39, believes the actress was such a natural she could easily become a professional exotic dancer.

“From our very first session she instantly picked-up the skill and within no time she was at a professional level,” Jean told RadarOnline.com. “She comes from a gymnastic and dance background so that really helped but she was also very hard working and was really dedicated too. When she was doing some of the spin moves she got a little dizzy but she got to such a high level of performance that I would like to have her as a guest star in our show.”

Jean – who runs the L’Effleur Des Sens (Floating With The Senses) French Cabaret show at the King King Theatre in Hollywood – had to teach the actress how to “cocoon dance” for her role. “We trained for around 3 hours per day three times a week for about a month at my private studio in Los Angeles,” she said. “I had to teach Jessica to learn how to become suspended in our special lycra “cocoon sling” so that she could move around effortlessly as if she was floating in air.”

Though the films director Timothy Linh Bui was delighted with the results, Biel’s boyfriend Justin Timberlake did not get the pleasure of watching her in action. “Jessica is a really down-to-earth person but very focused and her boyfriend was not allowed to visit her while she trained because we wanted no distractions,” Jean revealed.

Powder Blue stars Patrick Swayze, Forest Whitaker and Lisa Kudrow and is about a several unusual characters brought together on Christmas Eve by some bizarre events. It is slated for a May 8 release.