Center Stage (2000)

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Center StageThe main difference between attending ballet school and public school is that at ballet school they encourage you to sleep with your teacher to get ahead.A fact at least one student in this drama proves.With only a few openings for the prestigious ballet academy workshop, a group of aspiring dancers (Zoe Saldana, Susan May Pratt, Amanda Schull) compete against one another and themselves for the coveted positions.Meanwhile, there is a power struggle between the troupe's current choreographer Jonathon (Peter Gallagher) and Cooper (Ethan Stiefel), the lead dancer looking to replace him.Tackling the commonplace concerns facing ballet dancers, from eating disorders to complex love triangles that can only be explained through exaggerated movements, Center Stage is a realistic yet ridiculous look at the cutthroat art form.Besides, wouldn't sex with a ballerina have to involve 5 additional ballerinas, just to make it feel like there's someone else there? (Yellow Light)

I understand that a movie must be about emotional expression, otherwise people would not like it, but a film about dancing should be, in my view, more about expression through dance. This film was not like that and, even if it had some nice dance scenes in it, the rest was sadly disappointing.I may be biased, since I am watching the second movie in as many days about a self-obsessed blonde dancer who believes her feelings are more important than anything else, but I found the main character hard to sympathize with and the rest of them really cliché. The black girl with talent but lack of self control, the black gay guy, the blonde dance god and the nice muscular perfect boyfriend, the bitchy perfectionist and the overcontrolling mother, they are all in here, playing their cardboard parts in hard to believe scenes on the music of Michael Jackson and the like.Bottom line: if you are passionate about dance and/or ballet, you might want to check it out, but bare in mind that the dancing here could have been replaced by sports or literature or automechanics and the script would have remained mostly untouched and the film very similar to something you've seen before on TV.

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

We are living in a world where disorders are engrossing both male and females of all ages. Eating disorders are particularly growing in numbers and affecting more people throughout the world each day. Occurring quite commonly with young female ballet dancers the film Center Stage offers insight for the audience to grasp this issue. To introduce and expose eating disorders is an aid to help recover and possibly prevent future victims of such a seriously physically and psychologically draining issue.One main eating disorder is Anorexia Nervosa which is a psychiatric disorder that causes a person to have a warped perception of their body image. They have a constant and obsessive fear of gaining weight so severe that the person will starve themselves. Along with the psychological issues of body image distortion highly serious physical tribulations begin to plague the body. Anorexia can negatively affect organ functions such as the heart and muscles and can ultimately lead to death. This is a serious problem especially considering that many young adults have the disease greatly affecting their growing process.While the film has a light an airy tone it substantially touches on many important issues that are present in the world of a young ballet dancer. The constant insistent from instructors and peers to be thin weighs down on character Maureen, played by Susan May Pratt, and she turns to Anorexia and Bulimia. At first Maureen rejects food and starves herself but then when she can no longer control her hunger begins to eat and then force herself to throw up her food. The stress is not being eased from her mother, Nancy, played by Debra Monk. Unable to make her own dreams of being a ballerina a reality, Nancy is constantly on Maureen to achieve them.Most Anorexics conceal their disease because they are ashamed. Their original disappointment for not being "thin" enough has now doubled to their embarrassment of being sick. To tackle such an important issue of our society Center Stage is one way to help make them known to the public. The media is constantly portraying flawlessly thin woman and also men, making it hard for people to accept themselves. It is critical that our current society help changes the perception of what perfect is.