Classic dance born in Magic Mike XXL

Can a beautiful man make a woman’s day just by tying his shoe? Only if you have the right man; Joe Manganiello will do. Throw in a bottle of water, a bag of Cheetos and the Backstreet Boys, and a classic movie dance is born.

In Magic Mike XXL, the new dance-heavy sequel to the 2012 hit about a group of male strippers, Channing Tatum, as Mike, gives the strapping Manganiello, playing Richie, a drugfuelled, confidence-building pep talk. They’re on their way to a stripper convention in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Manganiello’s character, we’ve just learned, has more affection for the Backstreet Boys than for the firefighter persona he employs as a stripper.

A bet is made: Richie, who Mike contends could make a girl’s day just by tying his shoe, must coax a smile from a female clerk working at a gas station mini-mart or go back to his old firefighter routine. It’s a mighty task: glued to her phone, she’s as animated as a slug. But Richie’s prop-heavy dance, performed with just the right touch of desperation and awkward vulnerability by Manganiello, is a delight.

He rips open a bag of snacks, grinds against a Pepsi cooler and douses himself with water. After sliding down the aisle, he pops up, performs some moves from the Backstreet Boys — “I Want It That Way” happens to be playing in the store — and seals the deal with a dolphin dive, worming against the floor.

“How much for the Cheetos and water?” he asks, breathlessly.

For Alison Faulk, the choreographer of both Magic Mike films, the dance was meant to look like a series of spontaneous actions. “The idea was that it was unchoreographed,” she said. It’s supposed to feel like he is randomly grabbing products. “This is what he is able to think of on the spot.”

She referred to Manganiello as “the action-hero version of a dancer” for the way he performs everything, as a dancer would say, full out.