All Jody Walker (Amanda Schull) has ever wanted is to be a ballerina in the American Ballet Company. Her dream begins to come true when she's accepted to the company's Academy in New York City. Along with street-smart Eva (Zoe Saldana), veteran student Maureen (Susan May Pratt), sensitive Charlie (Sascha Radetsky), and .. Read more
| Starring | Amanda Schull, Susan May Pratt, Peter Gallagher, Donna Murphy |
|---|---|
| Director | Nicholas Hytner |
| Genres | Drama |
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All Jody Walker (Amanda Schull) has ever wanted is to be a ballerina in the American Ballet Company. Her dream begins to come true when she's accepted to the company's Academy in New York City. Along with street-smart Eva (Zoe Saldana), veteran student Maureen (Susan May Pratt), sensitive Charlie (Sascha Radetsky), and flamboyant Erik (Shakiem Evans), Jody embarks on the stringent Academy training program with the hope of being one of the select few chosen for the Company. But Jody has her own style and has to contend with criticism that she doesn't have good feet and her body type is wrong. In the meantime, she finds herself involved with Cooper (Ethan Stiefel), a talented Harley-riding dancer and choreographer. The masterful dance sequences in Nicholas Hytner's CENTER STAGE are enriched by the performances of real-life American Ballet Theatre star Stiefel, and those of Schull, who was an apprentice at the San Francisco Ballet when she was cast. Peter Gallagher stars as the head of the ballet company, Donna Murphy is featured as an instructor at the academy, and Debra Monk portrays an overbearing mother to Maureen (Susan May Pratt), the best ballerina in the class who is also harbouring a dark secret.
| Starring | Amanda Schull, Susan May Pratt, Peter Gallagher, Donna Murphy, Ethan Stiefel, Debra Monk, Zoe Saldana, Eion Bailey, Shakiem Evans, Ilia Kulik, Sascha Radetsky |
|---|---|
| Director | Nicholas Hytner |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 51 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Dubbed | German |
| Subtitles | DVD: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Turkish |
| Released | DVD: 06 Aug 2001 Production year: 2000 |
| Format | DVD |
Director Nicholas Hytner reached the peak of excellence with The Madness of King George (1995), but this hackneyed drama won't do anything to enhance his critical reputation. Idealistic young Jody (Amanda Schull) gets accepted into a top New York ballet school, finds it tougher than expected, and becomes romantic focus for resident hunk Cooper and boring but true Charlie. The tedious sub-Fame proceedings aren't helped by a teeth-grindingly bad script, wooden performances (what is Peter Gallagher doing playing a world-renowned dance teacher?) and hilarious dance numbers, one of which looks like an outtake from Grease 2.
Even non-dancers will find this offstage and backstage story familiar from A Chorus Line, The Turning Point and dozens of other movies: all the old clichés are dusted off and given another glamorous outing.
If only life in the arts (ballet in this case) were so easy and so appealing as this film makes it out to be....
That being said, this film is definitely an enjoyable, no-nonsense musical romp through the world of the aspiring ballet dancer. Tears, tantrums, friendships, forbidden love; It's all here in abundance with an ending that I would defy anyone not to want to get up and dance around their living room to. Great fun if you're not looking for your mind to be stretched too much!
Shameless yet brilliant rip-off of 'Fame', set in a fictional ballet school in New York. Follows a year in the lives of several young dancers and has all the ingredients of the perfect chick flick - drama, romance, heartache, bitching and above all lots of fantastic dance sequences. Okay, the script is a bit corny in places and the fit men are probably gay, but I love this film!