Center Stage was a 2000 comedy-drama that followed the lives of various teenagers as they audition for a spot in the American Ballet Company. The film opens as students audition for the company but we learn that they have only been chosen to study at the company and are not actually members of the company yet. There is a showcase at the end of the year at which time, only a handful of students are chosen as actual members of the company.The primary characters focused on are Jody Sawyer (Amanda Schull), a young girl who has the passion for dance but doesn't really have the technique. Eva (Zoe Saldana) has the technique but doesn't have the attitude. Maureen (Susan May Pratt) was pretty much pushed into ballet by her mother (Debra Monk) who works for the company and though she has what it takes in terms of technique, learns that her heart isn't really in it. We are also are introduced to Jonathan (Peter Gallagher) the egomaniacal director of the company who constantly butts head with Cooper Nielsen (Ethan Stiefel), the principal male dancer of the company who longs to have his own company and finds himself attracted to Jody. Tony winner Donna Murphy is also featured as a teacher in the company whose battle of wills with Eva keep their working relationship very tense.Yeah, it's pretty much a soap opera on pointe shoes, but the characters presented are pretty realistic for the most part, as dancers, for the most part, are not the nicest people in the world and that film makes this very clear. Jonathan and Cooper pretty much grate on the nerves throughout, only made worse because Ethan Stiefel, though a brilliant dancer, can't act his way out of paper bag.On the other hand, Schull is charming as Jody and Saldana steals every scene she is in. There is also a cute cameo by original A CHORUS LINE cast member Priscilla Lopez as a dance instructor who is an old friend of Cooper's. There is some first-rate dancing though and Cooper's final ballet, featuring Schull and Stiefel, is spectacular.

I watched parts of this movie on the TV once and enjoyed it very much. Since then, I was looking for a copy of the movie so I can watch it end to end without missing a single scene.There isn't much of a story but all the dancing is a sheer pleasure to behold. I couldn't help smiling happily whenever perfection was up there on the screen to regard. The plot is more or less predictable. If you are even sightly into any dance form, you will enjoy this movie immensely. The cut-throat competition in the world of ballet is well depicted. The movie also highlights the fact that one should follow one's heart, even if it not what you are best at or even if you have spent most of your life until now doing something that you are only doing because things happened that way or someone wanted you to. Some characters in the movie stop pursuing ballet in the movie since it is no longer a source of fun for them, but only a source of stress.A light watch that ends on a happy note. I give it a 9/10.

The first time I saw this film, it was at the behest of friends - "this is the greatest film ever!" Bit of an exaggeration. I offended this friend by saying about halfway through "er... this is just Fame, redone for dance school." And it is - it's the plot of Fame, with the American Ballet Academy substituted for Juilliard, and dance scenes substituted for songs.But you know the weird thing? I hated Fame, but I love Centre Stage. Can't explain why! The dancing is brilliant, the plot is transparent but let yourself be swept up the dancing and that becomes a bit irrelevant. Then it's just a fun film with some amazing choreography.

I have watched this several times with my daughter, who is taking ballet lessons. She likes this movie and plays it over and over again.I am convinced that several of the dancers do not really dance at all and appear to dance through camera trickery or using stand-ins.Sascha Radetsky, Amanda Schull, Ethan Stiefel, Zoe Saldana and probably Ilia Kulik (Charlie, Jody, Cooper, Eva and Surgei) danced their own parts.Maureen, Emily, and Erik did not dance at all, I believe.I am not sure about Julie Kent who played Kathleen Donahue and danced the duet with Ethan Stiefel.Also, I think the dance sequences involved a lot of cutting and pasting. I think it would be almost impossible for anybody to dance that perfectly from the beginning to the end of these long dance sequences.Sam Sloan