Featuring triumphant love stories told just as much through spontaneous (yet intricately choreographed) dance routines, the Step Up films have helped popularize flash mobs and Channing Tatum. The fourth installment in the series, Step Up Revolution jumps into theaters today and features two new leads dancing their way to love on the streets of Miami. Ryan Guzman, who plays Sean, parlays his mixed martial arts fighting background into a new form of physicality while his female counterpart Kathryn McCormick, who plays Emily, has already shown off her dance skills on the small screen in So You Think You Can Dance. With the help of famed choreographer Jamal Sims, whose most recent work can be seen on Cirque du Soleil‘s Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, the two were able to learn how to mesh their talents as the stars of this latest Step Up movie. As they await moviegoers’ responses to their hard work, Guzman, McCormick and Sims take a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about the challenges of going from one form or entertainment to another.

What is it about this franchise that has kept you coming back for each film?

Sims: When we started the first one, we didn’t know the success it was going to have or how many people it was going to touch. To see it grow each time, it just always keeps me coming back because I want to make better movies and get better dancing in there. It’s always a challenge because you never know how you’re going to be able to top the last one, being that everybody’s expecting you to. I live on challenges, I love it. So every time we make another, it’s like, “Here we go! Are we going to be able to do it?”

Coming from physical worlds, did you have any fears about acting? If so, how did you overcome those fears?

Guzman: I had been training in acting for about two months, which isn’t long at all. It was cool, though, because I had been through a lot of life experiences with fighting and college and a lot of personal stuff. As I learned from my acting coach, it was a way to vent things that you normally wouldn’t vent. There are intimate scenes, crying scenes, angry scenes, and I just had a blast. For me it was more than just acting and it just felt so right.

McCormick: I had gone to maybe three improv classes, just for fun. I had a choreographer whose husband teaches improv, so I’d just go sometimes. But for the most part, I had never really dipped my fingers in that and it was something that people were like, “You should take classes.” But I never took time away from dancing classes to go to acting classes. But I’ve realized that being on a show like So You Think You Can Dance, where you’re constantly put in a position to tell a story through your body is still telling a story. I feel like that has prepared me, in a way, to be able to connect my mind and my life experiences, like he was saying, to what I’m actually doing and realizing that telling a story is greater than yourself because sometimes it’s the other people around you that need to hear it. Whether you’ve gone through it or not, they have and you are the one who gets the gift and the opportunity to share that. Knowing there’s an importance in that draws me to acting. Acting’s a little bit more vulnerable, it shows a lot more about the person that you are. I think one of the scariest things as a dancer is hearing your own voice for the first time, because you’re so physical. So to be not as physical and let your voice come first can be really intimidating. But once you drop that and remember that you have this story that is way greater than being so self-conscious, the fear kind of goes away. But it was definitely intimidating. And just the pressure of realizing this is my first time doing it and it’s going to be put on screen where the whole world’s going to see it is very intimidating to think, “Are we going to pull this off?”

Guzman: I think if you think about acting, you’re not going to be able to act. It’s a feeling. you definitely have to feel it, then it just comes naturally. So you can’t be letting outside factors influence what you’re going to do.

You each have unique athletic backgrounds. How would you say those skills helped prepare you for your roles in this movie?

Guzman: I fought in the octagon for about a year and a half and trained for about eight years. I think that was, without me knowing it, training my body into knowing what my body can do and making my body aware. That’s what helped me the most, I think, with the choreography I did. As far as acting, I would say the life experiences helped us out so much. And having the support group that we did, whether it be the choreographers that were helping us out or my co-star, we literally became a family. We still talk and I’m sure after this movie’s done we’ll still be best friends.

McCormick: For me, physical contact and connection as a dancer and as a partner with someone, you can’t be afraid to look them in the eyes. You can’t be afraid to just hold their hand and connect with them and be as close as possible. There’s no personal space in dancing, so you have to get really comfortable really fast. Through experiences with that coming into it, I think I’m very open to becoming close and trusting new people. Dance is a double trust thing, so just looking people in the eye and not being afraid to open up a little bit and just kind of be like, “I trust you. Do you trust me? Here we go. We’re diving in this together.”

Sims: He’s a fighter, so when you have that kind of spirit, I knew that he would connect to that part of his life with moves. I never really worried about it. If I could see him doing it even a little bit, I was like, “Oh, he’s going to fight for it. It’s going to be done.” As a boxer and a fighter, he knows how his body works in every way. Dancing is another extension of that and that’s what he did really well. He keeps saying, “I’m not a dancer.” Well, he turned into a dancer! I know some people that weren’t dancers and they still ain’t dancers.

How did your work with Cirque du Soleil help you with this movie, if at all?

Sims: I choreographed the Michael Jackson Cirque show. There were eight choreographers and I did three numbers on it. I did “Dancing Machine,” “Jam” and the finale, which is “Black or White.” We rehearsed it last year in Montreal in June, then I left there and went straight to Miami to shoot this movie. So it’s so funny that it’s all going on right now and people are finally getting to see what we did last year. That show’s out on tour now, so my part is done.

Now that you’ve gotten into acting with this movie, are you still dancing and fighting as you were before?

McCormick: I’m still dancing and training, doing yoga and ballet. I’m in acting classes as well, so I’m just trying to train and be prepared for any opportunity. I want to keep dancing and start acting more, so I’m kind of riding with it.

Guzman: Dance is a new love of mine. As soon as I got into the movie and started figuring it out, I just engulfed myself with it and took it home with me. So know I dance almost every single day. But my main love outside of acting is MMA. I still train, but my license went up two years ago. So I can’t technically compete any more. But my last fight was a loss, and it was for my Welterweight belt, so I’ve got to get back in the octagon at least once before I die.

Step Up Revolution. Directed by Scott Speer. Starring Ryan Guzman, Kathryn McCormick, Misha Gabriel, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, Adam Sevani and Peter Gallagher. Rated PG-13. www.summit-ent.com.