Lounging on a velvet chair in a top Manhattan ?meeterie?, Jennifer, as she seems to like to be called these days, is looking with big wide eyes straight at me. She is dressed casually in a low-key dress made of silk or some such gentle fabric gracing her perfect curves.

Q: So, Jennifer. Einstein said, ?Life without music is a mistake.? Shall we apply this quote to dance as well?

Yes, totally, I think that music and dance go hand in hand, you need both. If there is music in your life then there is dancing. And when there is dancing there is happiness and joy.

Q: What?s your favourite dance?

My favourite dance is Salsa, for sure! It always has been and will always be. But I like to dance any type of dance and I have danced since I was five years old.

Q: Do you like to lead or to be led?

Ha-ha! Well? It depends on my mood, but I like to be led if the man I?m dancing with knows what he is doing.

Q: Was it challenging for you to get back into dancing for this film? Even though you dance in your videos? And with Richard Gere, who seemed a little bit stiff?

I love Richard; he really was so focused and worked so hard on the movie. Well, actually it was a little bit tricky for me as well because the ballroom dancing is very hard and I?m not used to it. It?s different than any other thing I have ever done. It?s very technical and you have to learn lots of elaborate moves. So it was a nice challenge for me, and fun.

Q: The movie is also about competition, on the dance floor, at the office, at home? do you think indeed life has become way too much competitive and that there is way too much pressure put on us or even by ourselves for us to always succeed and be the best?

That?s a brilliant question! Well, yes? Absolutely, don?t you think?

Q: Yes, it?s totally tiring to try to always be ?The Best? and I?m quite fed up with that!

So am I! But I think that?s what my character is realising, that life shouldn?t be about the competing but about the dancing, it shouldn?t be about the pressure and competition we have with our lives, but about life. Sometimes we forget how to just be and let life be! Always, what we have to do in our lives, in mine, in yours, is to concentrate on what it is you?re doing and the pure joy of that. And that?s why you do it, for the joy, the pleasure. Whatever else comes with that is fine. Awards, winning, being successful should be only icing on the cake and it shouldn?t be why you?re doing it.

Q: And it?s probably about also taking off the drama, de-dramatising our lives, right?

Yes, indeed! Forget about the drama in your life, you don?t need it to be, to be happy!

Q: One of the beautiful sentences in this film is when Susan Sarandon?s character talks about how, when we are married, how we are ?each other?s witness in life??and I thought this is so true, what about you, what do you think?

I love that! I loved that image when I read the script and I do agree. I really thought it was a beautiful piece of writing. And it?s true, you have a partner because you love them and you want them to be there. Especially, when you get older and it?s not about this hot passion and love anymore, well, they become a witness of your life and you of theirs. And you have these beautiful memories and you can look back at things together and cherish that past, that life together. It?s a beautiful thing to be able to build something with somebody. And it?s a good and beautiful reason to stick with each other for that moment, late in your life.

Q: So does this mean next you are ready for family??

Of course, I am! This is the next step in my life now that I?m settled down.

(Asia Features)