Washington says Lopez “taught me how to dance” at the Boys & Girls Club.

Kerry Washington recalls hiding to secretly watch childhood dance teacher Jennifer Lopez do risqué routine

Washington says Lopez "taught me how to dance" at the Boys & Girls Club.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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April 14, 2026 6:43 p.m. ET

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Kerry Washington and Jennifer Lopez. Credit:

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty; Vivien Killilea/Getty

- Kerry Washington learned to dance as a child from Jennifer Lopez at the Boys & Girls Club in New York City.

- The "Scandal" alum remembered during an interview with Amy Poehler that she once hid in order to watch a risqué dance by Lopez that she had been told not to watch.

- Washington said Lopez has always inspired her.

Kerry Washington has a soft spot for her childhood dance instructor —who happens to be *the* Jennifer Lopez.

Washington once even sneaked a forbidden peek at Lopez doing what would soon make her famous, the *Imperfect Women *star recalled Tuesday on *Good Hang With Amy Poehler*.

"She taught me how to dance!" Washington said. "We had this dance teacher named Larry Maldonado. And Larry was a dream. Larry taught me so much. He was like this very eccentric, gay-man dance teacher. He ran the dance program at the Boys & Girls Club, and he got really sick in the ʼ80s, like a lot of people did."

When Maldonado was hospitalized, the future* In Living Color* Fly Girl had stepped up to help. The *Scandal* alum remembered that she had been about 8 at the time.

"I remember, right before she left to go off to LA to pursue her dream of being famous," Washington continued, "she did this duet dance with Larry, who had fallen ill. So, he must have gotten better and was back. And it was very risqué. We weren't supposed to watch it. The girls were like, 'No, this is not for you.' It was like later on in the dance program, but we all hid in the wings cause we couldn't *not *watch it."

Jennifer Lopez performs in 2025.

Denise Truscello/Getty

The actress was grateful that she had.

"It was beautiful. She was beautiful," Washington, 49, said of Lopez, 56. "She's always been a real inspiration for me."

As Washington has explained before, Lopez was instrumental in her arts education.

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"She's never hired me to dance in any of her videos," Washington joked. "I don't know what that says."

She has never worked with Lopez or, another star she knew in childhood, Gwyneth Paltrow, either. They attended the same New York City school, where both Washington and Paltrow, 53, were part of a production of *A Midsummer Night's Dream*.

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"You guys, I'm good," Washington teased. "We have history. I'm available. Gwyneth? Jennifer?"

Washington's latest project is with two other actresses with recognizable names: Elisabeth Moss and Kate Mara. The Apple TV thriller is about what happens to three best friends, after a murder shatters their lives and the investigation reveals betrayals.

Watch Washington's full conversation with Poehler above.

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