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Julia Stiles spoke with PEOPLE exclusively at the Dancing with the Stars season 35, week 5 premiere event in Los Angeles on Oct. 14
She shared that she is “so much more comfortable” with who she is now than when she was in Save the Last Dance
The actress was 19 when the 2001 teen drama came out
<p>The actress, 45, caught up with PEOPLE exclusively at the Dancing with the Stars season 35, week 5 premiere event in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Oct. 14. That night, she paid tribute to one of her iconic roles — aspiring ballerina Sara Johnson in 2001’s Save the Last Dance — by bringing costar
<p>Stiles and her <em>DWTS</em> pro partner, Save the Last Dance. The electric <a I wasn't gonna come on this show and recreate that dance and not step it up a notch."
Sosa, 25, raved that Stiles “ate down” her solo moment during the performance and shared how his partner was “locked in” before taking the stage.
“Right before we went out and danced, I just saw the look in her eyes and her energy and her aura. I was like, ‘Oh, she’s locked in,’ he told PEOPLE before speaking directly to Stiles: “And I felt so lucky just to be able to dance that with you. Just seeing you come into your own tonight, it was so special.”
Reflecting on her personal journey since filming the original sequence for Save the Last Dance as a teenager more than two decades ago, Stiles said, “Little Julia back then, I wish that she could have known that like years later she would be here, making that dance even better.”
