March 7, 2025, 8:18 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
The tragicomedy “Anora” not only surprised with its success at the box office, but it also scooped a prize at the Oscars. A coveted award went to lead actress Mikey Madison. In the film, she plays a stripping sex worker who experiences a dark version of the classic “Cinderella” fairy tale. In interviews, she revealed details about the tough preparation for her role — after all, she was not a practiced pole dancer beforehand.
In the very first scenes of the film, Anora, Mikey Madison has to prove herself as a sexy dancer who presents her dancing skills to customers at a striptease bar and in private performances. It is not an easy task for the actress, who says of herself, “I’m not a dancer, not even a little bit.” In interviews for the film, she revealed how hard she trained to live up to the pole dancers she admires and which moves she almost failed at during filming.
Overview
Sexy Pole Dancing was a Big Challenge
Although Mikey Madison, as Anora, doesn’t dance in most of the movie but has to overcome other hurdles, mastering the dances and sexy moves on a pole-dance pole was probably the biggest challenge for the actress.
“The dance training took about five to six months. “I’m not a dancer, not even a little bit. It was definitely the most physically demanding training I’ve ever done,” she revealed in a video interview with Allure magazine.
After a visit to a strip club, as she revealed on the talk show The Graham Norton Show, she initially thought, “That looks easy. I can do that, too.” However, she was soon proven wrong. In her first pole dancing lesson, she quickly realized how difficult the dance form was and also felt anything but sexy.
Months of Dance Training
When talking to dancers who practice pole dancing professionally, the Hollywood star quickly developed a great deal of admiration. “What I definitely understood was how effortlessly these women move. They go on stage, and it looks so easy, and they are so effortlessly sexy. Yet so much work goes into this type of dancing. It’s so physically demanding,” explained Mikey Madison in an interview with Allure. “But I wanted it to look completely effortless on me.”
To achieve this goal, the actress worked hard on her body and her dancing skills. “The dance training took about five or six months.” Speaking to IndieWire on the red carpet, she also explained: “I had to train for so long to get at least a 20-second sequence on the floor.”
“It Hurt”
Apart from the steps and dance sequences, Mikey Madison also had to learn the art of holding and moving on the pole dance bar. What she “never expected” was “how much it hurts. It really burns your skin at first,” she told Access Hollywood magazine. Although the professionals made it seem so effortless, it feels completely different when you try it yourself.
It was, therefore, also important for the 25-year-old to develop sufficient muscle strength and stamina. “You have to build up a lot of upper body strength and develop muscles in places you didn’t have before, and the conditioning (cardio, editor’s note) that comes with the training is one of the things I never expected. So it was a big undertaking to dedicate myself to gaining certain skills. I was very ambitious and trained countless hours a day. Physically, it was one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever had to overcome.” Hard work that paid off — and not just because she won an Oscar for her role: “All that training gave me the body of a dancer. It also helped me to be more at peace with my sexuality.”
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Vertigo Almost Threw a Spanner in the Works
However, she almost failed in a dance scene during filming. “I also had to hang upside down in the movie, at least for a short time. But I suffer from severe vertigo (dizziness, editor’s note). The first few times I did it, I had to lie on the floor for 45 minutes afterward because I felt like I’d walked into a wall when I stood up. Getting over the dizziness and nausea was the hardest part.” Here is a small spoiler for those who haven’t seen the movie (yet): Mikey Madison overcame the challenge and can be seen upside down on a pole dancing pole in the movie.